Chrysler Repair: 1990 lebaron head light panels/fuel gauge/chiming, side kick panel, lebaron convertible

Question
Hi Roland,I have a 1990 lebaron convertible, and yesterday i left the headlights on by accident. i had someone jump-start me, but once it was running again, i noticed 3 things: 1)the panels that generaly open/close when you turn the hadlights on/off are stuck open, but the lights work fine. 2) the fuel gauge reads that the tank is full no matter how much gas is in it. 3) after driving for about a mile and a half, a chiming will start that doesnt stop until the car is turned off, and there is a slight risk of me losing my mind if it doesnt stop soon.

none of these things had ever been an issue until the car was jump started, and im at a loss as to what could be causing this to be a problem. i dont have the cash to take it to a mechanic, so any help you could give me would be much appreciated.

Answer
Hi Tyler,
I had another idea about your problem. It may be that the body computer is o.k. but that if it rained heavily or you washed the car that some water dripped down inside and onto the top of the body computer and shorted out some of the 50 pins. So I would get a spray can of electronic contact cleaner and then remove the computer and take out the plugs and spray the sockets and pins with the cleaner and let it evaporate. This is another classic LeBaron convertible problem: "gremlins in the body electronics after a rain".
If that is not the case, the replacement computer is in order.


Hy Tyler,
I suspect that the body computer was damaged by being over voltaged during the jump start. All those problem areas are related to that module which is located on the cowl above the passenger side kick panel (just to the right of the passenger's shin). It has the electronics for the fuel gauge and the concealed headlamp doors as well as the chime speaker. It has a couple of 25-pin plugs and it is simple to remove and replace. I don't know how much a new one costs but you could check at the Chrysler dealership parts counter. Alternatively the pull it yourself type of wrecking yard or a conventional wrecking yard is the other possibility, the latter have nationwide hot lines to search other yards. The '90 model year was the first one for the body computer in the LeBaron. The body computer for '91 has a couple of different pin assignments so I wouldn't accept that unless you absolutely can't get a '90. I can tell you which pins to rewire or cut out of the circuit if that were necessary. The '92 is way different so don't get that one.
In the meantime just put a cover over the speaker output to kill the chime.
Roland