I bought my van in April and days after I broke my femur. This landed me in rehab centre for 3 months. After discharge, I was happy to have the lift, 6 point captain's chair -- quite a change from having to take your wheelchair apart every time you get in/out of a regular car.

I was in "seventh heaven" , third time out in the van. My handle actually indicates a very strong interest of mine and I was at the yacht club rigging my boat when I heard this deep "broom-a-room" and I asked my wife "is the van turned on?", she went to look at it and said "yes, there must be martians above that started the car". Now, everybody knows aliens actually turn cars off -- not on! . No key in the ignition, nothing. Put the key in and off again, nothing, it just kept running for about 5 minutes and then shut itself off.

I thought "OK, it probably has a remote starter and the previous owner forgot to tell me about it and a VHF signal from some other boat nearby triggered it". It didn't act up again and I didn't think much about it until the next morning when my van would not start -- the battery was dead!
When we connected my wife's car battery to my van, it immediatly started, again no key in the ignition. Then we found that pressing the brake turned the van off. I called the previous owner and his wife admitted to loosing the remote starter in the snow 5 years ago and they never used it again.

I disconnected the negative from the battery (overnight it would start, turn off at 5 minutes and discharge the battery) and had to open the hood everytime I wanted to start the van. This was a stop-gap measure, with my son we took out a "blue box" (I thought it was the remote starter) and things started looking better -- the charge gauge actually showed the battery charging. I took the box to my mechanic and he said it was a "Ford part" and that they didn't make remote starters in 1992. I took the number from the printed wiring board because it was unreadable on the outside. F2AF-14A608-AC was not found in the computer, a Ford parts dealer told me, so I dug further and found out what we had disconnected from the vehicle was the "Integrated Air Bag Monitor" (IABM), but it was running and I was once again happy! until yesterday when the electrics started acting up again. Had to jumper the van to finish parking it, again after filling up the tank, grrr!

I have searched the forums high and low and I have found references to the "airbag light" blinking, the ABS light on, etc. and I had some of those symptoms before taking the "blue box" out. Now they are on solid or sometimes off -- gremlins in the van?

After the wheelchair modifications (why can't people be neat when they change the electrical wiring), it's all spaghetti down there and I would really like to re-wire the whole system and before doing that I thought to ask:

• Does anyone know of a similar situation?
  
  
• What haven't I described that needs clarification?
• What suggestions for a course of action can I get?

Thanks!

(BTW, I haven't gone out today yet, so it'll be a surprise and I'll post more later.)

 

HMMM

Which i knew what to say i have a remote starter on mine i installed it not to long ago usually they start if the battery voltage drops to keep the battery charge or if its hot or to cold outside. where was the blue box?

 

Tx for the response.
Interesting to know that some starters are monitoring the battery condition while not running.

The blue box is no longer in it's original place (wherever that was). I say this because it has velcro (which BTW messed up the part number print on the exterior.
Here are three (3) pictures:

The blue-box http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o168/LaoziSailor/blue-box.jpg




the circuit inside http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o168/LaoziSailor/blue-IABM.jpg




back against the firewall http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o168/LaoziSailor/blue-fire.jpg



Just came back from the mechanic. He found that the start position on the ignition was erratic and he wired a switch in parallel and cut the wires on the ignition and the remote starter. He wants me to come back next week (is up to his ears in work) to check out the wiring in more detail. I will post his findings then.
He also charged the battery and it is working. Just wait and see I guess.

If you or anyone else can offer further suggestions..., hey!, bring 'em on

Cheers!

 

I cant be sure but the blue box is the air bag control module heres a blue ford module on ebay and it looks the same

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-97...spagenameZWDVW

 

It's better to think that what it the best wheelchair modification, and where to find a electrical schematic in this problem. For me, I've been used a EZ lock inside the van,which is located directly to the wheelchair lift.