We have a problem with dash gauges turning off and ABS light comes on
> and when the gauges come back on the check engine light comes on and
> stays on . We took it to the dealer they kepted it for a day and then
> called and told us to come and get it they didn't know how to fix it
> so anybody out there that knows please help thank you p.s. its a
> plymouth grand voyager 1998 3.3 litter v-6
>
What's the mileage on this? Has it been in a major accident before?
If the check engine light comes on there's a code set. What codes were set, did you get them from the dealer?
The milage on this van is 125000, as far as the codes I took it to the dealer they reset everything and call the next day and said they couldn?t fix the problem so come and get it. then I told the salesman that was triing to sale me a truck that I didn?t want another car from them.
More then likely the check engine lamp set a communication fault code. If the ccd bus shorts out it will cause this problem, check the 10 way conenctor under the battery for corroison, if acid gets into this connector it will cause all kinds of problems such as the one you are describing.
"russ36" wrote: > The milage on this van is 125000, as far as the codes I took > it to the dealer they reset everything and call the next day > and said they couldn't fix the problem so come and get it. > then I told the salesman that was triing to sale me a truck > that I didn't want another car from them.
You?ve got yourself a ?bus? network fault.... the instrument cluster cannot receive the info it requires and the abs light (alone) is the givaway !
"incar-1" wrote: > You've got yourself a 'bus' network fault.... the instrument > cluster cannot receive the info it requires and the abs light > (alone) is the givaway !
So do I just leave it alone or how much is it going to cost to fix it or can it be fixed, or should I take it to a dealer and trade it for something new
You need to take it to a different dealer, it sounds like the service department in the first one you took it too decided they didn't want to work on it.
Let me tell you a little secret. A dealership service department is like any other service department, they have the moral and legal right to refuse to work on your out-of-warranty vehicle if they don't want to do it. However, the problem is that because the dealership has a lot of money at stake, the service departments aren't allowed to simply tell you "we don't want to work on this" because they are afraid your going to badmouth them all over town. So, instead if they don't want to work on something they will make up an excuse like "we don't know how to fix this" so that you don't realize that they are choosing not to work on it for their own reasons, not that it can't be fixed or that they don't know how to fix it.
However if you think about it for a second you will realize they are doing you a favor. Instead of just telling you they can't fix it, they could have wasted half a day farting around with it, then charged you $300 for labor and THEN told you that they couldn't fix it.
Keep in mind too that intermittent electrical problems can sometimes take a long time of just looking at different things in the vehicle, or taking apart things to look behind other things. And with an intermittent your never sure you actually got it until the vehicle has been in service a while. Dealership service departments operate with very high overhead and can't afford a lot of comebacks, and the tech at the dealership probably looked at it, didn't see anything obvious, then told the service manager it would probably take a lot of time digging and possibly a few comebacks before it got fixed. The service manager then decided it would be cheaper to eat the half hour or so of tech time spent looking at it, and not charge you so that you didn't have any legal claim to keep bringing it back over and over until it was fixed.
If you can't find a dealer that wants to work on it, find an independent in a low-overhead hole-in-the-wall who isn't afraid of electrical problems.
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