[Glmwpg]

Also - just placed an order for an FIPK and some AVS window shades & sunroof deflector

[hypnotiq]

Oh man.. nice special. Must be nice to have a sunroof. lol

[paintballdude05]

The FIPK is a nice add on.

Sounds like the EL converter is on it's way out. I've had many Special clusters do this. One of the solutions is to buy an aftermarket Phase Morpher and install it in place of what's there.

I still can't believe somebody decided to delete the sunroof from a Special!

[hypnotiq]

Hell yeah the FIPK is nice! Reminds me I need to clean mine. Yeah I can't believe it either... after the last meet and being the only special without a sunroof I have to have one.

[Glmwpg]

wow.. people actually delete sunroofs? :-o what a waste of time/energy/money unless it had to be done for some reason!

So I just spent the afternoon going through a bit of a checklist and getting things out of the intrepid, although I did spend some time with the M.

- All fluids looked good, but replaced all regardless. Fresh oil and coolant, power steering and brake fluid. Bled the brakes. Put in a new thermostat, burped the coolant system as best as I could and made sure its full. New oil filter. Cleaned and reinstalled the old air filter, it'll last until the FIPK arrives.

- Pulled that basic deck out and added my JVC with BT/USB/AUX, and used the mounting bracket for the deck from the intrepid which seals up a bit better than whatever it was that was in there before. Added the cubby pocket below the deck. Ran the hands-free mic to just beside the steering wheel & traction control... hope that's quiet enough for it. Took a can of compressed air and gave the interior a good dusting of all the cracks and crevices.. ATC is a lot quieter now - amazing how much dust builds up in there. I swear a small hamster popped out. Whoever had this stuff out previously out did a poor job putting it back together.. missing screws, fake carbon fiber panel sitting on top of the stereo bezel, the bottom panel below the steering wheel not snapped into place.. the stereo harness actually had some sort of jelly or lube all over it, which is pretty odd.

-No TMPS magnet by the spare (I'll probably just ignore this feature to be honest.. it's nice but not ~$250 nice).. Looks like I do have 4 installed sensors though. I also don't like to be harassed by the EVIC warning though :P

- I'll have to look into a phase converter. No real progress made on the dash lights yet - they seem to have a 50/50 chance of working.. can't really trend it, seems completely random. Sure is a nice strong glow when they do come on. I do know I only want to pull and replace the dash once, so I may wait a bit and see what other things I might do while it's out. Could I buy this and run it with the rear USB from my deck?

Proper photoshoot still coming,... going to get some nice shots downtown

[paintballdude05]

What would you do with the thing you linked? Just for the converter? The think with that one is that you need one that is adjustable so that you can fine tune it to match the factory color. If my cluster was a different color than the rest of the interior lighting it would irritate me. When I had a Special cluster in my Intrepid it would behave just like yours so I got rid of it in favor of a black faced Concorde one.

[Glmwpg]

Well basically it would run on whenever the deck is powered up. I'd run the glow wire behind the cluster as best I can. I hear you on the color difference, although my deck can fine tune color match with various RGB settings (I think 50 of each), the other lights would look out of place. Search continues for an adjustable one. Do you or anyone know if the (rear) USB port on a deck can be used in this manner? I'd just use the front USB for the BT plug/memory stick etc.

I guess one thing i'm not thinking about is current setup of the cluster - does the light come from the back and through the gauges or is it more "built in" to the gauge itself? I thought it was projected through. I'd know more if i'd already pulled one out.

[paintballdude05]

An option.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-DC-Car-A...ht_1117wt_1185

[Glmwpg]

hah.. damn.. just realized I didn't look into why the two power points don't work

that's probably a better suggestion than what I was working on

[paintballdude05]

Could be a fuse, I'm leaning towards the connectors under the shifter bezel bing disconnected.

[Glmwpg]

Yep quick fix there, reseated a bunch of fuses and both power points are now working

My next update will likely be the FIPK install or dash light progress.

Thanks folks

[hardwareguy]

No J1850 bus messages but everything else that needs the bus works? That sounds like the loss of the J1850/PCI bus pin on the cluster. You probably have one or more cold solder joints at the terminals.

Retouch these joints if they show even hairline cracks. A good TV shop can do it for you too.

Also, the J1850/PCI bus is present at the radio connections for the purpose of navigation and steering wheel controls. Make sure that if they used a harness or cut the wires that the J1850/PCI wire is insulated. It's purple and yellow if I recall correctly.

A failing battery can cause the BCM to absolutely go bonkers. Check your battery connections and the battery itself. Modern Chryslers have been known to freak out if the battery goes intermittent or gets internal high resistance....if it's weak but still starts, it may still be an issue as it filters the pulses from the alternator.

[peva]

I remember TV shops - from the 1960's!!