the gauges in my 1998 durango do not work properly and will flick between about halfway and 0 on ALL of the gauges, not to mention, my horn and air conditioning also do not work. i have tried replacing the ctm, the intrument panel and the pcm. after looking at the close to worthless chilton manual for months i have discovered that the ac and horn share a common fuse which keeps popping after the car is engaged in gear and the parking brake is released. the part that all these problems have in common is the vehicle speed control. therefore i will look at that next to see if it is the problem. this is a very confusing electrical nightmare, and im wondering if anybody has a clue as to what the problem is. if this is any help, when i put the car in to either overdrive or 4 wheel, the gauges immediately stop doing anything at all. just to clear things up, it is not the ctm OR the gauges. any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

Check the grounds.

Look into having the battery load tested and really clean the terminals. Check the ground between the dash and the chassis.

 

ok then, thanks. something tells me it isnt those things though. this is because i was the one who messed up all these things in the first place. what i did was connect my battery opposite, and i didnt notice. i kept wondering why fuses were popping so i bypassed the fuse and that is what causedthis. i'll check the ground for the dash. but what i really am wondering is what is the vehicle speed control and where is it located?

 

ouch, time to check the wiring. I would start from the battery and go to the main fuse block within the engine bay and work your way to the fuse block under the dash. Won't be easy to find a possible burnt out wire somewhere. Hope that is all it is.

You can also try to start removing all electrical connections that you can temporary do without to find out where the problem lies, unplug the radio, wipers, etc, disconnect as much as you can and still be drivable. If your gauges and everything work from that point, then it may be one of those components that got fried and cause these odd problems.

 

Could be a fusable link somewhere?

 

PCM and CTM are most likely shot.

On catastrophic electrical failure like that... take it to the professionals. There is likely an auto electrical shop in each major city. Otherwise, you may be adding parts and having them toasted over and over until the rest of the problem is corrected.

IndyDurango

 

Ya,

You should take it in!

 

Sorry but $$$$