Dash lights flicker on and off at night, Speedometer and RPM gauges go crazy day and night, ABS light goes on and off

Asked by Alicia Oct 16, 2013 at 11:00 AM about the 1999 Dodge Caravan

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I want to know if this is going to affect my
battery??

14 Answers

1,075

should nt have any affect if cables are tight and clean on the battery,find out if its charging take it to autozone it's free,than take it to another autoparts and have them see if it's charging just to make sure the first person is telling you the truth.if everything i said is o.k than no worries its a loose plug behind the dash.

21 people found this helpful.
440

I'm an electrical guy. I had the same problem and symptoms as Alicia. I traced my problems to badly corroded clamps at the battery terminals. Removed, cleaned, lubricated and re-installed them about a month ago. None of the earlier symptoms came back so far. If the battery terminals did not fix the problem, I would have continued on to the grounding strap, but did not need to in my case... Hope this helps.

44 people found this helpful.
490

I had the same problem on my 2005 town and country van...I cleaned my battery cables with electronic cleaner....I then removed my cluster (which is super easy don't get scared)...Cleaned that with electrical cleaner and then tightened up ground G300...It's a multi ground connection inside your driver's side slider door compartment under your carpet...Remove the trim to get to it...It grounds EVERYTHING In Your vehicle...It was loose...My issue is gone and has been for 2 years now....Don't let dealers sell you computers and crap....Just check grounds and battery connections and clean and tighten to start.

49 people found this helpful.
370

Having a similar issue with a 2008 Dodge Caravan. We had an old battery that with heavily corroded terminals. It died on us, and I replaced the battery and terminal connections. However, now the van will randomly start to beep constantly and the dashboard gauges flicker with each beep as well as the gauges dip when it beeps. Wondering if ours is a bad ground connection issue. Going to try these troubleshooting tips to see if that hopefully helps.

37 people found this helpful.
1,110

My 2005 T&C had similar issues. I checked the ground under the fuse panel and on the engine block. No change. My AC woukd suddenly stop and then restart, engine seems to stutter for a second and smooth out. Cleaned grounds, replaced battery twice, replaced relays, checked all fuses, pulled electrical plugs on all doors. No changes. Was ready to get rid of the car. Finally cut the battery cables and replaced with after market splices- 'duralast'. Poof- problem gone! $24 fix! I wanted to share my solution with others.

42 people found this helpful.
560

I have a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country where the lights keep flickering on and off and the gauges go all crazy and it seems like if you slow down at a stoplight it will cut off and I checked the battery and the alternator and they test out okay. Does anybody have any answers thank you

56 people found this helpful.
140

hey, would the voltage regulator in the alternator do this if it were pooched?

14 people found this helpful.
110

I had this problem, started with audio display flickering, then after a few month the real trouble began starting with the dashboard lights going haywire, power steering didn't work, both rpm and speedometer goes on and off, car audio volume going up and down erratically and the air conditioning didn't work (blows hot air). At times the car door lock goes crazy (on and off rapidly for a few seconds, sometimes minutes). It goes back to normal after start/stop for many times or driving for about 10-20 minutes and the stop/start, but I wasn't comfortable with doing that. And even after it goes back to normal the check engine light is lit. I really didn't have the time to get it checked, but it annoyed me for the longest time. When the display flickered (1st stage of problem), Honda advised me that it might be a relay switch problem and it'll take a few days to diagnose and repair. Didn't have the luxury to go careless so I didn't leave the car with them. I kept driving when the problem escalated, and I'm sure it's not the battery problem because I just got it replaced. Then while I was driving today I had an idea on what could be the problem. When I bought the car I had a OBD door lock dongle installed (it's an plug and play dongle that goes to the car's On Board Diagnostic plug that will automatically lock your doors when you put the gear to D) and since I noticed that the door lock goes crazy, I figured maybe the dongle is causing the problem (plus it's a third party dongle). I parked the car, switched off the engine and removed the dongle. Started the car and it worked! After driving and stopping and driving it still worked like normal. Issue resolved! Saved a trip to Honda.

11 people found this helpful.
270

I have a 2006 Dodge Grand caravan and for some reason my break light truns on randomley and when it does my Gage's start to drop and act crazy what can it be

27 people found this helpful.
240

I BOUGHT A NEW BATTERY AND ALTERNATOR I HAVE A 2008 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN WHEN IM DRIVING THE DASH LIGHTS STARTS TO FLICKER AND WHEN I STOP AT A LIGHT MY VAN WILL SHUT DOWN BUT BEFORE IT SHUTS DOWN ABS AND BRAKE POP ON THEN SHUT OF I ALSO HAVE TRACTION LIGHT ON ESPBAS LIGHT ON WHAT COULD BE GOING ON

24 people found this helpful.
30

I 2003 Dodge Caravan will not start so we jumped it second home let it run for a little bit next morning went out to start it wouldn't start but the gauges started going crazy but when they opened up my hood of my car the jump it snow fell inside of it so I had my son take a hairdryer to dry the fuse box doing the same thing what can I do

3 people found this helpful.
20

I have a 2006 Grand Caravan. I had problems with my instrument panel lights and dials displaying erratically. The positive battery cable is attached to the battery terminal with a wing nut (never seen this on other vehicles). I tightened it down and all problems disappeared! Not often you can make repairs without even needing any tools :) !!!

2 people found this helpful.

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