My wife called and said that the guages don't work at all - odo won't light up, speedo zip, tach zip, warning lights zip, fuel gauge zip. 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8L SXT.

I popped the cover off the BCM, pressed everything back down in the box (several things were loose) but no fuses were blown. Relays? Haven't checked them at this time.

I have read many many postings about it being a bad BCM, bad circuit board, bad instrument cluster relay.

Ideas? Solutions? Things I can check to possibly eliminate some of these possible causes?

 

you want to check for power and ground at the cluster if it does not do anything. The power for the cluster comes from the BCM (not the box under the hood with the fuses, that is the power distribution center and the front control module) Here is a wiring diagram and a connector pinout.






INSTRUMENT CLUSTER - BLACK 13 WAY

CAV /CIRCUIT /FUNCTION 1-E13 20OR/WT PANEL LAMPS DRIVER. 2-L160 20WT/TN (LOWLINE) RIGHT TURN INDICATOR DRIVER. 3-G7 20VT/GY (LHD EXPORT) LOW OIL PRESSURE INDICATOR DRIVER. 4-G3 20VT/LB (LHD EXPORT) MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LAMP DRIVER. 5-L134 20WT/GY (HIGHLINE) HIGH BEAM INDICATOR DRIVER. 6-A701 18BR/RD FUSED B(+) (HAZARD). 7-Z108 18BK/LG GROUND. 8-L161 20WT/LG (LOWLINE) LEFT TURN INDICATOR DRIVER. 9-D25 20WT/VT PCI BUS. 10-B25 16DG/WT (LHD EXCEPT EXPORT) PARK BRAKE SWITCH SENSE. 10-B25 18DG/WT (LHD EXPORT) PARK BRAKE SWITCH SENSE. 10-B25 20DG/WT (RHD) PARK BRAKE SWITCH SENSE. 11-G26 22VT/OR CHIME DRIVER. 12-G150 22VT/BR INSTRUMENT CLUSTER WAKE UP SENSE. 13-Z18 18BK/LB GROUND

 

Im with Tizzy no power supply or bad ground

http://i53.tinypic.com/2myu32o.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/fbfbqs.jpg

wiring diagrams for the instrument cluster.
best of luck

 

When I got home, I had a chance to fully check it out. I found that I did have a blown fuse - a 20amp fuse marked as Hazard LP. I checked all the rest and it was the only one bad.

So I replaced it and immediately I could see the mileage on the odo when I opened the door. I thought - excellent. HOWEVER...... After cranking the car and confiriming that all the lights and guages worked, I tried turning on the hazard lights and immediately, everything went dark! Damn!

I tried replaciing the fuse again, and this time it blew immediately! Double Damn! I have a short somewhere! @#%#$@#$@!#$%@#

So where do I even begin? I don't have a diagram of that circuit to even begin to know where to look. Do I need to start by pulling the instrument cluster?

 

Here you go, fuse 24 is the hazzard fuse.

 

If I am reading this right, the left and right repeater lamps are the blinkers, which BTW is also inoperable. Is is possible that I have a bad bulb causing this problem?

 

This came to me last night so wanted to toss this out too.

The first time I put in the fuse, everything was fine until I hit the hazard light switch - then it blew. I had turned the key on off for several cycles and even cranked the card two or three times before I did it.

The second time I tried to put in the fuse, it blew immediately, so I never did any further checking.

Here is my question. Does Dodge have one or two blinker (aka flash relays) and maybe one (or both) have gone bad causing the short? The second time I tried, the relay may have stayed shorted, and when I tried to put in a new fuse, pow! Where would I find the blinker/flash relays?

 

Not only was the instrument cluster out, and the flashers/blinkers not working, but we found out (alarmingly) that the only brake light still functioning was the top one. The running lights were fine, but the bottom two brake lights were just not functioning. The fuse to that circuit was fine! Thank God the engineers put the two lights on separate circuits! Kudos to you guys for that bit of thought!

Well the problem was found. Apparently there was a break in the power wire of my trailer hitch wiring! It would bump up against the hitch and caused the short!

Fixed! Talk about a head scratcher.......

 

Good job, and thank you for the updates.

 

I hate reading threads only to find that the end result is not posted. It's like reading a book with the last chapter torn out.

Even if I created the problem with a bone-headed move and look like a complete idiot, I try to go ahead and spare the next guy the same fate/headache. You know, do unto others....