'97 Town and Country 3.8 starts, runs 1 second, dies out

'65 Polara · #1 05-10-2009, 11:57 AM

Our '97 Town and Country is having an issue. It will start up and run for about a second or two, then stall out. It will start again and do the same thing. I have checked all the fuses and relays. A clue could be that neither the tachometer, gas gauge, or temperature gauge work when this problem occurs, nor does the digital odometer or gear shift indicator. It happened once before a few weeks ago, but went away after a few minutes and it ran normally since then. The "service engine soon" light isn't on, but there is an error code set, a code 66, which is no signal from the TCM or BCM. I don't know if that is related to this problem or not. Anyone have any ideas what the cause could be? Thanks!

tempfixit · #2 05-10-2009, 01:39 PM

Try smacking the top of your dash once. Sounds like a cracked solder issue on instrument panel cluster or the vehicle security system problem.

vipergg · #3 05-13-2009, 05:54 PM

Yup sounds like the famous dashboard issue . Great design a crack in a solder joint in the dashboard keeps the whole vehicle from running . Wonder what brilliant engineer designed that setup ?

'65 Polara · #4 05-13-2009, 07:42 PM

Thanks, Guys! I've got a good instrument cluster on a '97 Caravan parts car. I'll switch them tomorrow and keep you posted about whether or not the problem recurs. We got stranded last weekend and had to call AAA; we had it towed to our local mechanic and when he went to check it out the next day, it started and ran fine. So we drove it home and will now try this fix.

RIP · #5 05-14-2009, 03:18 AM

There is a pic of the problem in this thread: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=480027

'65 Polara · #6 09-09-2009, 08:04 PM

Hi, everyone! Just wanted to follow up and let you all know that I replaced the instrument cluster the day after my last post (May 14), and haven't had any further issues. Seems like we hit the nail on the head! Cheers!

RIP · #7 09-10-2009, 03:48 AM

Great news. Thanks for coming back with the fix.

4breezes · #8 09-10-2009, 12:03 PM

Is this a year specific problem? Or does it plague a specific generation, such as gen 3? Or is this something we might run into in any Caravan?

Thanks

RIP · #9 09-10-2009, 03:56 PM

Generally applies to 3rd generation (96-00) but has popped up on early 4th gens (01-07) as well. Don't believe I've read about it effecting 5th gen (08-10) vans. This is based on what I've seen on this and other forums over the years. We can hope they redisigned the connection at some time and it's not an age related problem.

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