Hi all, I have a 2005 Liberty CRD and today the dashboard panel went crazy. The emergency brake light began flashing, and the gas and rpm meter needles began jumping up and down at the same time. I thought there was a pattern to it (hard to tell when driving, and looking for a place to pull over), maybe 5 times the needles would "jump" in sync with each other, then stop and go back to normal. It happened a few times within a few minutes with the Jeep running, but I didn't notice or feel any loss of performance when driving.

It feels like it's a warning signal since the gauges seemed to be going crazy "together" if that makes sense, but I can't find anything in the manual about this (not sure quite what to search for anyway.)

Please help, I love my CRD but this was a little scary. We offroad but this is mainly my soccer mom-mobile, and I need to figure out if I need to swap vehicles today (is it going to blow up?!) before picking up the kids. Thank you thank you in advance.

Sounds like a flaky or bad Body Control Module (BCM). Has the driver's door been left open during rain or a car wash? Or a leak around the windshield?
The BCM is on the driver's side behind the fuse panel (on the end of the dash, you can see the fuse cover with the door open).

What I would try first is perform a self test on the instrument panel. With the car off, press and hold the trip reset button. Turn the car to ON. All the left side instrument panel lights will turn on for a test, the odometer will count from 111111 to 999999, and the needles will go from left to right and back stopping at defined intervals, then the right side lights will turn on. The needles should stop at these positions:
Fuel: E, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, F
Temp: C, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, F
Speedometer (CRD): 0, 30, 60, 90, 120
Tachometer (CRD): 0, 1000, 3000, 5000

If the self test "looks right" the instrument panel is probably OK but getting bad signals from the BCM.

Next check the BCM connections for tightness, rubbed wires / lost insulation / grounding / loose wires, and water / condensation.

Hope this helps!
Loyd

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2005 Liberty CRD Stone White

I had the same problem on my 2002 CRD, exactly as you have mentioned with the dials going crazy for a short while but also I sometimes got a "ping" and engine cut out.
I discovered this only happened when I either turned on the wipers or turned on the air-con.
I traced the fault down to bad wiring in the harness somewhere..... probably caused by a previous accident.
What was actualy happening is that the ECM (PCM on a Gasser) was failing to regulate the alternator voltage properly to the battery. I installed a voltmeter into the front cigar socket so I could monitor the charge voltage as I drove....the voltage would rise to about +17 volts...the ECM would sense the overvoltage and drop power altogether and the gauges would go crazy.....this also caused the battery to overheat and vent a lot of water.
You may have something similar....check if it only happens when you perform some action and monitor your voltage on the battery at the same time.

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2002 Export CRD 2.5 Sport