Working on my parents 96 caravan with the gauges dont work in the morning and evening. Progressively getting worse.

Took out the black part of the dashboard and the gauges. Have a manual transmission range finder. A P.I.N.T.A. to take out .

I took out the circuit board and im inspecting behind the red plug. The solder looks good, so I should reheat the solder and add a little bit more electrical solder?
Anywhere else on the board that could be causing a problem? The plug looks fine to me.


When the gauges are working...in 90F outside. it passes the diagnostic self test and no problems, only when the inside is less than 80 or so does the panel act up. Bad solder right? I hope it's not a bad BCM

 

I resoldered the red plug and it still does the same thing. It doesn't work in the morning, but works in the afternoon.

Ran the instrument panel tests. Passed all of them and code 999 (end of test)
All fuses are good. No melted wires in back of A/C control panel. Plugs for the BCU are snug. Posted a picture of the plug in the van. How can I tell if the terminals are spread and not making contact? I wiggled the connector and didn't help getting the dashboard to work.
It did work after putting everything back together, no problems what so ever. Had the battery disconnected the whole time.

Any other ideas that could cause the instrument panel not to work? The needles still wobble even when the ignition is off up to a minute. Odometer also doesn't work when gauges are going crazy. All I can think is a bad ground (where?) or the instrument panel is bad (can get a used one on ebay for less than $100)

I need some help It's the only problem with the van. Also can't afford to bring it to the dealer, hence why im driving a 16 year old car
I do not know how fast im driving half the time, which is dangerous, plus im less than half a tank of gas as far as I know.

 

It's not the solder joints at the connector that break, it's other joints on the board, usuall the jumper points. There are pieces of wire that jump a circuit line from the front of the board to the rear. Those are what I find cracked on them, the new circuit boards eliminate them and the issue.

 

Should I attempt to resolder those connectors or go ahead with a used cluster? Hopefully those don't have the same problem.

Also make sure I buy a panel with the manual transmission range finder, or I can get one with a fancy LCD display for the 3 spd trans?

 

Basically you have a used cluster, if you get another one, you'll just have to fix it. So try and repair the one you have first. And no, no LCD display for the 3 speed trans.

 

Thanks. I'll see how it works out.

 

I haven't tried taking out the cluster again yet, but would the key ignition system have something to do with the gauges not working?
When I insert the key and if I have the door open, it doesn't ding unless I press on the key. Been like that forever though.

Gauges seem to be working fine, but when starting it takes about a minute for the gauges to work. When they dont work the temp and fuel gauge stay halfway and speedometer at 0 until the odometer turns on and everything works perfectly. Then turn off the van to add gas, etc. then the same thing I takes a minute or so.

Resoldering the main connector helped I think, but there is something else like Tizzy1 said. I hope to have time in a few days.

 

Went ahead and purchased a used panel and now it is working fine.

Noticed on the old board there is this strange solder point and blacked out trace next to the big black chip. Could of been the problem? I guess I should of inspected the other side when soldering the harness plug like others.

I wonder what caused that?
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