Dead Instrament cluster on a caravan!

[Jeremy airjer W]

I finally had a chance to get some pics of what happens to the 99 an older (I think 96) caravans that have the instrament clusters go dead.

The first thing I do is whack the dash. If it starts working I know that there is a pretty good chance the solder joints are cracked where the main connector is soldered to the circuit board. If it doesn't come back to life I check the fuses if there o.k. the I pull the cluster and check for power and ground at the connector. In this case it was a pink wire and red with white. Both had power and the ground, black with green, was fine.

With the cluster on the bench you'll need to remove the cardboard backer and then all the screws that hold the circuit board in place. Unplug the ribbon style harness that plugs into the circuit board. Then gently remove the circuit board from the cluster and flip it over.

Carefully look at the thirteen main connector solder joints (to the left of the screwdriver).

If you see any that are cracked or look like there is a ring around them there's a pretty good chance you found the problem. This one happens to be the main ground for the cluster.

If you look carefully you'll can see a very thin black line where the joint has failed. A quick resolder of this joint and it was good as new!

[shizzy]

I have done that a few times on the old body style Dodge Neons. Must be a Dodge thing....