Misfire in your Dodge Caravan can be problematic to track down, especially if you have a Random Misfire trouble code. Although your Dodge misfire could be caused by other components in your engine bay, it’s a good idea to start with your Caravan coil pack. The ignition coil pack is mounted in your 3.3 liter or 3.8 liter engine bay, and is easy to access.
Today I’ll be showing you how to test your Caravan coil pack in a V6 Dodge with a 3.8 liter engine in it. This coil pack DIY test requires the use of a digital multimeter, as you’ll be checking to see if your ignition coil pack is operational.
When your ignition coil pack starts to fail, it’s going to be pretty obvious from the jump. Your Dodge Caravan will idle poorly or misfire while you are driving it.
Another early warning sign is the check engine light being ON in your gauge cluster. When you see this familiar yellow check engine code reminder, you’ll need an OBDII scan tool to retrieve the trouble code.
The first thing to check when your Caravan or Grand Caravan is encountering engine misfire is to check your spark plugs and spark plug wires. Inspect these to make sure they are in good operating condition. If your spark plug wires in your 3.3 or 3.8 liter engine are exposed, it will make them arc out on the valve cover.
To test your Dodge Caravan coil pack in your V6 engine, you’ll be checking for power and checking the switching signal for all of your cylinders. If you’ve got your digital multimeter ready, you can begin our DIY tutorial below to test your coil packs.
The front three cylinders are easy enough to access when you are checking your spark plug wires. Once you know that your wires and spark plugs are good to go, you can unplug and disconnect the coil pack to continue.
Testing your Caravan coil pack for Power
Your Dodge ignition coil pack is connected to a four pin wiring harness. Chances are because of how close this unit is to your engine, the wiring harness cover may be brittle or hard.
Unwrap enough of the wiring harness electrical tape to uncover the wires. Now you’ll be piercing the wire in question by using your multimeter leads.
With your Dodge Caravan ignition key turned to the “ON” position, you will be testing the wire that leads to PIN C.
This wire should return a switched voltage signal between 10-12 volts of DC power when you start to crank the engine. Have a friend crank over your engine after you have already pierced this wire to check for power at this wire. If you don’t get power at this wire, stop now and check your crank angle sensor, or remove your engine computer.
While it’s not common you may need to remove your engine computer by disconnecting it to have it serviced. If you’ve got no power at PIN C, more than likely your crank angle sensor is to blame.
If you do have power at this pin, you’ll need to test the switching signal for the rest of your Caravan coil pack. The ignition coils are broken up into pairs, from cylinders 1 and 4, to cylinders 2 and 5, and the last grouping is cylinders 3 and 6.
If you are ready to test using your multimeter, or even an LED test light let’s begin with cylinders 1 and 4 on your Caravan coil pack. Although you can use a multimeter to test the ignition coils, it’s usually best to use a simple automotive LED test light to check for switching signal.
Before you begin this part of the testing procedure, make sure that you are safe and clear of your engine. Keep yourself, your hair and clothing away from your engine, the drive belts and especially the cooling fans.
Testing your Caravan coil pack per cylinder combination
Using your test light is easy to do when you want to check for spark signal to your Caravan coil pack. Because cylinders 1 and 4 are ignited at the same time, you’ll be testing the wire from PIN B. Pierce this wire with your LED tester, and crank your engine.
While cranking your engine your test light should flick on and off while you are cranking it. This means that your switching signal is working correctly for cylinders 1 and 4 in your 3.3 or 3.8 liter Dodge engine.
Now you can move onto cylinders two and five, which happens to be PIN A on your coil pack. Repeat the test above and you should have the switching signal from this wire.
The last combination of cylinders to check is 3 and 6. This is the wire from PIN D or the left most wire on your wiring harness when you are facing the back of it. Pierce this last wire to check for the switching signal at these cylinders.
Remember that when you are testing the switching signal, you should be using a LED tester. If you complete this testing DIY guide to your Caravan coil pack but you still have a misfire condition, you may need a replacement coil pack. If you have power but the switching signal is not present, there’s another issue at hand causing your ignition misfire.
