Hey gang,

Had a slow start issue on my wife's van for about a week and finally tested the battery and sure enough, it's showing 11 volts.

So I get the new battery, get it installed and later, after I'm done, I go out to the van to get the mileage so I can put the battery replacement, date and mileage in my maintenance log.

I unlock the door with the fob, interior lights come on, I put the key in and turn it to the on position and the display illuminates with the odometer reading which I note in the log. I pull the key out and lock the door with the lock button in the car.

The next morning my wife goes out to start the van (first real start after the battery replacement) and the instrument panel is entirely dead. No LCD mileage readout and none of the gauges work. Also no transmission display at all (it's an autostick equipped ES model).

Van still starts and drives if you put it in gear. Just can't see how fast you're going, engine speed, temp, fuel gauge or what gear you're in.

Any ideas? Thanks for any light you can shed on the issue.

 

This will involve taking the dash apart, removing the instrument panel, and resoldering the pins where the wiring harness connects. If you google this problem, you will find several diagrams, showing the procedure.

 

Very doubtful on an '01. That was an issue with the '96 -'00 vans. It could just be from replacing the battery. Either try a hard disconnect (disconnect the battery and touch the cable ends together for 5 minutes) or disconnect the cluster itself and wait awhile, then reconnect it.

 

Just curious Tizzy1. I've seen that method recommended by many. Is that recommended by Chrysler? I'd be a little leary considering that's one more chance of producing an arc and resultant voltage surge that can effect, as you know, the sensative electronics on these vans. The "disconnect and let it set 15-20 minutes" method works for me. Too cautious?

 

Yes it is. That's the "quick" way to discharge the capacitors. You have to discharge the capcitors to get the module to forget, so to speak. Otherwise you'd have to wait quite awhile on some models.

 

Hey guys,

Yeah, as I read on Edmunds town hall and other forums, everything kept coming back that the instrument cluster solder connections was an issue with the earlier year models. Plus it didn't respond to the smack on the top of the instrument cluster. Might have eventually tried it, but before I did, I wanted to do the easy stuff.

Since the battery was most recently replaced, that's what I went back to. Plus it was the least expensive thing to try first.

I figured I'd remove and clean the terminals and try to retighten them. Lo and behold, that worked. So, there you have it. Cheap and easy wins the day.

Thanks for the assist! The only thing that caused me to think that maybe it wasn't the battery was the fact that I had seen the odometer reading on the instrument cluster immediately after replacing the battery and then the next morning, nothing.

Hope this helps someone else with the issue.

 

Wish they could all be that easy. Congrats.

 

You and me both, Cougar! You and me both.

Strange, I thought I had it tight because I couldn't budge the cable, but apparently it wasn't tight enough (or clean enough).

 

I just came out of a restaurant tonight and started up my 2000 Grand Caravan AWD and immediately saw only HALF the shift display lit up (with no corresponding show of movement following the column shifter, even though I could feel the van going in and out of P, R, N, D, etc. -- it indicated it was stuck in P which was lit up with the lit square around it, which it was not stuck, of course). Then, as I started moving, I had no Tach, Speedometer, and the Trip Odometer was stuck on 169 (an appropriate "Screw You" number, eh? lol).

We haven't been driving it much lately during the past 3 weeks, as we just bought an '04 Audi Allroad Quattro 4.2 Liter V8 (a LOT more FUN, of course, with its INSTANT torque, hee hee!), so perhaps the battery terminals have become corroded. I will check 'em in the morning and try the safe disconnect-and-wait "fix" initially, and will report back.

 

It just dawned on me that 11 volts was mentioned in the very first sentence of the first post. Now I recall seeing 11.5 volts this morning when I turned on the key, but quit worrying about it when the engine started up just fine. That low voltage is probably the key, alright. More will be revealed in the morning, I'm sure . . .