98 Dodge Caravan Dash Light Blinking/Flashing
It’s kind of late to be posting this, almost 11 years that is :) but keep on reading and good thing will unveil slowly!!
My 98 Dodge Caravan, recently I had to take it’s battery out for some maintenance and after putting the battery back in when I started the car, weirdly enough, all my dashboards lights started flashing (the lights on the wiper and climate control buttons).
98 Dodge Caravan Dash Board
I was pretty sure this must be some issue related to “reset”. So I took it to show the guys at maintenance and they told me right away that I need to replace my battery with a new one, which seemed very illogical to be honest.
So I start searching for some sort of reset and surprisingly enough, I found one!!
Following the steps below, I was able to stop the light blinking/flashing on my Caravans dashboard:
- Start the van.
- Slide the temperature lever all the way to the left (full cold).
- Turn the Mode Control to ‘panel’ (the one that sends air to your face only).
- Turn the ‘blower switch’ to all the way to full.
- Now go to the leftmost three buttons. Press and hold the top one (rear wiper on constant) and the bottom one (rear wiper washer fluid) until the lights come on solid then begin to flash, and then you can let go.
- The AC will now calibrate. You will feel the air blow out of all the different zones at different intervals and see lights come on and go off. Then after a minute or two the top button you pressed will be slowly flashing. This means it has been completed.
- Press the last flashing button and you are done.
Now that was fun to see it actually work and not to mention saving almost $200 on replacing the battery was a big reward too.
I was aware of resets in modern devices such as Xbox 360, PS3 or remotes that has these sort of hidden sequences that executes certain reset protocol but to find it in a 11 year old van was really surprising. I am pretty sure that this sequence still exists in the new caravan models, so if you are having similar sort of problems you may want to give this a try in newer models too.
I hope this helps someone too, let me know if it does.
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August 17th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
You’re wrong; it’s never too late. It worked flawlessly. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this. The family will be happy to have the AC back. Now if I could just figure out the intermittent up-shift problem….
Thanks again. I can’t wait to say to Mom and the girls, “The AC? Oh yeah, Rubayat fixed it.”
August 10th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
worked just how u said…THANK YOU!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
fixed my friends van thinks
July 9th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Awesome, it work exactly the way you explained, thank you very much!!
July 8th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
also what do you mean on the last step. Press the last flashing button?
July 8th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I tried this and it worked for the left hand three blinking lights but the two right lower lights are still blinking? Any new suggestions, it is driving me insane!
June 12th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Thank you so much….Went to autozone..they had no clue……You really helped me out……
May 29th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Thanks for your post and answer, it works as a champ. my poor wife was in the verge of a nervous breakdown watching the annoying blinking all the time.
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Thank you so much! Your instructions worked great on our ’97 Grand Caravan.
May 12th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
AMAZING! We tried this after our battery went dead on our 98 Dodge Caravan! Perfect instructions! You are incredible!
May 12th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Incredible! Our battery went dead in our 98 Dodge Caravan and when we charged it and restarted the van all those lights where blinking. I found this on the very first try and IT WORKED! My husband was amazed! You rock!!!!
April 26th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hello:
two lights still blinking the two right bottom I follow the steps to calibrate but after a few seconds the two left top buttons star blinking the left bottom 6 times and the left top 1
after 3 min I press the left top and the other two right bottoms star blinking again.
any suggestions please…
THANKS!!!!
June 24th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
I tried to do several times, but lights on right keep blinking- any other suggestions, I have a 98 Dodge carvan? thx
March 20th, 2010 at 8:45 am
I have a 1998 grand caravan and changed the battery yesterday. Sure enough, the dashboard lights were blinking. I followed the procedure and it worked like magic! I saved $$$. Thank you
March 6th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
My Recirc and AC lights were blinking after I changed the battery on my ’97 Dodge Caravan. I tried your steps but it seemed to work up until the last step. The top light had a slow blink. When I pushed the button, the original 2 lights came back on. Did I do something wrong?
March 6th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
It could be a timing issue, I had to do it several times before getting it to work. It could also be different for your 97 model but they usually don’t change these hidden sequences.
June 7th, 2010 at 11:47 am
I did try several times but it still does the same thing. I noticed the pic of the dashboard you have has single zone climate control and no rear air. My 98 has both. Do you know of any specifics about what to do with the rear air controls? Any help would be great!
Thanx
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Thank you so much. I followed your instructions
step by step and worked perfectly.your article is much much clear than others.
Thanks again
Zaigham Bokhari
January 12th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Fantastic! This worked perfectly on our 1998 Chrysler Town & Country minivan, which was experiencing the same problem.
The blinking started after some repairs at the local Goodyear garage. They claimed that it was a coincidence and had nothing to do with them. When I brought it back, they said they had ordered the proper part. But they never returned my calls. The obviously did not know and did not care what was going on. Furthermore, they apparently lied to me.
In any case, thanks very much for posting this procedure in such a clear manner.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
This worked only for the 2 lights on the left. The other two are still flashing on the lower right. Can these be turned off without replacing the frozen-up compressor
October 24th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Absolutely amazing…thank you so much for your wisdom!!!Worked on my 1998
September 24th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
All I Say is: You are a smart guy. Same thing happened to my caravan, and I was getting tired of the blinking, then I read your article, and did what you told me to do, and it works perfectly, thank you Sir.
Charles.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Thank you so much. I followed your step procedure
step by step. To my amazement the panel came to life. I just want to say how much I appreciate your advise.
Thanks
Jerry.
August 15th, 2009 at 11:08 am
That worked perfectly. Thanks so much for the quick fix. The lights blinking have been driving me nuts and I knew it was a reset because it happened right after the battery went dead. I went to the local dealership and they wanted to book me in for an appointment @ $95/hr.
July 18th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Thanks a million! My 98 Dodge Caravan had exactly the same problem for two years and a half. After changing a dead battery. the dashboard lights kept blinking for about 20 minutes when started. I knew it’s a reset problem and would cost at least $200 to fix it from a Dodge dealer’s shop. I have consulted with many professionals or non-experts and tried many suggestions in vain. It bothered me all time. The problem is now being solved.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
WOW is all I can say.
I had this happen after the battery ran dead and had to boost it.
Couple of mechanic buddies I have wanted to rip out the electrical in search of a short :-)
Thanks a million