[Bullfrog]

That is really strange. The video was very good as well for showing your EXACT issue. Im curious though. I would almost look at the pin out for the dash cluster and put a meter on it and try again to see if you are getting crappy input voltage. that would be a good check to see if its the dash cluster.

From what i can tell the only circuit that should come on when you unlock the door is the fuel pump.

 

[Taylorr7091]

Well whatever it is it must be something shorted in the instrument cluster circuit panel because everything else in the car works completely fine. I'll let it be the dealers problem since everything is under warranty haha.

I got a few private messages from Nova69, the person who took this video, and he said his only happens in winter. Mine correlates with that cause it only started doing this when it got cold here in Manitoba.

 

[EMount91]

your battery is about to die, this is what the gauge cluster does before you start getting failed starts. I know you specifically stated that you don't think it's the battery, but it's most likely going to be.

believe me, I know everything else seems fine now, but the average life of OEM battery on these cars seems to be between 2 and 3 years sadly. and this car does some really wonky things when trying to deal with a battery that isn't charging fully. first thing to start happening is the gauges flickering, then next is the hesitating starts, then at last the failed starts. go get your battery tested while your car still starts on it's own.

 

[Taylorr7091]

I will for sure get the dealer to check the battery out. But I have tested it everyday with good results. but yeah will for sure get it looked at when they take it in. Dealer didn't think it was the battery in my case either cause upon start up the gauges don't flicker, just when I wake up the instrument panel.

 

[Cntrollerfanboy]

I will for sure get the dealer to check the battery out. But I have tested it everyday with good results. but yeah will for sure get it looked at when they take it in. Dealer didn't think it was the battery in my case either cause upon start up the gauges don't flicker, just when I wake up the instrument panel.

From the many MANY cases of this exact problem (on facebook pages this seems to happen quite a lot), it is the battery as noted before.

From what i have read, the battery will test fine. Others had this issue. Gauges freak out and they test the battery and it's good. Well it's actually a bad cell in the battery. You can find a couple threads talk about it

http://www.dodge-dart.org/forum/dodge-dart-electrical-problems/27578-guages-clicking.html

http://www.dodge-dart.org/forum/dod...t-electronics/22768-2013-dodge-dart-already-needs-new-battery-3.html#post355351

 

[Taylorr7091]

Thanks everyone for answering! I knew I wasn't alone with this issue but just didn't seem to find many others that had my exact issue with final results haha. It's a 2014 SXT 2.4L so the battery isn't even 2 years old yet. But heck if it's the battery then at least that should be under the warranty too. At least mine starts without issue unlike others! My appt. with the dealer is on the 30th so I'll just keep checking the battery until then. Then I'll get them to do a further analysis on it as well as the cluster panel. Some forum members I've talked to say that the battery may be just weak enough that when the cold weather comes the voltage of the battery drops just enough to have the gauges go wonky when awaking the cluster panel. Then when spring comes it resolves itself until next winter. Ah well, I still love my dart. Way better than my previous car, 1994 Chevy Lumina Euro, the list of issues with it went on and on!

 

[pkgmsu2000]

my dart does same thing, mostly in cold weather, battery tests fine, dealers tell me the dancing gauges are normal. so there you have it.

 

[Taylorr7091]

@pkgmsu2000 Has anything else on your dart been affected by these dancing gauges, no other electrical problems? From my understanding for some it's the battery and for some it's a quirk that happens in cold weather. I'm happy if it's just a quirk but I'm still taking advantage of the warranty while I have it haha.

 

[Cntrollerfanboy]

@pkgmsu2000 Has anything else on your dart been affected by these dancing gauges, no other electrical problems? From my understanding for some it's the battery and for some it's a quirk that happens in cold weather. I'm happy if it's just a quirk but I'm still taking advantage of the warranty while I have it haha.

to my understanding is some batteries actually are bad (bad cell) and it's not just that the stock battery sucks (which it still does) but it's actually a defect. Hopefully the dealer doesn't give you issues like they do to just about every dart owner.

 

[Taylorr7091]

to my understanding is some batteries actually are bad (bad cell) and it's not just that the stock battery sucks (which it still does) but it's actually a defect. Hopefully the dealer doesn't give you issues like they do to just about every dart owner.

My dealer seems reasonable so far. They didn't quite understand my situation and said they never heard of that before haha. But anyways there's only so many things they can replace before a problem is resolved and I'm willing to take full advantage of my warranty, that is to say I'm not going to just make them replace every little thing, I'm just going to make sure whatever they do it resolves the problem. There are people that have had a lot of major issues with their new darts and I'm thankful I'm not one of them. This seems to be a pretty minor issue in my opinion.

I'll keep you all posted. Still 9 days until dealer appt.

 

[Taylorr7091]

Small note I forgot to mention.

The gauges don't flutter if the car has been driven around and is all warmed up. So like when I'm uptown running errands and am always stopping and starting the car and the engine is warmed up, the gauges are fine. When I come out of the store back to my car and wake up the instrument panel by opening the door or whatever, no fluttering and all is good.

 

[DodgeCACares]

Small note I forgot to mention.

The gauges don't flutter if the car has been driven around and is all warmed up. So like when I'm uptown running errands and am always stopping and starting the car and the engine is warmed up, the gauges are fine. When I come out of the store back to my car and wake up the instrument panel by opening the door or whatever, no fluttering and all is good.

Hi Taylorr7091,

Let us know how your appointment at the dealer goes.

Kathleen
Top Care Specialist
FCA Canada

 

[pkgmsu2000]

Hi Taylorr7091,

Let us know how your appointment at the dealer goes.

Kathleen
Top Care Specialist
FCA Canada

hi kathleen, thanks for coming around here and supporting our community. we greatly appreciate. i thought i would chime in real quick and let you know that i've spoken to 4 different dealers in my area about these dancing gauges, and none of them lifted a finger to help me. not even test my battery. they all tell me something about "solenoids" and the flickering is "normal" on new cars. perhaps with your access to the vast FCA knowledge database, you could do a little research and let us know what you find out? maybe you can dig up something useful from a FCA engineer in writing that says this is not normal? something we can show our local dealers to get them to help us out? TIA

 

[Taylorr7091]

Just 3 more days until the dealer! It's been super cold over Christmas here in Manitoba, gauges are doing the same song and dance. A little off topic, when I first start the car in the morning when it's cold the car will idle a little high (1600-1800 rpm) as it is warming up. I expect this as every car I've owned has done this. But when i put it into drive after its warmed up a bit, the car goes by itself, up to 12 or 15kph. My brother and father, two life long mechanics, both tell me it is normal because the car has it's throttle open a little more than usual to cause the higher rpm to warm up the car which causes this little bit of self acceleration. That is in terms that I can understand haha, they explained it in full detail for like an hour. My old car didn't do it, but my brother's new 2015 GMC Sierra does it. I've seen another thread on here stating the same situation. Anyone else have this? The rpm obviously goes down to normal and the self acceleration thing goes away once it has warmed up.

This car does so many different things in winter than my old car

 

[Taylorr7091]

Hey all. Here's an update.

The dealer did a computer update and ran some tests go see if it was throwing any codes. Car passed with no error codes, good battery, nothing else wrong with it.

They suggest I bring it in and leave it over night to see if they can catch the problem in the act and see what is what. Since the issue only comes up when it's cold in the morning, doesn't do it when it's warmed up driving around all day.

Ah well, all is good considering how minor the issue is, plus everything is still under warranty!

 

[pkgmsu2000]

Hey all. Here's an update.

The dealer did a computer update and ran some tests go see if it was throwing any codes. Car passed with no error codes, good battery, nothing else wrong with it.

They suggest I bring it in and leave it over night to see if they can catch the problem in the act and see what is what. Since the issue only comes up when it's cold in the morning, doesn't do it when it's warmed up driving around all day.

Ah well, all is good considering how minor the issue is, plus everything is still under warranty!

my dealer tried to tell me the same thing, they said to bring car in night before and we will take a look in the morning. so i did that, and they still told me they didnt see the dancing gauges. i got a ride to the dealer to pick up the car and grabbed the service guy and we started the car together. boom! like clockwork they danced away in front of him and guess what i was told? "thats normal". isnt that nice? so, i went as far as to take a video on my phone and shared it with 3 other dealers in the denver metro area. all of them told me same thing. "thats normal". so... i gave up. cant find a dealer willing to take a closer look at it.

 

[Taylorr7091]

my dealer tried to tell me the same thing, they said to bring car in night before and we will take a look in the morning. so i did that, and they still told me they didnt see the dancing gauges. i got a ride to the dealer to pick up the car and grabbed the service guy and we started the car together. boom! like clockwork they danced away in front of him and guess what i was told? "thats normal". isnt that nice? so, i went as far as to take a video on my phone and shared it with 3 other dealers in the denver metro area. all of them told me same thing. "thats normal". so... i gave up. cant find a dealer willing to take a closer look at it.

That's unfortunate, I'm sorry about your crappy dealers. My dealer at least acknowledges that it isn't normal. I even asked him if this is normal for my model during winter and he said no. If they find a cure for my car I will let you know what the work order looks like so hopefully you can show a dealer near you that is maybe a little more willing to listen.

At least our issue is pretty minor. Still love my Dart. I know it's a new car and shouldn't have issues but in all honesty I'm still happy with how it performs! I'll keep you posted @pkgmsu2000 and let you know what happens.

 

[pkgmsu2000]

That's unfortunate, I'm sorry about your crappy dealers. My dealer at least acknowledges that it isn't normal. I even asked him if this is normal for my model during winter and he said no. If they find a cure for my car I will let you know what the work order looks like so hopefully you can show a dealer near you that is maybe a little more willing to listen.

At least our issue is pretty minor. Still love my Dart. I know it's a new car and shouldn't have issues but in all honesty I'm still happy with how it performs! I'll keep you posted @pkgmsu2000 and let you know what happens.

yes, please keep me posted, our dart community would really appreciate it

 

[DodgeCACares]

Hey all. Here's an update.

The dealer did a computer update and ran some tests go see if it was throwing any codes. Car passed with no error codes, good battery, nothing else wrong with it.

They suggest I bring it in and leave it over night to see if they can catch the problem in the act and see what is what. Since the issue only comes up when it's cold in the morning, doesn't do it when it's warmed up driving around all day.

Ah well, all is good considering how minor the issue is, plus everything is still under warranty!

Hi Taylorr7091,

Because the gauges only "dance" on a cold start, the dealer is trying to duplicate the issue. Let us know what they find out.

Thanks,

Kathleen
Top Care Specialist
FCA Canada

 

[pkgmsu2000]

Hi Taylorr7091,

Because the gauges only "dance" on a cold start, the dealer is trying to duplicate the issue. Let us know what they find out.

Thanks,

Kathleen
Top Care Specialist
FCA Canada

my gauges dance year round, but they do it more frequently and more violently in the colder weather. does that help?