QuestionHi,
I have a 1994 Dodge Intrepid ES
The problem I’m having is intermittent. Sometimes on startup, the dash indicator lights and gauges won’t come on. I can drive the car, but it will only shift up to 2nd gear (it’s an automatic).
Sometimes when I try to drive it in this condition, it will stall when I come to a stop or slow down to make a turn. It doesn’t stall all the time, though.
When they don’t come on at start-up, the gauges & tranny usually will come on after I’ve driven a while or if I restart the car once or twice. Other times, I can drive to work (about 4-1/2 miles) and everything will have stayed off the whole time.
If the gauges & tranny come on while driving, the car will kind of ‘clunk’ into gear and from then on, everything’s fine.
And, once they come on, they never stop functioning while I’m driving. But, if I stop and park, on re-start they may not come on.
And at other times, all the indicators & dash lights will come on and the car will shift normally from when I start it up.
The fact that it never goes off, once it does come on makes me think it isn’t a short. I’ve researched this on the internet and that’s one of the causes people will suggest.
The other cause I saw was that it could be the transmission sensors. But, it’s not just the speedometer that doesn’t come on it’s all of the gauges & dash lights. I believe most of the ones who had just the speedo & tranny not work were the ones where it was the sensors.
My mechanic replaced the BCM last year when this all this first started happening, thinking that was the problem. But even with that different BCM, the problem stayed the same...intermittent function of the gauges & tranny. It was a used BCM from a used parts dealer. Dodge wanted like $600 for the part, and no one else manufactures new replacement parts. The used one does seem to be working, though.
I took it to a transmission shop and said he didn’t know what the problem was and that I should take it to Dodge. But we all know how much a dealer’s shop can charge for parts & repair.
I also had a different intermittent problem with the ignition cylinder not turning far enough to release the key from the column. That seemed to be related to the factory-recall for the shifter lockup/linkage. Dodge had a problem with the shifter not locking in ‘park’. So they did a retro-fix on that. Maybe a year after that is when the ignition cylinder wouldn’t let go of the key sometimes.
I believe my mechanic changed the cylinder. He might have also disconnected whatever solenoid/connection that kept the cylinder from turning all the way.
I know this is a long story, but I wanted to give you as much info as possible.
I wish I could get in touch with some of the people who had the same/similar problem and see what they ended up doing to fix the problem.
If it needs a new BCM & PCM (maybe $1200+ in parts), then it’s not worth fixing. It is a ’94. But, if it’s only a few hundred or so, then I’ll get this car fixed.
Thank you for any help you can give.
AnswerHi Greg,
That very long story is quite helpful to me, thanks. I believe there may be a common cause for the failure of the lights/gauges and the transmission function. Specifically there is a section of the ignition switch that provides power to both the cluster and the transmission controller and that power source may be intermittent. That section of the ignition switch provides power to fuse #17 and from there it sends the power to the cluster and the transmission controller. It could either be a subtle crack in the conducting wire inside the fuse which opens and closes the circuit at random, or the ignition switch's internal contacts for that section may be faulty. The best way to tell would be to locate the fuse and verify that when the ignition switch is in the off(not lock), run, and start positions, but most importantly the run position, that there is 12V on both pins of that fuse compared to ground (any shiny metal chassis surface nearby to the fuse box). If things are running good at that time then the next time you have the failure mode just stop, leave the ignition switch in the run position and see if you have lost the voltage on both sides of the fuse, or only one side. If on both sides then the ignition switch is the problem, if only on one side then the fuse is bad. Even before you do this you might want to pull the fuse and look carefully at the center wire to see if it has an indentation or subtle crack in it. To get to the fuses you merely have to remove the end cap of the dash on the left side (open the door to expose the cap, look inside at the fuse box, and find fuse # 17 (which is the middle fuse in the bottom row of 7 fuses). It might also be labeled F11 which is the designation of this common circuit for the cluster and the transmission controller.
Please let me know what you learn and if this doesn't seem to be the problem we can take it further, but this is the most promising possibility I can see.
Roland
