Hey all! I have a daily driver 97 Caravan 3.3L that randomly stalls. It seems to happen when I am backing up then going to shift to drive or stopping. The van will lose all power, power steering, etc. and I have to shift to N or park and crank it again. Sometimes it takes 2-3 times of restarting it. Happens at idle too (red lights can be fun)
Sometimes when I am accelerating to get on the freeway it "jumps" and the gauges stop working for a split second and then it kicks back on again and I continue on my way.

On top of this, I have had to smack the dashboard pretty regularly to keep the cluster on. I know that I can pull the cluster and re-solder the connections and I plan on doing that but I suppose my first question is: can a bad cluster cause the above stalling issues? There is no CEL on. It does come on when I turn the key to "on," as do the other lights. Secondly, the other day it wouldn't crank at all, just "click click" and I had to get a jump.

I have replaced the plugs, coils, battery 2 days ago (after I had to get a jump). Any ideas? TY!!

Edit: I also replaced the coil pack and O2 sensors about 2 months ago. Checked the Battery/Starter/Alternator at Orielley's and they said it was all good.

 

Yes it can.

 

Hmmmm ok... that gives me some hope since it doesn't look like that hard of a job. I will be pulling the cluster and checking the connections tonight / tomorrow depending on time. I'll update back here once I get it done. Super interesting though that can cause issues like this. May I ask "why" it can cause issues? I wouldn't think anything critical would be running through the cluster like that? Not trying to bug you, just like to learn TY!!

 

Update: I pulled the cluster and found what I think was some cracked solder joints where the main red plug was. I re-soldered them and reinstalled and so far no issues... time will tell I'll update with any changes. Thanks!