Dead dash again yesterday - no rain so that isn't the cause, so I pulled the instrument cluster again and cleaned the pins added more dielectric grease and turned the key on. Still no guages except this time I didn't screw the cluster back in immediately so I was able to reach the connector and wiggle it - bingo all is well. So my problem seems to be contact with the pins in the cluster and the connector. Not sure where the intermittent pin is and I don't want to solder the connector to the pins. I inserted a smallscrewdriver in the connector to try to collapse the fitting to make better contact with the pins and since all is working again I hope that solves my problem.
One thing for sure - i cand remove the cluster in about 10 min now that I know the procedure.
Thanks OLN
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[quote=Enigma;1757702]I had the same problem except when my guages went dead my ABS lite came on too. So I took the above advice and tore the IP apart. Couldn't find any obvious problem- broken pins, loose solder joints etc so I cleaned all the contacts, applied silicon dielectric grease and reinstalled. Worked fine for about a week and then the guages went dead again. ABS lite back on too.
It occurred to me that when this happened previously and this week too after the van was left outside and a rainstorm occurred. After it sat in the garage for a day the guages came back on and they were fine today.
Is there an electrical block somewhere that might be getting doused with water and causing a malfunction? Perhaps an ABS sensor? Is there a chance that a drainage tube for the windshield is blocked and this water is overflowing into a connector.
If so where is this drain tube on the firewall. I couldn't see one.
Thanks for any advice
I have the same EXACT symptoms including the ABS light on my 1999 Caravan. This happened once in the winter and just happened again last week. I'll probably wait until it gets worse before taking anything apart.
