2008 Grand Caravan SE finicky dash
 

Every once in a while when driving our van, all the warning lights will flicker and the car chimes like the doors open and the cars in drive even though the car is driving fine and the door is shut. eventually this stops by itself or if we stop and put the car in park then start driving again.

Also we've had to replace the battery and just today it was completely dead after sitting in our garage for 30 hours. It was completely drained. Jumped it and everything was fine but when I went to park it in garage and put it in reverse the dash lights flickered again for about 5 seconds till I put it in park. Turned the van off and tried starting it, everything was fine. Not sure what drained the battery. We did just take it in for the recall on the passenger restraint module, they need to order the part.

Going to take it in to have battery and charging system checked tomorrow but I doubt that will explain the instrument panel fritz.

Any suggestions?

These vans have always been sensitive to battery voltage fluctuations. The newer 5th generation vans appear to be even more so. You're making the right first move. Make sure they do a load test on the battery.

One culprit for this situation has been the TIPM. That's your fuse box. Not your typical fuse box, it contains microprocessors and integrated circuits that control much of the electronics on the van. Try a shake/tap test to try to induce the problem. Disconnect the battery then remove the connections and look for corrosion. Clean with contact cleaner. If it turns out there is an internal fault and you're not under warranty they cost around $600 and frequently go back order.

so the battery tested good at Advance Autoparts. So we took it to the dealership and they said the battery "wasn't fully charged" and they could not find anything drawing on the battery, they "think" it was just that the battery wasn't fully charged so it kept dying on us. Had Advance autoparts test the battery 2 more times, so far so good.

Still waiting on the recalled part, the passenger restraint module. Haven't looked at the TIPM thoroughly, from a brief look over it didn't look like the contacts were dirty or corroded.

If the battery dies again I'll take a closer look and clean it up. Just to make sure you're talking about the fuse box next to the battery correct? The negative terminal did have some corrosion on it but even after cleaning that it still died on us.

Don't always trust those battery tests at the auto parts. I did and ended up with a dead battery on the side of the road. I am not sure why but haven't had any problems since I got the new battery.