We have owned this van for about 3 years. Up until recently, it has been a great vehicle. My wife called me from the local convenience store telling me the van would not start. All I could do was walk her through moving the battery cables a bit to see if they were loose and to try wiggling the shift lever. Then it somehow started. I told her to drive directly to Auto Zone and have the battery checked. Of course they told her it was bad and charged her almost $200 for a new battery.

So we are thinking we are out of the woods now. Nope.

Two weeks later, same issue. Turn the key, No crank - No Start. So, thinking maybe the battery in the electronic key needs to be replaced. Nope, same issue. I removed the heavy gage red wire that goes to the post terminal on the TIPM and noticed a small amount of corrosion. Cleaned that up, lubed it, reinstalled wire. Things worked great for almost 2 weeks. Last Wednesday, same issue, No Crank - No Start.

This is absolute BS! We can no longer depend on this vehicle so she is now banished to the garage. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We have had issues ongoing with our vehicle. Our Dodge Caravan has died 5 times on the freeway all resulting from the same problem. Our mechanic discovered that our TIPM was fried and so he urged us to get a new one after temporarily fixing by soldering and that didn't work. It died after about two weeks. After finally taking it to dodge to get a new one, spent 1500 to get that replaced, then it just died again after about 3 weeks since the new one was put in.

We informed the NHTSA about potential recalls with TIPMs and they are working on a case for this apparent known issue in these models. We have been towed 5 times, spent over 2200.00, 400.00 in rental car fees alone. We are tired of this problem and want it fixed. Just a working car would be great.

Beware of any issues related to your TIPM. This is a costly issue and will drive you nuts.

OK, so this first started around February, when my wife called me from the gas station telling me the van would not start. She didn't have jumper cables so I told her open the hood and see if by chance the battery cables were maybe loose. She reefed on them a bit, slammed the hood, went back in the van it is started. I instructed her to drive directly to AutoZone and have the battery tested. Of course they told her the battery was bad and sold her a $200 new battery. OK, so we think we have this fixed.

2 weeks later, same thing. No crank, no start. By now I have been reading up on this problem a bit. Apparently some have had issues with the transmission position sensor (basically a Park/Neutral safety switch). So I said... AHA! That should be an easy fix. Until I can get to it, I instructed wife, if it happens again, Put your foot on the brake, turn the key to ON and ratchet the shifter lever up and down a few times. Well once again that SEEMED to work. Until it didn't.

Now it has left her stranded at least a dozen times. We now have the van at a dealership awaiting diagnosis. Of course when we dropped it off, guess what? Yup, it fires right up. Time after time. So do these symptoms sound like a flakey TIPM unit?

I am about ready to push this hunk of junk off a cliff!

Any help would be appreciated.

Update from Oct 6, 2021: Hey all, just thought I would update this issue in case anyone else may have experienced these same symptoms.

Well after taking the vehicle to 3 different places, I finally bit the bullet and took it to a dealership/ I was actually a Buick dealership, but I had had good success with this place in the past.

SO they had the vehicle for over a week and could not re-create the the No-Start issue. Then after 9 days, I finally get a call from the service manager - We found the problem, he said. OK, so I'm waiting on pins and needles thinking he's going to tell me we need to replace the TIPM module at a cost of $1500 or more. Nope, It's the Starter he tells me! SO apparently the starter had a dead section in the commutator. So depending on where the armature happened to stop the last time the engine started, it may or may not land on that one dead section. Very strange! I have never in all my years seen a failure like this.

SO the good news is that $500 later, the van is back on the road and the issue is long gone!

Update from Apr 14, 2022: Finally have a resolution. Local Buick dealership found it. Ended up being a bad starter. Must have beena dead segment on the starter commutation.

We purchased this car in 2013 and it has been very reliable until the past 3 or 4 months, when it started not wanting to start. We had to turn the key on several times before it would start - like the fuel was not getting to it.

We took it to a garage and they replaced the plugs and coils and then it worked for about 4 days then the problem started again. The garage then checked out the muffler system and fuel pump. They installed a whole new muffler system as the one that was on it was plugged and not allowing anything to go through it and it was running rough and smelled bad. They also replaced the fuel pump thinking that would work.

Yesterday, when we got back from our trip, we parked the car at the front door to unload. I thought I heard something buzzing in the back of the car but their was a helicopter nearby and never gave it another thought. When I went to lock the car last night, my key's remote would not lock the car. When we went out this morning to go to a doctor's appointment, the car would not start, the doors would not open and the battery was totally dead. We tried to jump start it but it took a long time to charge the battery. The sound in the back went on again. It sounded like the fuel pump and the sound was located on the driver's side near where you fill up the gas tank.

I have noticed that this has been an ongoing problem. Apparently this is an electrical issue with the TIMP. My husband (in very poor health) and I are senior citizens and living on a fixed income. We have spent $1,200 on this car in the last 2 months and simply cannot afford to buy another car or get this one fixed if it is going to be a large amount. Please what can you do to help us?

It appears that I am one of many Dodge owners with TIPM issues. At least once a day when going to start the engine, it just cranks and cranks but won't start. After turning off the key and trying one or two or three more times, it will start. The battery is brand new, and the starter is getting plenty of power. Comparing my experience with what I've read online, I firmly believe the issue is the fuel pump relay switch in the TIPM. It started months ago, and has gotten worse. My wife drives this vehicle the most, very often with our kids inside. We just have to hope and pray that it will start and not strand them somewhere. Thank goodness it hasn't shut off while driving as other owners have stated. I hate to imagine it shutting of in the middle of a freeway or crossing an intersection. I find it absurd that Dodge (or Fiat Chrysler whatever) would let this issue go while having knowledge of so many TIPM issues, even with a class action lawsuit filed against them.