I just bought a 2009 Chrysler Dream Cruiser with 26,000 miles that looked to be in great condition–one previous owner. It has been at a local dealership for 6 days, and they can’t figure out what is wrong with it and it is getting worse. Currently, the indicators on the fuel gauge, speedometer, and tachometer suddenly drop to zero while I’m driving, the car loses power, and some or all of the warning lights come on. Sometimes, the only light to come on is the driver’s side seat belt light, or that light and the battery light, but mostly it is all of the warning lights. Some, but not all of the time, the car stalls but can be re-started without a problem. The service manager says that even when the problems are happening, they can not get a code from the computer. A dealership in California that was working with the only other and original owner reprogrammed the PCM, replaced the battery multiple times, and replaced the instrument panel. The dealership here in Oklahoma says they are at a loss, and have updated the software and thought that had fixed it but it didn’t. I have found some information online from two other people who owned the same car, and were having the same problem. There was no indication the problem was ever fixed. I am desperate–afraid to drive the car, and have no idea what to do next. I hope someone out there can help.
I’d first make sure all connections from the battery and all ground connections are solid and not corroded or loose.
This looks like a tough one. I expect there is some as yet undiscovered fault in the PCM, an associated electrical connector in the wiring harness, or the instrument cluster module itself. There’s a voltage regulator circuit for the instrument cluster, and if that fails, the symptoms for the guages you report would happen. It might cause the car to stop running or run poorly too, depending on what other circuits used that voltage output. I’d be inclined to look there first.
You’re going to need someone with expertise on this car though to help you. There’s one or more circuits that are failing. It’s certainly fixable, but they’ll have to trace out the suspect signals shown on the car’s wiring diagram through the wiring harnesses, connectors, and the modules one by one. Someone trained in your car’s electrical system should be able to pinpoint the problem. The part needed to fix it might might prove somewhat expensive though.
As mentioned above, before embarking on all that, the first thing is to check battery & connections and fuses to insure all that is working. And its a good idea to use Google to check the internet for solutions. This may be happening to other owners of the car.
Its sound like a possible problem with BCM (body control module) and or the communication buss between the BCM and PCM (powertrain control module.