I started my car this morning and everthing was fine then at lunch when I started up the van the instrument cluster went out. My tach, speedometer, gas, milage, etc. isn't working. Any thoughts on the problem?

 

possibly bcm lock up try to disconnect battery to reset modules. if possible get a scan tool to see if you can access bcm. may also be a problem in the cluster.

 

Did you ever find an answer to your problem?

I have a 98 Grand Carvan 3.3L flex fuel with intermittent cluster failure. Failure starts with ABS light coming on. After several minutes the whole cluster fails - tach temperature, speed, fuel, odometer & transmission indicator. Mileage, etc. appears to continue to be tracked when gauges are inoperable. Check engine light may come on and stay lit after cluster apparently randomly comes back on. Have received multiple bus communication codes - transmission module/ bcm/ecm/. Code reader indicates ECM cannot communicate with modules, but reader can communicate with each module. No indication of a short,etc. as there is no spike or loss in voltage. Voltage on lines met mfg specs. ECM and BCM have been replaced twice. Also have noticed intermittent slight hesitation/engine skipping.

Last night when I parked the gauges were inoperable. This morning I started and my son asked why the speedometer read 120 mph when we were sitting in the driveway (flatlined to the right rather than left). All other gauges were working. As I pulled out my drive and stepped on the gas, transmission appeared to slip for 1-2 seconds, grabbed and my speedometer came back on when the transmission took hold.

Dealer has no concrete ideas for solution.

 

You all need new alternators. They start causing voltage spikes as the alternator ages. The voltage spikes freeze up modules, especially sensitive ones like the cluster, sometimes the hvac freezes up also. Have fixed many vans like all of yours just by replacing the alternator.

 

I take my van to the dealer tomorrow 2/1. I will have them check it out and post what they find.

 

Picked up my van at the dealer today. They found a bad ground!

Turns out the solder connection for the ground wire on the instrument cluster circuit board was cracked. Wiggling the connector on the back side caused the voltage to go from 2.5 (normal) up to 8. After identifying the wire, the crack in the solder could be seen with a magnifying glass. The dealer had a test circuit board that matched my part number exactly. They installed the test board in my van and the problem went away.

For now, it looks like this bad ground was the problem. Driving it a few days will be the real test, but this ground was definitely a problem.

Hope Dodgefamily found a solution to his problem, too!

 

Hello, I've been searching for information that might be related to a problem we've had with our 98 Grand Caravan. Your symptoms sound very similiar to what we've experienced. Several lights on the instrument panel come on (including the ABS light), interier lights start to flicker and then the van stops running. The 2 times it happened I disconnected the battery and re-connected it, hear several clicking noices under the hood and then it starts right up and seems fine. It hasn't done it in about 2 months but my wife won't drive it anymore thinking it will breakdown. When we brought it to the dealer they couldn't find anything wrong. Could you please post additional details related to the part that had the problem on your van, maybe I can call our dealership and see if they can do an inspection to see if there's a similiar problem. Thanks.

 

Directly behind the instrument panel (temp, tach, speedometer, fuel guage) is a circuit board which is approximately the same shape as the panel. The instrument panel light bulbs are pushed into this circuit board.

On the backside of the circuit board is a connector for a wiring harness which I believe comes from the body control module. The solder point for the ground wire on that connector was the problem. On the front side of the circuit board (the opposite side from the connector), there was a crack (looked like a halo) in the solder joint that corresponded to the ground wire.

My van never shut off, but my ABS light and check engine lights would come on and all my gauages would shut off. My transmission at times appeared to slip. At first I thought my engine skipped at times, but now I think it was slight slipping of the transmission.

My van originally went in the shop in March 05 for a new body control module due to the occaisonal loss of my instrument panel. After replacing the bcm, I was told I also needed a new engine (power) control module. After installing the new ecm, my van would shut down without warning. It took until August 05 for the dealer to determine the "new" ecm was defective. My van was in the shop 90% of that time. Three months after the ecm was replaced, I started having problems with my instrument panel again. I believe now that I never needed the new bcm or ecm.

I hope it is finally fixed, but only time will tell.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info. Sounds like maybe I have something different going on if your van didn't stop running. Our engine dies and it won't restart until the battery is disconnected and re-connected. The next time it happens I'm going to just have it towed to the dealer so they can check for error codes. Guess when the battery is disconnected the computer loses all the information.

 

As my experience demonstrates, electrical problems can be a nightmare to locate. My venture started March 14, 2005. I finally picked up my van February 9, 2006. I believe it truly is fixed this time, but it is not the first time I was told my problem was solved.

My repair was complicated by the installation of a defective ecm. That created 2 electrical problems. Although I took my vehicle to a Dodge dealer, they actually transferred it to their sister KIA dealership to complete the repairs. The mechanic at the Kia location was top notch. Although it still took him a while, I always felt I made progress with him. I did not have the same confidence in the mechanics in the other shop who could not identify that they installed a defective ecm.

My bottom line is that these problems can be very difficult to isolate and you need a sharp mechanic knowledgeable in electronics repairs. It is not a job for just anyone. The other part of the equation is cost. It can take a long time and you may still not find it. I haven't been billed by my dealer since last March - I took a car that would run into their shop and for nearly 5 months I could barely get it out of their lot before it shut down (the defective ecm). They haven't made a decision on a bill for this final repair yet, but if they had not installed the defective ecm, this hopefully would have been solved long ago.