Chrysler Repair: dashboard gauges flaky:96 LH, chrysler lhs, soldering pencil

Question
Hi Ron, i have a 96 chrysler lhs and when i go to start the car none of the dashboard guages move but the car starts...then if i go to put it in reverse sometimes all gauges start to move and other times it dont..seems like i have to play with the gears going btween reverse and drive. before the guages moves....where could the short be if thats the problem...no one seems to be able to diagnose this and i dont have dealership money,,can you please help me narrow this down...

Answer
Hi Dee,
I would begin at the dash itself to see there is a cold solder joint on the circuit board where the black plug socket is located, focusing on pins 2 and 3 which have the twisted pair of wires coming in on the plug. Try reheating the connection to the circuit board with a soldering pencil. Look at all the others for that socket and the gray socket as well. It may be that there is just a flaky connection of one of the sockes pins to the circuit board.
Roland
PS You also could try getting any fault codes from the memory of the engine controller using the ignition key:"on-off-on-off-on and leave on" doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light which remains 'on' to begin to flash, pause, flash etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeat the process to be sure of an accurate flash count set. Then let me know the counts, in order of appearance.