Hello. I own a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country with over 288k/ Miles on it and has been one of the best vehicles we have ever owned. I was having a issue with one of my sliding doors not unlocking and not opening at all. Figured I'd share this experience, incase anyone runs into this with this exact year of minivans... as every video or post I've seen on this issue was for vans a few years newer or older than mine that didn't have these 2 panel screws not accessible with the door closed or ones that still had some kind of movement with their door.
First I'd like to swear at the person who thought it was good idea to put 2 screws in a spot that have to be removed in order to get the door panel off that are un-accessible when the door CANNOT BE OPENED!!!.... After posting here a few hours before posting this thread asking for tips, I went back to working on my van and found that if you are working on a sliding door from this model year, and have these two screws, the only way I could get to them was to pry off at each point the main panel pins into the door, which gave me about 4 to 6 inches opening at the top to remove about 16 - 10mm headed screws out of the inner black panel. Once I got those screws out, it allowed me to pull the main panel enough outward to get into the 2 torx head screws by the door handle facing the front of the vehicle... which again, like I said is not accessible when the door is closed. Once I got those two torx screws out, and the one facing in front of me as well, then I was able to pull the main panel off with ease with the door closed, and get to the root cause as to why my door refused to open... which happens to be a jammed door lock actuator. I got the actuator freed up by applying brute force to the rear direction of the vehicle, and it finally broke loose, and my door is working again... for now.... I'll be looking for what I need now to replace the actuator.

I hope this helps someone that has the same year with these hidden screws... as I was about to take my van to a dealer.... and I haven't ever taken a vehicle ever to a repair shop in the 20 some years i been. driving.

Best of luck!
-Walt

 

Hello Walt , I have a 2008 Grand Voyager which is , I believe , the UK equivelent . It has been off road for about 5 years and Ihad the same problem , but brute force worked for me . I have a load of other problems , don't know if you had any the same ? 1) front passenger seat recline not working . 2) wing mirror doesn't locate and when opening goes all the way forward till it touches the door . Nearly all of the issues i have had are electrical . Anyway thanks for the info and if you have any other issues contact me incase i have already had them . Regards Malcolm (williams 1958).

 

Thank you Malcom! I will keep that in mind. Nice to meet you. Yes, I believe you are right. Boy I do miss the Plymouth name.... such a icon back in the day

I do have one minor electrical that has been so intermittent it has been almost pointless to even try to trace down, but still gets my attention. I have one fuse that likes to blow... randomly... some times it won't blow for months and months and months... then sometimes, it blows every couple days... one time we were on a family vacation trip, heading down south on a 1,300 mile trip from Northern Indiana (USA) to Southern Florida when I was going thru Tennessee/Georgia area it wouldn't stop blowing at all, I figured I'd be able to try to chase down the issue finally! But when I got to a place to where I could start diagnosing it, it quit blowing fuses again.... It wouldn't bother me if it wasn't an important fuse... but unfortunately its a very important fuse... it supplies power to the driver side front and rear marker (night) lights and the license plate lights. All the other lights work of course on the vehicle works. I thought maybe, the issue could be in the hatch wiring. Obviously its a intermittent short circuit causing this issue. Figured that would be the best place to start because that should be about the only area wires should be moving on that circuit. Couldn't find anything that stuck out to me. I use to be a industrial mechanic/electrician for over 15 years and I've dealt with a lot of various equipment including robotics, so I've seen a lot that doesn't surprise me anymore... couldn't find a bad spot in the areas the wiring would have movement. So, I think I'm going to setup a self resetting circuit breaker on that circuit for now, until it gets to the point that it won't reset indefinitely or something finally quits working on that circuit, that was less chance of police stopping us at night. Anyhow, I've been pretty blessed and haven't really had another other electrical issues. Really, quite honestly, it has been a very good vehicle for us. Long live the Mopar Vans!

 

Hello Walt , nice to meet you . I worked in the trucking industry,most of my life, and had to do my own fixing , plenty of experiences when going to France and Spain in 38ton semi's . I would check to see if a larger fuse might solve it without setting things on fire . When i was younger sometimes used a 6 inch nail as a fuse , that never blew but was a temperary fix and didn't burn anything . I think fitting a trip-out switch would be good until you finally find what is causing it . Regards Malcolm .