2000 Dodge Caravan shift indicator light

2000 DODGE CARAVAN
96,000 MILES • 6 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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HARLEYGIRL45044
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Could you tell me why my shift indicator light flashes while in park. It flashes through all the gears
Mar 21, 2009 at 4:40 AM
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CARADIODOC
  • Experienced Mechanic
  • 34,330 POSTS
Do you mean the lights behind the gauges that come on with the headlights so you can see the gauges at night or do you have red, green, and yellow lights for the different gears? Some have all blue lights.

If you have a row of lights, one for each gear, and they're all flashing, there is either a diagnostic fault detected in the transmission or with the range selector. The range selector is a set of switches that does what the neutral safety switch used to do. If one of the various switches doesn't agree with the others for a specific gear, the transmission computer will get confused and could default to second gear and stay there. (You could still select Park and Reverse). This would be a steady flashing.

If the flashing stops after turning the engine off and restarting it, there could be an intermittent switch in the range selector, you might have had the gear shift not exactly in one gear, or the shifter cable might be slightly out-of-adjustment. If it shifted fine, the range selector might be working properly now, but the computer is telling you that it detected a fault a little earlier.

If it looks like it's flickering randomly, suspect a bulb in the instrument cluster. The sockets are pretty tight, so I'd expect to find a burned out bulb with a filament that makes contact once in a while. Not common in dashboards, but I see it all the time in the faceplates of radios.

caradiodoc
Mar 21, 2009 at 10:58 PM
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