03 Silverado flyin blind

[69gmcc10]

I am having issues wit my instrument cluster and no it isn't the stepper motors. Please read along and help me try and diagnose this issue, I appreciate it.

To give you as complete of a history as far as I know it, here is the pertinent info

1) I bought the truck this summer and the shift indicator worked intermittently. Not a problem, I just figured that it was a loose connection in the board

2) November, the cluster once stopped working (no gauges, no shift indicator, not odometer read out, but the back lighting on the gagues work) and then they started again within a minute. I took the cluster out, cleaned to connections added some di-electric grease and re-installed. It worked like the dickens for about a month, the gear selector indicator even worked more often.

3) In December the issue became slightly more regular. I had the computer flashed by Black Bear performance and the problem continued irregularly, but the radio started resetting every time I turned the truck on (clock would go to 12:00 and run through all of the cds in the player).

4) last week the radio stopped resetting every time I turned on the truck, but now I have a 25% chance the cluster will spring to life when I turn the key and hitting it doesn't seem to work but maybe every once in a while.

I researched and found that maybe a weak battery could be a contributing factor but when I check the battery it charge it seems fine.

I am not above buying a new cluster, but I don't want to just throw parts at the truck and find out it wasn't the cluster. Any suggestions to help diagnose a specific part failure would be appreciated.

Thanks

[69gmcc10]

I am a fool! I forgot to also mention that in December I installed an alternator overdrive pulley to make the alternator turn out more amps at a lower rpm and also a larger alternator wire to the jump box. I did this because I am going to add a electric fan, but if it is my battery I would think it would help the battery charge faster as apposed to hurt it.

Again, any help would be appreciated!

[pound41]

My 03 did the all gauges dead when I started in the first month I owned it brand new. Dealer had no clue why.. Then it year or so later My shift light indicator went out and then another one of the gauges failed. Eventually before my extended warranty
ran out I had them put a new cluster in it and it has been fine. But I have put like 4 oil pressure switches in it they only last a few months. Yes a battery that is dying will do the radio reset thing. This 03 and our 02 suburban were the first new cars we had ever owned. On both of them Radio was reset one morning a day or 2 later battery was stone cold dead and had to be replaced. I told my Dad an old mechanic and he said they are famous for that. It sounds like you might have other issues. My Dad wise old mechanic. Who even in the days of Scan tools never used one and was awesome at figuring them out. Told me becareful messing with their electrical systems sometimes you change them and you have a world of problems. Who would talk about numerous ones he worked on. They had put aftermarket radios in them.
Sorry not alot of help
Good Luck

[Special-Ed]

prolly needs a new cluster...

my suburban hates the cold... florida the gauges work great, come to chicago dam gauges dont work when cold...

moral of my story... i need a cluster.

[69gmcc10]

pound41- Thanks for replying. My old 03 truck had all the gauges go out one at a time over the process of a year starting with the oil pressure gauge and then I had it replaced and it was fine for 3 years and then the oil gauge went out again, so I know exactly where you are coming from on that stupid oil indicator.

Ed- I thought my problem could be the cold as well, but the last 2 days have been colder here than any of the previous days and the gauges have worked fine. It was so cold here today that my doors were frozen shut. The only difference in the last 2 days is I am driving a further distance to work because I need to pick up an employee.

My normal drive is about 4-5 miles from work to home and now it is closer to 12 miles, so maybe the extra drive time is giving the battery more time to charge??? I also didnt have any issue with the gauges when I went and picked up a car 4 hrs from here. I guess I will find out on monday or tues when I start driving my normal route to work if the problem comes back. If not enough charge time is my my issue and the gauge for the battery in the cab always hangs just above 14v am I looking at the battery not being able to take a charge or the alternator not being able to charge?

[69gmcc10]

New development, the gauges worked this morning when I started the truck but on my drive to work turned off and on 3 or 4 times and then stayed on as I was driving down the road at 25 MPH. Never happened before!

[structures]

My 03 Chevy Z71 has been full of electrical nuisances. Seems like they all started around 30-40k miles

I had an instrument cluster put in by chevrolet under a recall (which was good to like 80k miles). My speedo started jumping all over the place and my fuel gauge went out too.

Seems like when it was really new I had a clicking from under the dash that nobody could figure out or fix. Oddly I still live with it today. I have since isolated it to the air mixer gate (hot/cold).

Lights on the radio buttons and temperature control have gone on and off for years based on the weather. I cringe getting into the truck on frigid days b/c I know some miniscule electrical thing is going to go out.

A couple summers ago I was having real issues where I couldn't get the director valve to send the air thru the dash vents, just the defrost. Very hot ride home 103 outside and I'm blowing all my A/C at the windshield...

My '96 chevy was a solid electrical truck, so I blame GM for selling off delphi for all these electrical issues. I believe that was in '99??

[69gmcc10]

Follow up!

I feel allot of threads post questions, get suggestions and never post up results. It is like they asked for knowledge from the all knowing forum and dont ever give back what they have learned or figured out for the next person.

So, back on topic- Problem: All cluster gauges blacks out intermittently, not the back lighting, just gauges and digital readouts and usually during start up, but could also happen intermittently while driving.

Suspects-

cluster- I doubted it wast the problem because these gauges are known to go out 1 piece at a time and this was either all working or not working.

Wiring harness- I had found a youtube video that showed an intermittent cluster failure caused by a broken ground wire by the harness plug in. I disassembled the dash and when it failed I wiggled every wire on the back of the cluster individually and vigorously to try and get a reaction, but nothing.

Battery- During the multiple times I checked the battery with a volt meter it was at about 11 volts. Not until 3 days ago did I stat the truck and observe the drain on the battery during start up and it would instantly drop to 8 volts. Now I don't have a good enough battery tester to show me tenths of volts, but I can only assume it was in the lo 8s and based on a Tech bulletin I ran across, when the cluster does not get a certain voltage the gauges will not engage. The magical voltage on the bulletin was somewhere in the 8's.

So no sooner do I find out that my battery is circling the drain than I take my wife to dinner that night and when we get in the truck it wont start due to a dead battery! I get a jump, drive home turn it off and it wont start again. I take my battery in to the local parts shop, test it and find out that it is in the last quarter of life...whatever that means. I also checked the alternator and that thing is working like a champ, just crankin' out the amps! I PUT A NEW BATTERY IN THE TRUCK and I haven't had a single gauge issue in the last 2 days. If anything changes I will update this again. Thanks for listening.

[69gmcc10]

final follow up.

About 1 month after the battery was replaced and everything was working good the instrument cluster started throwing fits again. I checked the battery, it was good, I checked the alternator again and it is still good. Now when I hit the gauges they will some times turn on. I don't know if the weak battery initiated some problems in the gauge but it now seems to be a cluster problem that cant be attributed to anything other than the cluster it's self. So I have finally bought a new cluster and it should be here today. I will let you know the results when I install it.

Thanks for listening.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by 69gmcc10

final follow up.

About 1 month after the battery was replaced and everything was working good the instrument cluster started throwing fits again. I checked the battery, it was good, I checked the alternator again and it is still good. Now when I hit the gauges they will some times turn on. I don't know if the weak battery initiated some problems in the gauge but it now seems to be a cluster problem that cant be attributed to anything other than the cluster it's self. So I have finally bought a new cluster and it should be here today. I will let you know the results when I install it.

Thanks for listening.

I expect the cluster will fix. Good luck!

-Richard

[Boog]

The 03 to 05's suffered these cluster pains. They are available new or reman'd from the parts houses. Reman'd ones were in the $300 range. That's been a couple of years ago though.
I have a friend that had an 05 suburban with all kinds of electrical glitches. Started with the cluster and affected other things too. Seems like the radio quit, the 4wd would not engage and a couple other things. He bought it new so it had no shady prior repair work done to it. It was out of warranty of course. The dealer tried their hand at it and didn't fix it. He took it to another shop who tried and they couldn't either. It gave wierd codes. I don't think he ever got it right. Good luck with yours.

[69gmcc10]

I had a different 03 and I had replaced the cluster in it about 4 years ago for $250 through the dealership, they quoted me that price and tried to charge me $350, so I fought them to get that price and won. I bought a Dorman raman unit for $180 with a $300 deposit. They aren't messing around with wanting that core back and it took 2 weeks to get it to me. I installed the new cluster and everything is working perfect, the orange on the gauge is a little faded compared to the gauge I sent back but I can certainly live with it. I will keep everyone posted of any issues that come up, but hopefully this is my solution. it certainly seems to be the answer so far.

[Special-Ed]

Are you talking about the backlight?

Sometimes the Mylar for the cluster does not sit flat and causes the light to be night right

Easy fix. Reseat it

[69gmcc10]

Originally Posted by Special-Ed

Are you talking about the backlight?

Sometimes the Mylar for the cluster does not sit flat and causes the light to be night right

Easy fix. Reseat it

No, I havnt checked the brightness yet, but if I do have a problem thanks for the tip. the actual orange marks on the gauge are faded, not bad enough to complain about but bad enough my OCD noticed. It is like it was in a regular cab p/u without a tinted window and the sun "started" turning the orange hash marks white.

[truckdude239]

thats all i oder is the dorman clusters for work they have a life time warranty