I have a 2000 Town & Country LXi. I have recently had an issue with my van where the fuel guage drops from where it is at for a moment and goes to empty and makes an annoying ding sound. It then immediately returns to the spot on the guage where it was before. It has been doing this quite frequently. It all started one day when it was raining really badly and the serpentine belt slipped off. The mechanic put it back on for us and said that he has a voyager and his belt comes off all the time. This was the first time that the belt slipped off for us. The belt is only 1 year old. Well, apparently this caused some sort of problem with our battery as the fuel guage started to do this after the belt issue. The van also had no real power to it as it would barely start. We had the battery tested and was told we needed to purchase another battery (the battery was about 3 years old). I drove the van for a few days without having the fuel guage drop but it started back up again today. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to solve this issue? If so, is there some sort of ballpark figure that I'm looking at to fix it? Thanks.

 

If your 2000 is like the 2001 and up, perhaps you need to recalibrate the instrument pod.

To do this on my 2002, I get into the drivers seat, doors closed, key OUT of the ignition. Push and HOLD the trip odometer reset (about 10 - 15 seconds) and the calibration procedure will begin. Sit back and enjoy the light show until it finishes.


Another thing it could be is poor instrument pod solder joints at one of the instrument connector plugs. In that case it's probably a coincidence it began when it did.