Service & Repair Wheelchair Vans

Service and Repair Wheelchair Vans

Has your wheelchair van suddenly stop working? Blvd.com can help you locate authorized dealers near you to service and repair wheelchair vans.We have prepared an emergency troubleshooting wheelchair van guide for brands such as BraunAbility, Rollx, VMI, Mobility Works, AMS and many more. More often than not, you need to servive your wheelchair van when the mobility dealer is closed. 24/7 Emergency wheelchair van service is available at a fee so that is why we have put together a comprehensive guide on how to troubleshoot and fix your wheelchair van when you need it most. Service and repair fees can be expensive considering many of the repairs can be simple to complete yourself.

3 Quick Steps To Repair Wheelchair Vans

Begin with these three steps if your wheelchair van has stopped working.Issues or malfunctions can be basic, but there is a lot happening behind the scenes in your wheelchair van that will impact how you should service and ultimately repair your accessible vehicle. It is important to know what order of steps to take since it will allow for proper functioning for the next step.For example, the door needs to fully open before the ramp is told to deploy outwards.

Wheelchair Van Conversion Fuse

Near the positive terminal on the wheelchair van's battery will be the power wire for the conversion.Connected to the terminal is a 40-50 Amp fuse in a holder installed by the manufacturer. Remove the fuse and make sure it's functioning.If it appears to be good, re-insert it or replace if it is blown.Press the button to activate the conversion and see if the door activates and opens.Sometimes when you remove the fuse and re-insert it you can reset the controller for the conversion and easily repair your wheelchair van.

Common Reasons for a Blown Conversion Fuse

1. Jump starting your dead battery can cause back feeding of power and will result in blowing the conversion fuse.If you cross the battery terminal you can not only blow the conversion fuse but also other main vehicle fuses and modules.Be certain to connect the positive and negative terminal correctly.
2. A short in the wiring harness can also cause the conversion fuse to blow.We do not recommend you troubleshoot past the battery and fuse holder for this wheelchair van repair.Schedule an appointment with a mobility dealer for this repair. Failure to do so can result in very expensive modules needing to be replaced in addition to the original repair to the wheelchair van.

OEM Power Door ON/OFF Button

Chrysler, Toyota, Dodge and Honda all have a button that needs to remain in the ON position to send power to the door. If this is accidentally turned OFF your wheelchair door will not open or close.Below you will find out where each popular brand locates these power door buttons and make sure they are in the ON position.

Locate ON/OFF Power Door Button

1. Dodge/Chrysler power door on/off switch will be located between the driver and passenger seat mounted on the head liner.Later model year vehicles also have the exterior temp and compass mounted in this same position.On the far right you will see the ON/OFF on a button.If the switch is ON it will be flush with the other buttons, if it's in the OFF position you will notice the button sticks above the others.Rock the switch to the ON position and press the button to activate the wheelchair van conversion.
2. Toyota power door ON/OFF switch will be located below the steering wheel on the left side.The button will be rectangle in shape and black in color flush mounted in the lower panel.They are labeled with PWR DOOR marking and will have orange color on the top appear when they are on.Push the PWR DOOR button in and out so you can see the orange tab exposed when the power door is turned ON. In the ON position press the button to activate the wheelchair van conversion.
3. Honda power door ON/OFF switch will be located on the left side and parallel to 9'oclock on the steering wheel mounted on the dash.The button will slide left or right and have ON and OFF.When you slide the button to the left you will see ON with a red strip exposed and simple OFF when slid to the right.Make sure it's in the ON position and press button to activate the wheelchair van conversion.

Park Signal

The vehicle Needs to be in park for the ground signal to be sent to the door to begin the side door or rear door to open.In many cases these signals happen with limit switches behind the dash with aftermarket switches added at the time of modification.Listen closely and as the gear shift goes into park you will hear a click.The click you hear is a limit switch being triggered when the lever is in the park position.Wiggle the gear shifter and listen for the click, if you hear it, find the position it clicks and attempt to open the conversion.If your door opens you have isolated the issue to being the park signal possibly out of adjustment.

Adjust or Replace Park Signal Switch

If your wheelchair van has stopped working and you have isolated it to being the limit switch for the park signal determine if the gear shift is on the column or is it mounted to the dash.Below are both types and can help you repair your wheelchair van.

1. Column mounted gear shifts are mounted to the steering wheel.Late model Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge and Ford vehicles will have this design. Typically this park signal switch is not inside the steering column but directly above the gas and brake behind the dash. If you remove the the panel directly below the steering wheel you will gain more access to see what your looking for.Locate the screws on the bottom of the panel, remove them and pull lightly to release the clips securing the side and top of the panel.On the right side of the steering column is the common location for mounting the park signal limit switch. Shine a light up behind and look for a tab that appears to be next to the tab of the limit switch.If you have trouble locating the limit switch, make sure the vehicle is on level ground and the emergency brake engaged you can move the gear shift from park to reverse and see the range of motion and locate the park signal limit switch.After you locate this switch and have the wheelchair van in park attempt to push on the switch, if you press on it and hear it clicking release it and press it again.If it clicking when you press on it you will need to adjust the limit switch tab to be engaged on the gear shift lever tab.Sometimes you can bend the tab to make contact or you will need to further adjust it by loosening the two screws securing it.These screws are located in opposite corners of one another so do bother looking for 4.Loosen them and adjust the switch closer to the gear shift tab and re-tighten.Run the gear shift lever from Park to other gears and back to park to make sure it's being activated back at the park position.
2. Dash mounted gear shifts are common on newer models from Honda, Dodge, Toyota and Chrysler wheelchair vans.Directly behind the gear shitf lever is often where the park signal limit switch is located.Often the manufacture that converted your wheelchair has kept the original limit switch and tapped in for its conversion signal.You can access the park limit switch by unscrewing the shifter knob counter clockwise from the lever.Dodge/Chrysler will have a tab on the top of the shifter that can be removed to access the screw securing the shifter knob, remove the cover and complete the removal.The trim around the gear shift needs to be removed next, this is held on by clips, pry up on a side and continue around the entire piece until each clip is released and remove the trim piece. Certain vehicle brands like Toyota will require you to remove additional trim panels to gain complete access at this switch.Often the park full limit switch is mounted in a small control box and will need to be purchased the OEM dealer.Before you call the Chrysler or Toyota dealer have the 17 digit vin number for the vehicle ready for the parts advisor, this will help you get the correct part the first time.Remove and replace the limit switch and press the button to operate the wheelchair van conversion.

Troubleshoot Common Wheelchair Van Repairs

All of the popular wheelchair vans have one thing in common, when wheelchair vans suddenly stop working correctly many wheelchair van owners can follow these simple steps to find out why your wheelchair van has stopped working suddenly.Toyota, Dodge, Honda and Chrysler wheelchair vans feature power wheelchair van conversions operated by the press of a key fob button or interior button.Pressing this will tell the power door to open, ramp to deploy and auto kneeling to begin.For this to be completed there will be a series of steps the wheelchair van needs to communicate, when one step is completed it will tell the next step to begin.Below we help you troubleshoot common wheelchair van repairs for VMI, BraunAbility, Rollx, and other popular wheelchair vans.

Wheelchair Van Power Door Issues

Wheelchair van power doors need a mechanical latch release, door kick out spring, door rollers, door motors, door cables, full door open limit switches, door modules and a wire harness that communicates while providing power to the door and lock/unlock doors.The wire harness needs to travel with the door as it opens and closes, because of the countless lateral movement needed it can be common to have broke wires in this area.Dodge/Chrysler wheelchair vans will have this located in the lower door track, Honda & Toyota wheelchair vans have them located towards the back of the 2nd row sliding door on the C pillar approximately 10 Inches from the lowered floor.Inspect this for broken links, smashed or broken and visible damage to the wire harness.If you see obvious damage and broke wires you will need to have this replaced by your local authorized dealer.When it appears to be in good working order you can continue below with additional troubleshooting wheelchair van repairs.

1. Door latch release will be found on the back of the sliding door and uses a solenoid to hold the door latch open so it can be release from the closed position.If the door is pooping open but will not fully open, the release latch is not completely releasing.Next time you press the open button you can also pull on the door handle with it stops opening to help it release from the door latch.This can indicate a faulty door latch release that needs to be serviced or replaced.To continue to use your wheelchair van until you can get to the dealer you will need to assist with the door release latch releasing.When door opens and stops pull out on the door handle to manual pull the door latch release and perform the job of the solenoid.The door should open, ramp deploy and allow you access to your wheelchair.The wheelchair van door closing should not be affected by this.
2. Door bouncing back open or shut can be caused by resistance from a door roller.Your sliding door comes with three door rollers, upper roller, mid roller and lower door roller.Each roller is held in by a track the keeps the rollers in alignment.If one of these rollers create resistance on the door when opening or closing the door is designed to reverse directions to prevent injury.Seized rollers, bent rollers, objects in the track can cause resistance, inspect each track and it's roller.Manually slide the door open and close and feel if the door gets hung up and has resistance, if the door automatically wants to open or close when you pull on the door handle you need to turn the Power Door Button OFF to get the door to be manual.If you notice the door manually rolls smoothly until a point and binds up you should watch each door roller as the door gets to that posistion and determine if the rollers is getting hung up or if the roller bracket is bent.If the roller is not rolling smoothly or is seized you will need to replace the entire roller bracket, if the bracket is slightly rubbing the track and hanging up on the door track you can try to adjust it up or away.IMPORTANT Before you begin to loosen the bolts to adjust the roller bracket you should mark around the roller bracket connected to the door so you have the original starting point, failure to do so can result in many head scratching moments.Place a jack up the door with slight pressure up, losen the bolts and adjust the door up slightly on the bracket and re-tighten the bolts.Manually open and close the door and make sure the adjustment has stopped the bracket from hanging up.Not all door roller brackets will be adjustable, determine this by looking at the bolt holes on the roller bracket, if adjustable it will be a slot design, if it's not a slot design you can only adjust the door roller bracket by bending it.If you door roller bracket is not adjustable you should consult your authorized dealer for proper door adjustments.
3. Door not staying open and bouncing back.When the door reaches the full open position it is communicated this by a door full open limit switch or full open cycle count.If you own a 2008 and newer BraunAbility Dodge or Chrysler wheelchair van you will need to visit your local BraunAbility dealer to have the full open cycle count reprogrammed.VMI and Rollx wheelchair vans will have a limit switch that is mounted in the lower door track in the full door open position.When the door reaches the full open and is bouncing back closed possibly from a broken or out of adjustment limit switch.Help push the door fully open, if when assisted it stays open your switch is out adjustment.With the door off the full open position you can bend the tab towards the door roller helping it make contact.If the door continues wanting to kick back close the switch might be broke.Inspect the wire connections and look for green corrosion.Remove the switch and test with a multi meter and replace if necessary.
4. Bad and weak door motors can cause the door to bounce back open just before it closes completely or can cause the door to suddenly stop at any point.If the door suddenly stops near the same position each time it could be happening from a dead spot in the motor.If the door is bouncing back open just before it closes you can put your hand on the door to add the additional assistance need to close the door.Just a little bit of help can make up for the weak motor and get the door to shut completely.Unfortunately a door motor can not be tested to see if it is getting weaker and new motors are not recommended to be re-built.It would be most cost effective to replace the door motor.
5. Manual operation procedures power door.The door can be manual operated at anytime without having to release or disengage any motors if your wheelchair van was built in the past 13 years.Simply operate the door as you would according to the owners manual.Press the relase ro pull on the door handle to release the door open or closed.

Troubleshoot Infloor and Fold Out Ramp Issues

Wheelchair vans feature both fold out and In floor ramp designs. Both will require for the door full open limit switch be triggered to send the signal for the ramp to deploy out.When the previouse step is not being fully completed it will not move to the next step.Step by step you have eletfic motor, conversion controler, wire harness, limit switches, ramp chain and other repairs to wheelchair vans needing service.

1. Wheelchair van ramp motors are reverse polarity and are typically simpler than hydraulic systems.Today you do not see hydraulics used unless it's for a wheelchair lift. Simply change the current on the wheelchair van ramp motor and it reverses direction.Lately gear strengths and castings have seen quality long term concerns.If the wheelchair ramp is rapidly falling to the ground or struggling to fully deploy or stow you could have a bad or weak wheelchair ramp motor.
2. In/Out limit switches can be typical service items like anything else on the vehicle.Full In limit needs to be triggered for the ramp to deploy out and full out limit needs to be triggered to stow the ramp in.Fold out wheelchair ramps can be checked quickly and easily.In floor wheelchair ramps will require the dealer to service the in floor ramp In/Out limit switches.Fold out ramps can be located under the ramp motor cover.Simply remove any screws securing the cover or unclip the cover from it's tabs.Connecting to the end of the electric motor will be a cam, this cam is fixed to the eletric motor rotating back and forth to trigger both in and out limit switches.Typically the top limit will be the stow signal and the bottom will be the stow.Inspect the two wires connected to each limit switch.Make sure the contact is being maid when in both positions.Test the limit switch and replace if necessary.

Dodge - Honda - Toyota - Chrysler Wheelchair Van Service

Our experts have put together a guide to troubleshoot and fix many of the popular wheelchair vans.We will start out with the more basic things to look for if your Toyota, Dodge, Honda or Chrysler wheelchair van stops working.We begin with common issues and will progress to more complex and technical repairs to fix your broken wheelchair van.Many times the repair for wheelchair van can be simple and very inexpensive, share this guide with your family and friends who have wheelchair vans.This guide will protect you from driving your wheelchair van and becoming stranded.

Schedule Wheelchair Van Service Online at BLVD.COM

The wheelchair van service & repair guide is developed to help owners or friends of wheelchair van owners common and simple troubleshooting to fix broken wheelchair vans.This guide is designed to not include more advanced troubleshooting methods to only be completed by dealers for the customers best financial interest. If wheelchair needs further service we recommended to schedule wheelchair van service online today with over 100 dealer locations across the USA.Our entire dealer network is authorized and certified with the wheelchair van you own.The dealers appearing below you on the map are nearest you, verified and ready to service& repair your wheelchair van today.