[Stratuscaster]

Which engine? How many miles? Have you scanned for any stored OBD-II codes?

 

[dodge-guy]

Which engine? How many miles? Have you scanned for any stored OBD-II codes?

3.8L 209,000 miles, no scanner avaleble (for free lol) the check engine turn on or off randomly and one time only when i was driving at 60 mph on the freeway all the gages died and turned back on in a matter of a sec and the engine stalled and restarted right away, any thoughts?

 

[CudaPete]

You can use the key dance on a 96 to get the codes.

 

[dodge-guy]

You can use the key dance on a 96 to get the codes.

please refresh my memory how many turns? then i count the number of flashes of the check enginge?

 

[Doug D]

please refresh my memory how many turns? then i count the number of flashes of the check enginge?

On-off-on-off-on.....watch CEL and count the flashes.

 

[ImperialCrown]

The intermittant gauge drop-out may be from broken solder joints on the cluster board. Definitely need fault codes.

 

[Stratuscaster]

Basic code readers are not that expensive these days, and some parts stores will pull your codes for free.

 

[ImperialCrown]

Some auto parts stores won't even plug the scan tool in unless the 'ck eng' light is on.
Your odometer display may read fault codes if you run the cluster test.
While holding in the trip odometer knob, roll the key from off to on, then release the trip odometer knob. Have a pen and paper handy.

 

[dodge-guy]

another issue apeared today, the temp gage barely moved this afternoon, the fan responded but the temp gage still marked COLD, would that require Termostat Change?

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

A weak battery can do this, too. Dad's old '96 did the same thing with the guages, but I don't believe it did a lot of stalling.

 

[00Molavi]

In addition to what has been said, check the ground/negative connection from the battery.

 

[peterjon1]

Temp gauge not registering, verify coolant level in the radiator.

 

[68gtx]

I would agree check the battery wires. Check voltage with a meter, check what the battery is putting out without engine running. Then check what it is when running. Might clean up the battery terminals, that can make a difference. Piece of sandpaper, or a terminal cleaner. We have used a knife, or small wire brush, if you don't have the terminal cleaner. Sand paper, you can form and clean the cables inside that go over the battery terminals. Otherwise it could be a ground fault, had that on a neon.

I would think low voltage. Also check water level in the battery. Distilled water only. if its low fill it up, and put it on a slow charge over night. Then see how it charges. Usually if it drops off while driving something is loose or touching.

 

[ImperialCrown]

When the engine dies, are the PRND3L positions all 'boxed'? Will a fist 'thump' on the top of the dash bring the gauges back and only the 'P'ark is boxed? It may need a 'off/on' key cycle to reset things.
If so, this sounds a lot like the classic broken cluster circuit board solder joints. This can cause stalls/no-starts as well. It can set 'loss of communication' fault codes in modules other than the PCM.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Cluster solder joints are a good thing to check. Mom's got her eye on a 1998 Grand Voyager with a stalling issue - first thing I intend to look at on that van when we go see it is the cluster, followed by the HVAC controls (which can also cause similar issues due to connector failure).