98 Grand Caravan used salvage yard instrument clusters
A repaired cluster runs about $235 , salvage yard $20 w $5 core. Took a jumper pack with me and tried to find a lower mileage vehicle close to the 109k my brother's dead cluster has, by either looking for next service due stickers in windshield or using my jumper pack to provide power to the battery cables and turn the key on and look and they all had at least 200k on the odometer. I check at least 10 mini vans 97-99 a few were unknown or obviously broke ,and then find a 2000 Grand Caravan and it has low mileage 87 K, looks like the same exact cluster but has a black connector instead of a red one. I cut off the connector and pigtail , just in case.
Get cluster home , looks identical however the black connector for the 2000 mechanical cluster is different but wire color and pin out is the same and wiring diagrams show they go to same sh@t. I cut off the red connector pigtail of the dash harness and splice on the black connector. Everything works, Cluster reads the 98 vehicle's actual 109K mileage ,not the mileage that it read off the van at the salvage yard it was pulled from no VIN mismatch codes, or other BS. Awesome , however I could have saved time and just pulled one of the clusters that had 200k from one of the 98's and not had to cut off a pigtail and splice a later model pigtail connector had I known the odometer would show the correct lower actual mileage of the van it was being transplanted to, but who knows why the 2000 had a different color, and shaped connector if all works fine put in a 98 if you splice on the different connector pigtail.
Get cluster home , looks identical however the black connector for the 2000 mechanical cluster is different but wire color and pin out is the same and wiring diagrams show they go to same sh@t. I cut off the red connector pigtail of the dash harness and splice on the black connector. Everything works, Cluster reads the 98 vehicle's actual 109K mileage ,not the mileage that it read off the van at the salvage yard it was pulled from no VIN mismatch codes, or other BS. Awesome , however I could have saved time and just pulled one of the clusters that had 200k from one of the 98's and not had to cut off a pigtail and splice a later model pigtail connector had I known the odometer would show the correct lower actual mileage of the van it was being transplanted to, but who knows why the 2000 had a different color, and shaped connector if all works fine put in a 98 if you splice on the different connector pigtail.