Faq’s
circuit bending includes a very specific definition. Modification goes way past the scope from the randomness based on circuit bending and includes using electronics theory, added electronic circuitry, and real life electronics manufacturing experience to create modified instruments seem just like they are able to and become as stable as they can. I consider our instruments to become modified not circuit bent.Would you still offer switched versions? – On units in which a patchbay has shown to be stable without crashing I’d always recommend a patchbay. Having a patchbay you receive much more sonic modification options and greater mechanical reliability than you’d having a switched version. With this being stated certain modifications still require switches for stability. For those who have questions please email.
Just how much will this cost? – All the prices listed on this web site are guide lines only and therefore are susceptible to change without warning. Prices can vary based on market conditions for example current instrument costs and current supplier costs for parts, etc. Thinking about my qualifications, experience and quality my costs are very competitive. Please message me with any sort of prices questions and I’ll gladly respond to them.
How To Repair Chrysler/Dodge Minivan Instrument Cluster Problems -EricTheCarGuy
Video COMMENTS:
- DJWolkF YQ: Thank you brotha helped out a bunch
- long live king Trump BellaRomano: I have 2 vans like it and same problem,I find out it was the wire connector .
- dodo dede: Eric the 1997 cluster panel is not the same the middle part that is connected to the track control connection comes out then you see a couple of more screws before taking the whole unit out mine is not separate it’s part of the whole unit I don’t think there are two screws holding the unit I hope I’m having a hard time pulling it out afraid of cracking it –any suggestions
- Greg Alexander: When the cluster has that power supply issue, it won’t power up and you will have no communication when trying to access it via a scan tool…I have seen numerous vans that will keep when moving the ignition harness but have always tested ok
- D.j. B: Don’t you love it when people want a mechanic to fix there electrical problems. and or, any & everything wrong with people’s car’s, houses, & so on & so forth. or better yet, when you tell someone how to fix their problem & they don’t listen! prime example! At the time I had a grand am 1995 I believe, it had a dohc 2.3 & a friend had the same vehicle. There was a rubber tube that controlled the vacume advance & controlled the timing, 1 small crack or hole & the car would run horribly! She didn’t listen! .50c fix. She scrapped the car over that issue.
- levi youmans: Own a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan,its in WalMart parking lot right now. IOD is not bad but it wont crank and cluster is crazy. Relay switches going crazy.
- ynotsllim2: Hi Eric. First time commenter lol. I have an issue with my fuel gauge as described in this video https://youtu.be/SohS44nbgQY (not my video but doing the same thing) what do you think might be the problem?? The sender has been replaced already. It’s a 2000 grand caravan (voyager in Australia)
- Fred Hand: Not bad for a car which was neglected by it’s owner it’s a miracle it lasted 200000 miles
- zukakog: My gauges went out the other day, just after I filled up the tank. Van started up just fine, so I used my Bluetooth scanner and Torque on my phone as a makeshift cluster. I had the great luck to get siphoned sometime the next day, but had no idea due to the lack of a gas gauge. I drove for about 40 miles on what must’ve been fumes and sludge, stalling just up the hill from my house. I could cost to the house, but not make it up the steep drive! After figuring out the gas thing, and wacking the dash a few time, I got the car to stay running long enough to get it up the drive.Following this great video, I started to remove the cluster. I had a bad feeling when about half the screws were either not original, or just missing. When I finally got everything out, the cluster didn’t have a cardboard back on it. Another bad omen. After I removed the circuit board and flipped it over, my suspicions were confirmed: the pins in question were a mess. Someone had clearly tried to resolder them already. This might be why my odometer and trip computer have never worked… There is burnt flux everywhere, along with a few blobs of stray solder.Wish me luck!
- Pilar cortez: Thanks for the video man good job ? I have a?? For u a friend of mine have a 2002 town and country van and the speedometer gage it’s not working I reset it then it work for a week and went out again any suggestions please
- CircularMirror7: My hazard light fuse kept blowing. I found out that it was short circuiting at a very corroded trailer plug. Hope that helps anyone.
- Aniceto Maldonado Jr: @EricTheCarGuy Stoopid question, what size bulbs were those, I’ve been thinking about changing the bulb colors. Thanks to your video for demonstrating the instrument cluster removal. Looks easy enough just need to know what size are the bulbs. They look like 194’s for the big ones what are the little bulbs as well.
- Felipe Rodrigues: I just love this series of videos on Barbara’s minivan. People sometimes just don’t get the real message behind on helping other people. For instance I live in Brazil a third world country where cars are really expensive and we keep them running for a long long time so we need to find resources to fix our imported cars.. these videos are a golden mine for me . I just recently purchased a minivan like that and I’m learning so much from watching it. Besides it was such nice thing for Barbara because she also help other people with this vehicle… anyway congratulations Erick you’re such nice professional and human being.Thank you so much!!!
- JOE MASTER PANTHER ZIPPILLI: Yes I found this very useful it kept me from ripping out my Dash thinking it was just a snap in type. Lol
- fridaynightgamefilm: Thank you for posting this video. I had the same problem on my 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan. I would be driving down the road, and everything would be running perfectly fine, and suddenly the engine would die. Sometimes I could restart it, and sometimes it wouldn’t restart right away. It would crank, but it wouldn’t start. I had tried many things – replacing the crankshaft sensor, camshaft sensor, coil pack, relays, PCM/ECU (several times!). I found this video and others, and went through the procedure. Sure enough, I found a cracked solder joint on the first pin of the connector, just as you showed here. Fixed it yesterday. I’ll post another response if the fix doesn’t hold, but I’m 99.99% sure that after 10 years of fighting this ridiculous intermittent fault, I’ve finally found it and nailed it.
- Jersdunz: My POS Caravan is/was doing this same BS … now thanks to this video.. IT IS NOT!!! Thanks for taking the time to haggle with the Camera and doing the edits needed!!
- Penny Fawver: It is very possible that the gauges were going out that one single pin was what was causing mine to not work. They would work off and on for months. It wasn’t that important because I have a gps that gives me my speed. I decided to fix it because I got tired of guessing how much gas I had.
- ferkemall: On the subject of buying a Chrysler i would sooner shit a pineapple whole than buy their product !
- ferkemall: Chrysler is a dealer designer vehicle you got to keep taking the parts off to get to the bit you need to repair /change .One thing that gets overlooked these days is the solder they use in today,s world of biodegradable lead free non violent materials the solder has a high alloy content and in Europe we have dash boards that fail due to dry jointing on a regular basis so much so that there are a lot of companies doing exchange units , i have solder from back in the day and i have the newer stuff pull out a few inches of the newer one and it will stay there do the same with the older stuff and it will droop down , if i have to repair circuits i use the old stuff it works every time and lasts longer ! /UK
- Knight Stryke: Really appreciate the video on this. My cluster would go dead randomly and giving the top of the dash the old Fonzarelli Touch and it would come back up, but it began to become more frequent. When I pulled mine apart the exact same pin you soldered had a very visible cracked solder joint. Soldered it back and replaced all the cluster bulbs with LEDs while I had it apart since its such a pain to get out. No longer have the problem now.
- Nate James: Went through this entire painstaking process… Only set me back about 40 bucks to replace it from a pick n pull, however that wasn’t the problem. The problem is the BCM or body control module under the dash behind the fuse box, it’s a bitch to pull and replace… Time and they’re expensive… It’s not just a simple dash cluster fix.
- Brian Djordjevic: When I was young I accidentally put the car in gear because of no shift interlock backed right out of the driveway
- RagingWhiteman: @ericthecarguy
Can this be the same for a 2007 Plymouth voyager? Friends vans cluster is doing similar.
- laokram: Using Chinese cheap two plain electronic boards (not multi layered ) is a sure way for recalls !
- Marcus Griswold: Great video. Had to use the zoom on my phone to inspect the solder points. The four corner points of the main wiring harness connector seemed loose do I resoldered them. It’s an intermittent failure so I’ll have to see how long the repair holds.
- Frank Salazar: Great time to upgrade cluster lighting to led lol
- Alexandra E: My goodness your patient! But I wonder if this video’s information can help me decipher why on my 98 Dodge Caravan when I shut the van off and remove the key, the lights flash on and off while a clicking sound can be heard. Also, my battery gets drained if I don’t disconnect it once I park. If I forget and don’t, I need to get my jump cables to charge the battery again. Aside from replacing the vehicle, which will happen eventually, cuz the a.c. has died as well, could you offer some clues on what I can try before seeking a mechanic?
- john Doe: Your phone probably has a cracked solder joint, you “might” fix it by taking cover off and inspecting closely every solder joint especially around the charge socket as it gets alot of abuse from pulling on the charge cord while its plugged in. Old vacuum tube radios and tv’s would have to be hit on top or side to get it to work, could be same problem but also was the many sockets for the many vacuum tubes. One guy fixed his snowmobile simply by unplugging every electrical connector on it and re -plugging each one in 4 times which had a cleaning effect on the pins and prongs inside the connectors, so there really no broke part, just unclean connections.
- john Doe: Great video ! U might add that they should always disconnect battery and disable airbags too. On the actual inspection, wiggling the socket might have shown you movement so you could see where a solder joint came loose or cracked (notorious problem as you know), also inspect all socket pins for dirt, oxidation, or charring, again great work !
- dan blankenship: Thanks a lot Eric, awesome video series.I have the 2000 Dodge with many of the same issues. I did the radiator first and you nailed it on the head. Chrysler sure went out of their way to make it a pain in the rear.I only have the BCM rebuild to fix my intermittent electrical gremlins and the blower fan that is noisy and sometime won’t start up.
Had I watched these earlier I wouldn’t have bought this van (first time Chrysler owner), and now I know why my mechanic friend cringes when I ask him about working on it. All he says is ” you pay me by the time it takes, and you don’t have enough money”.
One more thing about Barbara’s Alarm issue, I think I figured out, if the hood switch is not fully depressed, it will cause the horn to go off. Since she used to “disco” the battery cables before the new battery.
- Kevman: 201k, brave minivan.
- jarin wilson: Low system voltage(van will not start)can easily cause weird gauge fluctuations, etc. These vans are NOT notorious for gauge issues(GM products yes, not Dodge Minivans)
- Randell Schimdt: $862 for the part, 50 cents for the solder
- chemech: Just a comment on the lightbulbs in the instrument cluster… those clusters don’t get removed very often – if ever – in the life of a vehicle, and once you’ve gone so far with an ~seventeen year old cluster, you might as well just go ahead and replace the bulbs on general principles…I’m only at 13:59, so you might have decided to replace them, but as of where I’m at now, I’d recommend it just to be sure…
- MrBobjones1000: Thanks for the video. I had to replace the instrument cluster in a 1999 dodge caravan and I followed your video step by step. Replacement one works like a charm. Cheers.
- KOakaKO: I don’t know how relevant this is to you now, but I think I see at least three broken connections when you were showing a closeup of that circuit board from the instrument cluster. Several of the solder joints are connected directly to a “through” wire, that goes through a hole to the other side of the board.You can see one of them right at the start of the closeup, at 10:08 toward the bottom left, another in the center of the picture at 10:20. I don’t know if it means anything, but it appears as though these solder joints have broken off where they connected to a wire from the other side of the board.Anyway, something to look at and consider for the future. I hope it’s helpful, but maybe not. 😉
- Robert Carter: Fake dude. Should be Eric the CarGirl. Busted.
- Giovanni Foulmouth: Such a disgusting car doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.
- Los The Ghost: That van is cancer.
- Joe Borsch: Eric, I had the same problem on a 02. Smacking the dash fixed it enough for me to get it started. Figured I would mention it for anyone maybe looking for a quick solution.
- Copier Works: POSSIBLY RELATED? I replaced the computer twice for getting extremely hot, even built a heat shield for it, to reflect away the exhaust heat. The symptom was no crank only when engine extremely hot… Like after idling for 15+ min. with ac on in 95+ summer only. NOTE: Fans, radiator, entire cooling system works fine, coolant temp is ok. Just the “brain” was getting hot as an iron when no crank occurs. Pour a cup of ice on the brain & wait 10 min. every time fixes it. Also occasional parking lights coming on, (one side only) loss of window motor or seat motor function, instrument gauges freak, SO THE FIX: Took BCM out (4 screws, small square box in front of the fuse box, and directly behind the computer that was getting smoking hot). Inspected the rows of pins. All looked oxidized and many discolored/brown. I cleaned all the pins with scotch brite pad, sprayed with CRC electronics cleaner and applied electrolytic grease. Did same to all pins on underside of the fuse box connectors.
Over a year now with no problem at all. Dealers and independent shops tend to go for the computer too fast! After 30 years of fixing copiers, when it’s “possessed” it’s almost never the circuit boards, its a connection.
- AIDA0691: Month and a half my truck town & Country showed a failure, the needles are out of control board, not how to explain it, we could say that “dance” … the technician said that should replace the BCM, this was done, the failure persisted … then changed the general computer, a lot of money, long time … a few days ago, in a casual conversation with a person who never see because he lives in another city, told me that the fault is on the dashboard … I have started to investigate and oh, wonder !! I find your video as well explained … I will encourage and desarmaré the dashboard !! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you very much!!I would be grateful to tell me your opinion: You may have broken some welding spots?I helped the google translator, please forgive my poor command of the language …
- michp38: Eric, my instrument cluster was dead. I had that problem before and this time it was the spring contacts that hold the guages in. They had a little mold and cleaning them did the trick.
- Ron MacDonnell: Erik Thecarguy!!! PLS REPLY AS IM HAVE AN ISSUE WITH MY FORD FOCUS CLUSTER! DID THIS REPAIR WORK? IS THERE AN UPDATE ON THE ISSUE?
- cru8595: Wow Eric new camera? Awesome…. What kind of camera so clear… Really enjoy your videos has helped me more than once, keep up the good work. Thanks Bob
- TU FIDELIDAD TV: Hi Eric, quick question:on the chry 98 cluster removal, will the van turn on without the cluster connected?some have told me that it does. Definitely not for running, its that I am trying to finde an irregularity, and neet to test to see if it turns on with out the cluster, thanks, God bless.
- guuba gaaba: did you ever notice (it always happens to me ) that when your soldering the smoke ALWAYS seems to go right foe your face ??????????? WTF !!!!!!!!
- Chris M: Hey, Eric. If she’s having problems with the ignition key not turning let me tell you what I have to do. I also have a ’98 Voyager and I’ve found that if I park it with the the front wheels turned (even a little bit) I have problems removing the key. Tell her to always point the wheels straight ahead every time she shuts off the car and you should be able to put off replacing the ignition switch for quite awhile. Also, I’ve found that one side of the (double-sided) key tends to fit (and work) better than the other side.
- Tim Zzz: there was a lawsuit over that brake shift interlock thing you mention in this video
- Ryan P: 201,000 miles!!!! On that Mormon assault vehicle, time to say bye bye
- Dick Buelow: You did not show how you put the electrical clips back together on on the left side of the steering wheel,,you said close quarters,,how hard is that to do?
- David M: that van should have been junked.just buy a better one.dodge products are garbage
- Rich B: Your video was a piece of cake to follow on my 1999. I had the same pin on the instrument panel that needed re-soldering. Fixed the problem in about and hour. Saved probably $1500 and a masive headach associated with having someone else do he job for me. That’s a $1500.00 per hour savings. Will you take money, or beer for payment? IOU Thanks, Rich
- Antonio Cooper: Is it a fuse for the cluster
- Antonio Cooper: Is there a fuse for it
- John Zook: Eric, I just found your youtube videos and now I have to ask a question.
First of all the rear window defroster does not work and I suspect it is the relay, however, I cannot find any diagrams of the relay layout on the relay/fuse assembly located in the engine compartment.
Which one is the relay for the rear window defroster?
Thanks
John
- 78Adrie Richards: I have a 1999 Town and Country that was sold to me as a solid “family vehicle” 2 years later and I still haven’t gotten to use it. I have sunk hundreds of dollars into trying to figure it out. Local mechanics call it the van from hell. It keeps locking me out as though I’m trying to steal it. My research led me here to see how to check these solders. Thanks for this video, gonna give it a shot.
- Duane Watson: Epic instructional video my friend! Thank you so much. Our Dodge Caravan was doing the same thing. Cluster was dead. Took it apart & had “3” cracked solder joints on the back of the main plug. Just heated them up, applied a touch of solder, & it works like new!!!! Thanks again Eric!!!!
- Nouha Abayed: Heya, The best guide that I have checked out was on Volt daddy (just google it) Probably the most helpful info on batteries and this kinda things that have found.
- Valerie Ryba: Thank you for this video! After 2 years of pounding on the dash our 99 Chrys Town and Country with 74,000 miles is FIXED! A previous tow to the dealer ended up with no solution. Followed your instructions on removal and repair. NOTE – even with a magnifying glass we could not see a break in the solder joints on the printed circuit board. However I used my cell phone camera to photo it then enlarged it – there it was – cracked all the way around but not visible to the eye or even with a magnifying glass. It’s been over 2 weeks and used the car daily and all seems A-OK. Previous problem was not starting and loss of instrument cluster. Can’t thank you enough!!
- Stephen Collins: Glad to see you keeping this van on the road! And helping this woman out! If u ever get stumped feel free to Contact me.. I am are master certified and a Chrysler certified tech… And i specialize in these and other mid80s until now… I know these vans inside and out and could tear one down In my sleep…. Also one issue that these vans have is the bcm and cold solder joints and bad resistors
- حيدر اللامي: لماذا لم تنشرو فيديو جديد
- masterd151: New series name….Why you don’t by a Chrysler product
- pinfarmer: Outside pins can get cold solder joints from vibration. Do you use a temperature controlled soldering iron? I found out the hard way variable wattage just get hotter and hotter.
- tesspinay: hi eric..my ic back lights does not turn on and my ic make a long buzz sound.
- HUBBABUBBA DOOPYDOOP: I noticed when you moved the tilt steering it was intermittent. Just a guess- how’s the ribbon cable between stuff? Tilt steering is notorious for wearing of wires- no matter how they’re made.
- ***Classified***: If it was my cluster, I’d hit each joint with a little bit of solder. Just a peace of mind. Maybe spray some electrical cleaner on that plug behind it too. Might save it from coming back in the shop…Of course, that wiring harness and ignition switch seem like the real problem. I notice you pulling like mad just to remove the key. That tumbler isn’t that hard to replace.
- Josh Aden: Hi
- _Milo: In the 1991 Dodge Daytona (a car i own), the 1991 instrument clusters are notorious for bad solder joints. Why? Because 1990’s half-assing dodge of course. More examples are mixing clear coat with the base coat, misaligned brackets for torsion bars, loose shift linkage for manual cars, and Dodge Daytona exclusive, poorly fit transaxles. Mine is making alot of clanking noises, so im going to have to pull my whole transmission.
- Daniel Short: F.Y.I, don’t ever use a magnetic screwdriver on a circuit board.
- tytotheler92: That shift interlock thing got Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep and I think a few remaining Eagle models into some hot water back in the late 90s. While most the other brands had a shift interlock system, Chrysler decided to save a few bucks and not include it…even on their extremly popular Minivans. That, and the 1st and second gen vans didn’t have a dual safety latch on the rear gate…so in some accidents the gate flew open allowing ejection of passengers in the back. (Mostly small kids.)Both stupid things to save a few cents on.
- Darrel Holiday: Reminds me of my 740…except the cluster on that is held by just 2 screws
- GDLutz: We had this issue with our 1997 Grand Caravan. Banging on the dash seemed to be a temporary fix. That is until all the gauge needles fell off!After driving with no gauges for a few months, we took the dash apart, put the needles on and actually diagnosed the problem. Ours had some visibly faulty solder joints and re soldering them fixed the issue.
- Rodolfo Pierre: everything that you think can be repaired will be repaired on the van trust me she might as well junk it cause is never gonna be 100% had to get rid of mine.
- HellcatCooper89: I also noticed towards the end of the video the chiming stopped when Eric tilted the steering wheel in the up position. There’s an electrical issue with the ignition switch. I would do some diagnosis on the ignition switch and see what happens
- DubSe7en: Boomerang job…
- Justin Sayle: +EricTheCarGuy so is it better (cheaper) to just use electric than a compressor or is the long run more towards compressors than electric, I do a little side work here and there for family’s and friends. All i got are just hand tools less than what i started after an incident of theft, and so im looking for upgrades now that i got some change in my pocket
- pacco46: I had to replace my mother’s ignition switch(2000 caravan). It would play havoc on the interior lighting and radio when turned off. lights would stay on and chime would randomly play. Also, dash lights would flicker or go out all together. Once i got the old switch out, i noticed that from heavy usage and wear, that copper dust (from the contacts sliding across ea other) had settled into the grease and created several “jumps”. This was shorting several contacts that controlled accessories.
- ihate6oogle: hey Eric! my piston camshaft nozle is “failing to eject” pls help me! How can I fix it?
- Jim Skipper: I even bought a new panel from Chrysler and tried it. It’s back in the shipping box. 😛
- Jim Skipper: About the “key in ignition” warning tone – my 1998 T&C doesn’t warning me unless I touch the switch enough to push it just a bit further into the switch.
- Jim Skipper: Eric, I had a similar problem with my 1999 Chrysler T&C. I was in the process of checking out the solder joints on the BCM. Then I did what you’re doing. I also tried the ignition switch. Finally, had to go to the dealer. They replaced the BCM I had bought from them and installed myself, then they had to replace that one, too. The third one has worked well for more than a year. I paid the original price of a refurbished BCM and then only the labor for the dealer’s work.
- batchnerd: Im actually wondering if the cluster problem and the loose ignition connection are related. If the ignition switch looses connection while driving (say hitting a bump), could that stop power being sent to the cluster?
- Electronic Workshop: Great videos EricI see you got yourself a temp. controlled soldering station,
- Gristle Von Raben: Eric, Sir, if you have the time, I have a problem. We have a 2001 dodge ram 1500, largest engine size, 5.9L. my brother took it on a long trip, and when he got back, a few weeks later, it began to just shut off. It will start up after a few seconds. And seems to run without missing. We took the alternator to an alternator rebuilding shop, they tested it and said it was fine. We took the truck to autozone, under its own power, and they found a dead cell in the battery. We replaced it, but that night, it died four times on the way back home until I put the transmission overdirve off. I don’t know for sure if that was the problem. It was low on transfluid, took two quarts to bring it back to normal. But now it dies no matter what, after a while, but is very unpredictable. It died going downhill on the highway, and as I was about to pull over, it restarted itself. I don’t know if the transmission turning the engine restarted it, or if the, well, I just don’t know. I can put a voltage regulator on it, if the one in the computer is bad. But if the transmission is doing, it, idk what to do. Also, can a crankshaft sensor do this? If you get to this, thanks, if not, I still appreciate your channel, and look forward to more videos. Have a great week.
- Doni Bayne: has anyway done heater core on this type of van. I have 99 dodge caravan that has been just like this van mechanically so. just not sure how to get it out. it’s sits right next to gas pedal.
- elgransick: 11:15
Crack in the joint? That’s not good… that’ll mess up your whole trip.
- Raymond Meyer: So”L”dered*,So”L”dering*All jokes aside…great video keep it UP!
- Jason Hammack: I think Barbara has the hots for Eric and is purposely sabotaging van.
- Richard Cowtails: chrysler = millions of screws
- Amber Mulford: I have a 96 grand caravan that was doing the same thing I found one of the issues to be with the bcm one of the black fuses was bad and had bad sauders so far it has fixed my issue
- J Lang: Just a question Eric, is it necessary to ground yourself to release and static electricity before touching the circuit board?
- Dubislife: 16:54 release the mixtape
- bain5872: Battery voltage drop (bad connection) usually ground to chassis. This causes a voltage drop during starting that causes the computer not to register gauges. This is a common problem with these vans.
- WarefareModern3: Adjust the speedo while you’re at it so she wont be dragging ass holding everyone up.
- Akiva Feinstein: The next generation of Caravan (01-07) has just a handful of screws just below the cluster and it is out in 30s. Good thing the older Caravans has good bulbs and the newer ones have bulbs that are not meant to last.
- MichiganNative: I like the 60 frames per second video. Personally, I think that this makes a bigger difference than back when HD was first a thing on youtube.
- Jonathan Snipes: eric keep up good vids, however i think you dropped the ball on this one, you already had it apart and verified a problem with igniton switch are harness, why let it go back without investigating further, why not check the no starting issue as you moved harness around, dont want a small issue to become bigger.
- suliman ansary: Hey.My mitsubishi Pajero 1995 has a problem with using alot of radiator water and releases alot of exhaust smoke when turned on. really need help if it wont bother you.
- Jonathan Peden: Dear Eric, it occurs to me “Fix It Forward” would make an excellent TV show. Have you approached any producers/networks?