Chrysler Repair: 2005 T&C Touring Engine Shut Down, illumination level, engine computer

Question
Hi..My husband was driving our mini van on a major highway, when the van went dead.  This has never happened to us before.  Apparently, the dashboard instrument panel lit up and than the car died.  The dealership 1st said that a fuse kept popping and could not determine where or why? Magically the car has started & according to the dealership continues to run, but they can not locate where the problem is.  They state that if they cannot recreate the problem, they are unable to pinpoint the problem?  After I made a few calls to Chrysler, they got "Star" involved and they advised the dealership to replace the fuel pump. Have you ever heard of this before & do you perhaps have any other suggestions on what might have caused this? Needless to say, I'm afraid to drive this van, maybe next time we won't be so lucky! Thanks in advance!

Answer
Hi Yvette,
When you say the "dashboard instrutment panel lit up" was he driving at night and the illumination level of the lights suddenly turned up, like he had turned the dash dimmer control up? or was he driving in the day and the headlamps weren't on and none the less he saw the lights on the dash appear? I suspect that is the most relevant clue as to why the engine died, but without knowing that, and also which fuse was blowing I am not sufficiently informed to do any diagnosis. Also, I have only the '98 shop manuals which probably are not dissimilar from the '05 but there could be something that I am unaware of. It sounds like a power supply to the engine system shorting out to something related to the body computer, but I need to see where they might intersect. Was there any heavy rain or a washing of the van around that time? I can't comment on the fuel pump without knowing the rationale for that. The engine computer has a memory that stores fault codes which could be relevant clues as to why it died, so I would inquire of the dealer if they found any such codes. I have certainly heard of engine dieing when going down the road but the dealer is correct that unless the van does it again and is tested when in that state it is impossible to find the cause unless there is a fault code stored in the memory. So in the meantime you might drive it locally for a while and see if it does it again, then call the dealer instantly to come and check it out at that time.
Roland