How to fix your Town and Country mini van when it starts and then dies

[jason123456789210]

i hate this car i have one i drag race it and it keeps breaking

[briansmobile1]

@jason123456789210 Jason.... you are LEGEND.

[jason123456789210]

@briansmobile1 yea, mines AWD and it acutally won a few times except for the time when i put it against a 88 crown vic and it lost

[jason123456789210]

@briansmobile1 now i put new shit in it i put:

auto stick trans

V8

and it runs like champ

[briansmobile1]

@jason123456789210 Sweet man!

[jason123456789210]

@briansmobile1 and i'm sayin a 8 SPEED autostick from new Chrysler 300S

the V8 is a 6.5L Hemi

[GerryJ08]

Another great video from you. Wow so much to learn and an awesome teacher. Really? who would show the viewer how to solder a printed circuit board. Most would assume the viewer knows what and how to do what is being described. Excellent tutorial Brian.

[briansmobile1]

@GerryJ08 Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[SexyBluesMama]

Yes it did. but knock on wood since I glued that bitch it's not moved.It was wierd. I snapped pictures and took to Autozone and Advanced Auto and they looked at my like crazy. It was to the point I had to carry a screwdriver in the glove box in case it happened. I got pretty good at pulling the dash apart in less than 10mins! lol!

[SexyBluesMama]

This is exactly what I have been having. But in my case the connector would slide out of place. When the starting issue happened, we would pull the dash and push the connector back in and it would start. I got pissed off and just super glued and it hasn't happened since.

[briansmobile1]

@SexyBluesMama The plug came completely off?!  Dang! Usually it's just the pins that lose contact with the green board.

[beefystik]

Brian, where's the new vids man? I love yer work. I miss you :(

[briansmobile1]

@beefystik I've been working on some big projects lately and haven't been editing and posting- just filming. I bought new software for editing, but it's not here yet. Perfection IS robbing creation. lol

[beefystik]

@briansmobile1 Well then, now I can't wait to see what's coming!

[briansmobile1]

@beefystik I'll post some today. ; )

[watuzi]

Nice video, I always learn something good. Thank God for the junkyard or I'd be so broke with the dealer. Nissan dealer charged me for $7 for a goddamn o-ring for a radiator drain plug.

[johntracey523]

Good work Brian. btw the burn marks , as you call them, on the florescent tube displays are normal. They are cause by a thing called a getter. When the air is pumped out of the display tube there will always be slight residual gas left in the tube... the getter absorbs that gas. Technical nerdy discussion with really cool photo at this link. Okay well I can't share the link for some reason. Look up Vacuum tube on wiki and then do a find for "getter"

Blessings,

John 20:29

[briansmobile1]

@johntracey523 Thank you! I've seen them before on working units, but it just looks kind of wrong.

"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

- And that my friends is how he became known amongst the Catholics as "doubting Thomas".

.... Bless his heart.

[eloctocs13]

Brain we had a 97 Town and Country with the same problem. My wife would go out to take the kids to school and wouldn't start. I get home and starts right up.

We went to buy a bunny rabbit for my daughter and no start, towed to my mechanic and started right up.

He kept it for days and never could duplicate the problem. It even ran for a week with the interment panel dead, no speedo, no gas gauge, nothing.

Never got it resolved just wanted to burn it in the end.

Any way didn't mean to go on a

[CURBECK]

Good find brother....

[bubbacrabb]

I like how thourough your videos are. You really go the extra mile to make sure common folk people can figure it out.

[turbobuick33]

what brand flashlight is that you have?

[briansmobile1]

@turbobuick33 CRAP! This little one that I love is a NEBO too! Its a NEBO high beam rechargeable that charges on a cig. lighter. I have a White NEBO AT09L that is the worst most unreliable light I've ever owned.

[elic123456]

good job! nicely done! like how you actually fixed the problem instead of throwing parts!

[briansmobile1]

@elic123456 Thanks! I know/love/admire most of my customers so I try to do them right.

[SiRHumpAlot924]

Bad ass man, love youre soldiering technique Brian. Ohh by the way keep the vids commen.

[Shroffff]

hahah i so happy !!!!!

[smokinghull]

great info! I ll keep that in mind in case I ever run into this problem since I have a 2007 Caravan. ETCG is great too!

[chickenofsea]

Is that gettering on the inside of the VFD? I know vacuum tubes have that in them to "eat up" any oxygen in the tube that may leak in and is completly normal (if it isn't there, you've got trouble...)

[ncrdisabled]

Just to let you know I worked in a shop called Model Electronics I was in the radio repair side and knew the guys on the spedometor side very well. If you need to get a speedo for a car or truck they are very reasonable . They also have a great warranty.If you need a price break for your own car let me know I left there on very good terms the owners they bought me drinks on the day I left

[BernDPeter]

Uuh that is a high price for that thing, but great you could saved them $800. Good job. Sometimes i think it would be better if they wouldn't put so much electronic stuff in the cars. Often to expensive to get these stuff fixed. Yeah, Eric is cool ! But this is still my fav. Channel ;)

[kary1982v6]

I had that same problem on the video input on my TV (got er for free because of it) a few min playing with them and it works Great! good fix man!

[briansmobile1]

@kary1982v6 Thanks- saved this family about $800.

[trunitemare]

@briansmobile1 Wow! 800 bucks, now that's major.

[Mulletsrokkify]

The burn marks on the odometer displays are from the manufacturing process, its how they get a clean vacuum. Nothing to worry about. Google "getter" for the science bit.

[RAHMX145]

Me so happy~! ahah

[TRcustomengineering]

So the only time is will cause the vehicle not to run is when the head unit goes out?

What i mean is.., If the cluster is on and lights up that means it will not cause it not to start right?

Great vid Brian.

Thanks.

[JohnzCarz]

Good catch. They build billions of PC boards every year (TVs, phones, computers), you would think they had the process down by now to eliminate cold solder joints.

[ocpm4tt]

RON PAUL

[landlockedviking]

excellent job! Hey you should do one on replacing a crank postion sensor on those caravans, another no start culprit.

[greg197040]

I caught the election sign, was that a plug or hint?

[solman182]

here in Australia those head units are called instrument clusters. it's quite interesting to know what things are called on the other side of the world

[briansmobile1]

@solman182 In the parts world it's "head unit" refering to the whole thing. To drivers, owners manuals etc. it's instrument cluster (same).

[RX7GSLSEowner]

Your price versus the other price? Could you explain?

[briansmobile1]

@RX7GSLSEowner You bet. I get parts cheaper because I buy a lot of them. The more you buy of most everything the more negotiating leverage you have. In Auto parts it's built right into the system usually haggle free. Some places I set my own price- other places will price match etc. On the phone I ask for cost (me), list (retail), and availability (do they have it in stock/in hand).

[AdirondackNY]

I thought it sounded like a bad ignition switch, if you had to replace that instramint cluster you can find them on eBay cheep. I'm curious on how this pans out .

[cordel666]

thanks brian your videos are very helpful

[hp11208]

Hey Brian u and Eric should come together and make a vid

[hp11208]

Coolz

[CharlestownSolution]

Great vid brian! Always super informational.

[binnsh]

Nice fix! Amazing diagnostics.  What sites do you go to to read up on this kind of stuff?

[12344richard]

I have a question my ford f150 2000 sometimes odometer display turns off and then turns on while drive down the road could be a bad light or bad cluster any help would heip thanks.

[CharlestownSolution]

@12344richard SO you know, my 99 F150 v6 did the same thing. It is nothing but (1) BAD solder joint. It will go off and on when you want. If you tab on the dash above the cluster near your defrost vents sometimes it can come on and off. This is how I found mine. But i will tell your it is NOT a bad cluster, simple 2 second fix. Minus uninstall/reinstall :) Ill message you the link to full walk-though

[Shoteen95]

So, a few bad solder joints on the instrument cluster will render the car the useless? Jesus Christ that's shoddy.

[IronRangeSurvival]

I found that some early 90's chev trucks have vin specific gauge clusters when trying to swap out a yard unit. I hate electrical issues. Nice save.

You ever do a 12 or 24 volt points system? I got an old jeep I want to switch back to stock if I can find all the parts.

[joe1951]

Dude Macgyver ain't got nothing on you.

[beefystik]

Hey Brian. My step dad has a van like this, and I refuse to work on it because it was a rental vehicle, and I told him to NOT buy it, and he bought it anyway. But, he has been having a consistent ABS light coming on. The shop that he takes it to instead of me has replaced multiple items, including the modulator dealy I believe. In your research, did you see anything that seems related? Any help would be awesome.

[spelunkerd]

@beefystik Why do you not advise buying a rental vehicle? I presently own two former rental vehicles, and both are fine....

[beefystik]

@spelunkerd Because I've rented vehicles, and I drove them, and I know HOW I drove them. Like rental vehicles.

[Geebuv]

Brian try getting a magnifying glass and putting it infront of the camera (close if not touching the lense) for those up-close shots. I know it sounds goofy but i've seen other youtubers do it and it works great.