Questions and Answers

Chrysler Lebaron Cruise Is Flaky Q. I have a 1990 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible, 3.0 liter V-6, automatic transmission. I bought this car when it had 10,000 miles and now it has about 115,000 miles and up till now has run just great! The mileage meter (odometer) stopped working about 25,000 miles ago. The problem is, my cruise and speedometer will often not work after starting the motor.

However, after it is restarted sometimes once and at other times after several times, the speedometer and cruise control works just fine. Now I am beginning to have a problem with the dash lights not coming on when turned on.

Also, there has been an instance when the headlights and tail lights refused to come on. I would appreciate your help with this problem by giving me certain things to check.

Thank you,
Bill

A. I have seen quite a few electrical connectors on the Vehicle Distance Sensor go bad and cause erratic operation of the speedometer and cruise control. So this would be the first thing I would check.

It is also possible that the speedometer head itself is causing the problem. The speedometer and odometer are one unit so if one is bad, it's possible both are bad as well.

The dash lights failing to coming on when turned on could be a bad instrument cluster printed circuit board or a loose ground connection at the left instrument panel support.

If the headlights and tail lights refused to come on just the one time, which I infer from your description, I would not worry about it unless it becomes more consistent. This could be an indication of a head light switch going bad.

The vehicle distance speed sensor is located in the transaxle extension housing.