1999 Town & Country engine starts then dies then won't start

[guskugler]

I have 99 Town & Country, and I determined this problem to be directly related to a bad soder/wiring connection at the gauge cluster. If the gauges were not consistently powered up prior to starting, the car would die 2-4 seconds later. If the gauges went dead after being in drive or going down the road, no change to the vehicles running would be observed. Just FYI to anyone encounter this specific issue.

[ricky6991]

just posted a long detailed post but the forum freezes and considering i made account just to post the anser to the problem ill make it short cause im aggravated..

the clip going into the guage cluster takes 15min to get to it and the wires are loose going into the cluster pins causing bad connection. if you can punch the dash and it works again then its is not a bad resistor or burnt out computer. stop paying for dealership bullshit.

wires get loose and you can use your finger an give it a slight tug and watch you guage cluster turn off and on. when the cluster shuts off and dies the ' alarm set ' light comes on which will stall car or have a no start situation. when you punch dashboard your moving that wire slightly until the lights come on and make connection.

who knows why the alarm would be wired in a guage cluster but i guess thats why noone buys these junk boxes anymore.

goodluck.

[RIP]

Originally Posted by ricky6991

just posted a long detailed post but the forum freezes and considering i made account just to post the anser to the problem ill make it short cause im aggravated..

the clip going into the guage cluster takes 15min to get to it and the wires are loose going into the cluster pins causing bad connection. if you can punch the dash and it works again then its is not a bad resistor or burnt out computer. stop paying for dealership bullshit.

wires get loose and you can use your finger an give it a slight tug and watch you guage cluster turn off and on. when the cluster shuts off and dies the ' alarm set ' light comes on which will stall car or have a no start situation. when you punch dashboard your moving that wire slightly until the lights come on and make connection.

who knows why the alarm would be wired in a guage cluster but i guess thats why noone buys these junk boxes anymore.

goodluck.

Thanks for the info but I have yet to read of your wire problem at the plug as a fix and have read of the cracked solder joint issue as a fix countless times on this and several other forums and I've been cruising forums for 8 years. That sure isn't to say your wire issue couldn't cause it. No doubt it could but the solder issue is by far the more common fix.

"who knows why the alarm would be wired in a guage cluster" - It's all to do with the CCD data bus on this generation van. PCI and CAN data buses on subsequent generations.

"noone buys these junk boxes anymore" - Do you wear blinders when rolling down a highway?