puzzling recurring electrical problem

1998 Voyager, 120,000 miles, good shape overall, no past accidents. This
past summer it has developed an annoying problem which neither I nor the
local Chrysler dealer can figure out. Periodically the instrument cluster
goes blank. Sometimes the "check engine soon" light comes on, sometimes not,
but there's no code.
The cluster will come back on by itself, sometimes that day, sometimes a few
days later. It seems more common after wet weather, but has happened in dry.
Usually the condition starts after sitting, but has happened while driving
as well.

No other systems are affected i.e. lights, horn, turn signals and
indicators, cruise control, radio etc. The car run fine.

The obvious thing is the ground wire from the cluster but it tests OK on a
test lamp. The fuse below the dash is fine, as is the fuse holder. The
connector plug on the back of the cluster looks clean and undamaged, and the
12V power wire shows no sign of damage. I cleaned up the power block under
the hood which may have helped a little but certainly hasn't fixed it.

The cluster and board look clean and undamaged. My mechanic says it might be
a bad soldered connection on the circuit board that cannot be seen although
he says that is rare on these vans. But it would cost me $500 for a new one,
which is a major fraction of the market value of this van. I guess I could
get a used cluster cheaper, but I'm not sure I want to fool around with one
that may have been in a collision and have its own problems.

Anyone have a similar experience? Ideas?

"Dave Gower" > wrote in message
...
> Anyone have a similar experience? Ideas?

I have a 90 Reatta, and those cars are known for having dash problems.

I remember that there are people out there who have specialized in
rebuilding this type of instrumentation,and the same might hold for
yours. All in all, it is not too expensive in this case.

I will go back through the Reatta forum, and see if I can find some of the
people or companies who do this.

If I see anything interesting, I will post. Otherwise, will keep silent.

http://www.Rexservice.com/

The above link was for the company that works on the Reatta instruments.
They are in Illinois, I think.
At the time of the post, the repairs were estimated to be about $75 plus
shipping.

Now, I don't know if they can go through yours, but might be worth a
shot.

Exactly the same problem on our 99 T&C, except for the check-engine
light. I researched this awhile ago and found a site where this was
reported a few times.

One fellow had it fixed by the dealer, and it turned out to be a bad
connection/connector.

So far our 99 T&C is responding to percussive maintenance- a good
open-handed slap on the top of the dash.

-DDave

In the USAF, we called it Impact Therapy.

wrote:
> Exactly the same problem on our 99 T&C, except for the check-engine
> light. I researched this awhile ago and found a site where this was
> reported a few times.
>
> One fellow had it fixed by the dealer, and it turned out to be a bad
> connection/connector.
>
> So far our 99 T&C is responding to percussive maintenance- a good
> open-handed slap on the top of the dash.
>
> -DDave
>