Body Control Module - Really necessary?

[Midnitelouie]

I'll try to be brief, but may get off on a tangent due to the frustration level I'm at currently.

'99 Plymouth Voyager. (2.4L 4cyl model, 3 speed) No theft system that I know of...but this has been the wife's car for ages, and until reading on here, never thought to check.

However, the instrument panel is acting "dead". But it's not a complete "dead". The backlights on the main panel and the upper "warning lights" are acting normally.


However the three gauges and the odometer/trip odometer are dead. The needles won't rise for the speed, temp or gas gauges. The odometer is blank.

Took it in and they're quoting me at least $730 for a new body control module, and that's at least a week out due to it being a backordered part.

Any other suggestions as to what I can look at before deciding whether or not to keep the massive pile of junk now?

[Stretch58]

Could be a instrument cluster solder joint problem. Do a search in this forum on "cluster" and there will be a bunch of stuff come up about it. Banging(within reason) the dash right above the instrument cluster may bring it back temporarily if it is intermittent.
http://www.ingriddijkers.com/CaravanPics.html
Regards

[RIP]

...plus push and hold the trip and reset buttons. The instruments should go through a self test cycle. If they move, you at least know the instruments themselves are good. If they don't consider trying a new cluster. Believe it or not, that banging trick mentioned works sometimes. If it doesn't it points to the BCM. BCMs can be had on the internet for around $300

[vipergg]

Originally Posted by Midnitelouie

I'll try to be brief, but may get off on a tangent due to the frustration level I'm at currently.

'99 Plymouth Voyager. (2.4L 4cyl model, 3 speed) No theft system that I know of...but this has been the wife's car for ages, and until reading on here, never thought to check.

However, the instrument panel is acting "dead". But it's not a complete "dead". The backlights on the main panel and the upper "warning lights" are acting normally.


However the three gauges and the odometer/trip odometer are dead. The needles won't rise for the speed, temp or gas gauges. The odometer is blank.

Took it in and they're quoting me at least $730 for a new body control module, and that's at least a week out due to it being a backordered part.

Any other suggestions as to what I can look at before deciding whether or not to keep the massive pile of junk now?

First thing to try is go under the hood in the fuse and relay center above the battery and find the one labeled "IOD" and pull for like 3 minutes then reinsert and see if this fixes it , sometimes this will reset the bcm and fix this problem , you will lose any radio presets but this worked for me once and other people with the same type problem . Fixed the problem and never happened again , the bcm is just a computer and occasionally it will get hung up . Let us know how you make out..

[Midnitelouie]

OK, as soon as I started reading some of the responses....something went... *bing* inside the old cranium, and I've started to piece a few things together...

(And a little bit more background info, as I didn't want to turn the original post into a wall of text, and at the time, I didn't think it had any relevence...)

1.) The banging thing. Worked. For awhile. :P First time we found out about this, we were stuck in traffic, and the wife got extremely frustrated by the gauges and went *BAM* on the dash. 'Lo and behold, they came back...

2.) This worked for roughly about...a month? Then...ahem...I got a little too "punchy" with it, evidently. Because about a mile down the road, the needle to the gas gauge fell out...

3.) Literally about a week later, the gauges to the temp and spedometer fell out as well.

OK, so fast forward to last weekend. Got the Chilton guide, took apart the dash, and disconnected the cluster. Was able to replace the needles into the gauges again, and it appears (ie, when tilting the cluster) the needles moved with gravity...

So plugged it back in, and nada... (still getting the backlights, but no odometer, and no needle movement).

Bear with me, nearly done...

From the information gained thus far, it appears that it's either the cluster itself, or the wiring between the BCM and the cluster, correct? (Because I have this sneaky suspicion that pounding on the dash like that isn't going to suddenly get the BCM to sit up and take notice...)

Planning on hitting a salvage yard in Dallas this weekend and getting a new cluster to test that out. (Or at least examining the circuit panel on the back of the current cluster at the very least.)

Now, my sort of followup question would be... If I get another cluster from the salvage yard, and it's still not picking up any needle movement, is there a way to easily test the wiring from the BCM to the cluster itself? (In case of any breaks/wear/disconnects?) Because the wiring diagrams in the Chilton guide are great for seeing that the pink wire connects X to Y, but not real helpful on the harnesses and whatnot that might involve replacing, or how to check if there's a short in said wire...

(BTW, I can't already express the sheer thankfulness that I already have, as at least it appears that it might not be the BCM after all.)

[Midnitelouie]

Wanted to come back and give a BIG thank you to everyone.

The needles are working again.

Appears that it was a bad instrument cluster. Was able to find a "replacement" cluster from a salvage yard near the house. Got it installed yesterday and working like a champ.

Couldn't have done it without ya'll, as I probably would still be arguing with the garage about them having replaced the Body Control Module and it still not working.

Kudos to all.