The Chrysler Minivan Fan Club Forums banner

Please help. I lost the Dash board panel.

4K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  Pappy 
#1 ·
If anyone has a clue I will take it for what it is worth.
I have a 99 tc limited. I have lost function on the dash instrument panel. (I know it could be a great way out of a speeding ticket but....) Over the last month it would come and go... Now it is gone. The alarm light is on and the abs light. Oh and lets not forget about the check engine light. When I brought it to have it looked at. The shop said that nothing was reading from that panel. They suggested I take it to a dealer. I just got back and man being a female dude they wanted to take me for a ride. They told me that the shop being that they were not an authroized dealed could not do a full scan. That it would be at least 300 to do the scan (not fix it) and I would have to be without my car for at least a week. Um yeah single parent. (who still has a job) can not afford to take a week of just to have the car looked at. So any suggestions to where to start would be awesome. Right now the panel says that I am going 120 on an empty tank of gas and I do not even have the odomiter (free miles :) ) Thank you for anyones time and suggestions.
 
#2 ·
Next time you drive it, smash the top of the dashboard with your fist and see if the gauges come alive. If they do it is a common failure of the solder joints in the instrument cluster that requires re-soldering to fix. Although if the speedometer is at 120, it may be a different failure.

Try pounding on it as it is a free home diagnostic test. :)
 
#3 ·
#4 ·
Well, the good news Moneira, is that you have come to the right place. Lots of knowledge on this board. Now, a couple of questions and things to try:

As mentioned before, you can give the dash, just above the speedo, a firm (dont go overboard) rap with your palm/fist and see it anything changes.

But before you do that, try running an auto-test on the dash. With the ignition key in the 'on' position, hold BOTH the trip and reset buttons in the same time for about 5 seconds. That should start the test. Let it run to completion(a minute or less) and report back here with the results.

Do the heater controls seem to work fine? Or is it stuck on defrost all the time?
 
#6 · (Edited)
Your problem sounds like it's related to the CCD multiplex data bus. The who what??? CCD stands for Chrysler Collision Detection and all it is is the path (2 wires) the microprocessors use to send simultaneous messages to and from each other. These microprocessors are located in the instrument cluster and the Body Control Module or BCM, amongst other places. The BCM plays a major role in operating the instruments on the cluster. Trouble is, we don't know if this is the problem or not. How can we find out?

You mentioned you have a check engine light (service engine soon light) and are balking at the $300 scan. I think we're missing something in the translation there because I can't think of any reason to charge that much unless they want to send you to Hawaii afterwords. That said, you need to get the van scanned to reveal what codes are turning on the light. In many states (not California) AutoZone will connect a scanner and read your codes for free. Several other auto stores will do the same.

All the steps suggested in previous posts will help pin this down. The "bash the dash" trick is one way of revealing what is usually a CCD bus circuit fault caused by the bad solder joints. If we see the error codes it will help even more. Someone will probably bring up the "key dance" to get the codes. That's fine but, a scanner will get at more specific information. Try your best.

BTW - One easy thing to try is to pull the IOD fuse in the PDC (fuse panel next to battery) for 2-3 minutes. This will reset the BCM. Disconnecting the battery will do the same but, it will also clear your codes - not something you want right now.
 
#7 ·
It is almost guaranteed that your problem is a bad solder connection on instrument cluster circuit boards. This a VERY common problem on the 98-99 vans. The are hundreds of posts on this site and others with the same problem. Follow the links above and you'll see how to fix it. You can either do it yourself or take the instructions to a shop you trust for them to do it. The bulk of the labor is taking the dash apart.

The other thing to check is the condition of your battery and the battery cable connections. Sometimes a weak battery or dirty terminals will cause havoc with the computers.

Research this first before you do anything else. Be wary, many shops and dealers will automatically tell you to replace the computer for about $700-900.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top