2005 Town and Country 3.3L

Background: 4 weeks ago I noticed the gauges rolling all the way around and back again each time I started. Sometimes when driving, the gauges and lights would stop working. If I restarted, the problem would go away. About 3 weeks ago, the van would not crank sometimes and I would hear a clicking sound like a low voltage problem. The van would eventually start and drive fine. The problem went away for about 3 weeks...no problems. Now, it will rarely start. Yesterday, when opening the door, the odometer would light up but van would not start...clicking sound. Wait a few minutes...even the odometer wouldn't light up but the door open light would blink really fast. Wait a few minutes, odometer would light up when opening door. Decided to replace the battery. Installed new battery...same problem. However, I noticed a clicking sound from the fuse block under the hood. Found it coming from the EATX shutdown relay. I swapped it with the horn relay (same relay) to no effect. Same problem. I tightened the battery terminals (out of sheer frustration not knowing what to do) and everything started working again. Cranked right up. Drove it a few miles...great. Shut it off, let it sit for a while and problem returned. removed cables from battery and reinstalled...worked fine. I am thinking it is something electrical like a bad connection that comes and goes.

I have read about a problem others have had with the gauge cluster caused by a bad solder connection on a circuit board in the dash but not sure if this could cause all my problems or not. I have never had a battery cable just go bad, I suppose it could but I have never experienced that.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Yes the bad solder issues can cause this, but also a badly corroded ground between the battery and body can do the same. I'd look closely at the ground cables first.

 

Thanks for the response. I think you are right. I will check the ground cable.

 

Did you ever figure out the underlying problem? I ask because I am having the same problem with mine

 

My 2003 3.3 L Grand Voyager has starting problems. The starter motor always cranks, but under certain conditions it can take too long to fire up. When the engine is cold, no problems. Cranking after engine is shutdown, but within about 10 minutes...ok. But after leaving the engine off for between about 10 minutes to a couple of hours, it takes about 5 to 10 seconds to fire up. Why?