Hi everyone. Today I purchased a 95 Caravan Se. It has the 4 speed auto and the 3.0v6. The van ran great all the way to a friends house. I stopped and watched the super bowl. It sat for about 7 hours. Started it up and headed home. I had gone about 14 miles and all the dash lights and gauges worked. About 1 mile from home I stopped for about 10 minutes and started it back up. However none of the gauges (fuel, speedo and temp) worked nor the dashlights. I also noticed the interior light didn't work. headlights were fine and the "Check Gauges" light was on. Tapped on the dash, gently wiggled wires, looked at fuses and tapped relays. No obvious broken wires or corrosion. Pulled in the driveway and shut it off, however i still had the lights on and BAM! Everything came back on. The radio light still worked the whole time.

Being a Ford person mainly I am unfamiliar with Chryslers. However I really like the little van and bought it because my F150 is killing me on gas. Let me also state that I am in no way ripping on Chrysler. The blue ovals have their share of issues. Anyway, could I be lucky and this is something relatively easy like a BCM? Or am I looking at a probable wiring nightmare? Is this a common issue? Any and all input would be greatly appreciated. Also if this is in the wrong section please let me know. Thank you very much.

 

Welcome to DF
Check the wire harness around the throttle body. Sometime the harness will be close to the crossover exhaust and cause the check gauge lights to come on.

 

Well I just thought I'd post what my gauge/light issue was. I went to a pick and pull junk yard and obtained a BCM and that seemed to solve my issue. However, I have another problem. When I test drove the van it was around 40 degrees and sunny so the heat felt good. However now it doesn't seem so good. On the hi-way i get decent heat, not hot, but decent. Idle is a different story, it is only luke warm. Temp gauge is just a hair under the middle and the coolant seems full. One heater hose is almost too hot to touch and the other warm, but I could comfortably hold all day long. This weekend I plan on changing the T stat and running the garden hose to back flush the heater core. Although i doubt that will help much.

So, my question is, is there anything common on these vans that could cause this? (praying for an easy fix) or am I looking at something serious like a head gasket that is causing this 3.0 to not hold pressure. Any info would be appreciated.

 

Clogged Heater Core, Well know issue.

 

Well that's what I thought at first, but since that post I have flushed the heater core both ways several times. I got good water flow and could even blow through it. I'm starting to think it's a bad water pump or something more serious. I also replaced the t stat. The only thing is the water pump and timing belt are only approx. 2 years and 12,000 miles old.