My gauges do not work?

Hi,

Don't you have an LCD display for where the odometer and trip meter are? Does that work? I included a wiring diagram that shows all of the gauges are inputs from the PCM. If the lights work and that is it then I suspect you have a wiring issue from the PCM to the IPC or an issue with the PCM directly. Have you checked to see if there are any codes? This may point us in the best direction. Let me know about the LCD and the codes and we can figure this out. It sounds like the cluster is out here is a video of the job being done on a similar car.

https://youtu.be/_HEC44xENxw

Check out the diagrams (Below). Please let us know what happens.

The gauges dont work correctly. The one for the gas gets stuck and doesnt go up much even if the tank is full. The temp gauge is stuck way passed the red line pointing down. the ones for the mph and gears sometimes begin somewhere above the strarting point and move from there. It'll be marked at 40 mph when im stopped and move up from there as i press on the gas. The gauges for mph and gears do go back to normal after a while

I do not think that the problem is electrical, it appears that the temp gauge is stuck - it is below 0 and will not move. The speedometer gauge is on 41 MPH even when the ignition is in the off position - appears to be a calibration issue. My questions are:
1) Does this make sense, e.g., is the logic here correct?
2) Where is the best place to take it for repairs.
3) How much should I expect to pay for this type of repairwork, e.g., what is reasonable?

Hello, I'm Danny
It sounds like the printed circuit board or the stepper motors in the cluster may be faulty in the cluster to be causing an abnormal reading since the car is otherwise running normally. I've attached picture steps below on how to remove and replace the trim to gain access to the cluster as well as remove and replace the cluster itself on your Cavalier. Some places like speedometer shops can repair instrument clusters. Depending on the area you live and which type of shop doing the repairs average shop labor is about $100 an hour labor. Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.

The Speedometer, Thermostat, and Gas guage do not work in my car. They do some times shake, and stutter. Once in a blue moon they will come on. How can i try to fix these problems without immediatley spending more money than i should?

my 2005 chevy cavalier gas gauge is sitting on my temp gauge and then speedometer stops working. Can you help me?

temperature gauge is all the way to the right, speedometer reads 10 miles faster than what it is, and fuel gauge is incorrect.

the tempeture gauge hasnt work, now the rpm gauge isnt working properly, and theft system and service light comes on, engine still runs great

Hello, I'm Danny
It sounds like the printed circuit board or the stepper motors in the cluster may be faulty in the cluster to be causing an abnormal reading since the car is otherwise running normally. I've attached picture steps below on how to remove and replace the trim to gain access to the cluster as well as remove and replace the cluster itself on your Cavalier. Shops like a speedometer repair shop can repair instrument clusters. As far as the anti-theft and check engine light it would be best to perform a CAN scan - Controller Area Network to check all the systems on your vehicle. Here is a tutorial showing how to perform this.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/can-scan-controller-area-network-easy

Once you have this scan performed get back to us with any code numbers and we can then properly diagnose. Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.

here are the details of what the car is doing. While driving, the check gauges, service engine and theft system light will come on. Also at the same time temp gauge, speedometer and tach quit working. (all going backwards to zero, not jumping ahead) If I turn off anything drawing electrical, (heater blower, radio, lights ect.) the gauges will immediately start working again. I can turn things back on and the gauges will continue working for a while but will eventually fail. turning things off makes them work again. sometimes braking for a stop causes the failure but that is erratic. It happens many times during regular driving and doesn't always happen when braking.
both turn signal lights seem to have a dim flash at the moment of the failure. The theft system light and service engine light stay on through all this but do reset when the engine is turned off. They are ok again until the first incident while driving.

Hello, I'm Danny
It sounds like the printed circuit board or the stepper motors in the cluster may be faulty in the cluster to be causing an abnormal reading since the car is otherwise running normally. I've attached picture steps below on how to remove and replace the trim to gain access to the cluster as well as remove and replace the cluster itself on your Cavalier. Some places like speedometer shops can repair instrument clusters. Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.

1. Temperature gauge was stuck in the hot zone now stuck in the cold zone and hasn't moved at all.
2. When you turn the headlight switch on it takes a couple seconds for the dashboard lights to come on.
3. Gas gauge is stuck at half a tank.

Each of these issues points to a cluster issue. The BCM and PCM each send info in for the lighting and gauges separate of each other and it is very unlikely that they are both causing the same issue. Take a look at the wiring diagram and you will see each is separate.

I included the procedure to replace the cluster which if it were me, this is what I would do and go from there. Thanks

The car starts and runs every day, but the gauges come on and off. the wiring harness was cut out of the radio and I wired it back up when I bought the car. Under the hood wiring harness is cut all the way out, I had to rewire everything wire by wire. now my gauges go off and on my radio cuts on and off. I had to unplug my horn. my lights flicker up and down at night when I'm driving it. what do I do?

Hey Shae@Rob,

I would advise a great place to start would be to check all of the ground connections.

Make sure from the battery that all connections are clean and tight.

Another thing would be to get someone to watch the gauges/lights/radio while you move the wiring, under the dash, around the fuse block, all harness wiring etc. that you can access.

You are looking to locate something that causes the fault to occur so you can narrow down the potential cause.

A loose connection, pinched wiring or a corroded/bad ground are your most likely causes.

Hope that helps.

Any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards, Joe

Had Replaced Starter by mechanic and Gauges did not function. Car runs fine. Had mechanice check fuses, battery cables etc. Can't find problem. We believe its the Cluster thats behind the odometer. Or could it be a blown fuse somewhere. Need advice. ASAP

if all gauges are not working then its either blown fuse , bad wiring or cluster itself is bad. check fuse labeled BCM/CLU as well as fuse labeled CLSTR, both located in the instrument panel fuse block.

After battery change, the instrument cluster no longer works. Fuses not blown.Tried what I read on here. Disconnected battery, left it disconnected for fifteen minutes, pulled instrument panel fuse and replaced. The instrument cluster still doesn't work.

Did you use a voltage tester on applicable fuse circuit? Even if the fuse is good, if there is no voltage at the fuse circuit, the circuit is dead.

No, I didn't. I'll try that, but I'll have to find someone to help me with it as I don't have a voltage tester. Thank you, JDL.

Some of the discount stores sell a testlite and or digital multimeter.

Had the car to a mechanic and he checked circuits and did tests that led him to conclude that it is the instrument cluster that is problem and nothing else. He says to get a new instrument cluster.

Since the other 'cavalier gauges' thread had so many people that were able to get it going again after the same problem, i'm just wondering if there are any other ways I could try and get the cluster to 'reset, or power-on' without having to get a whole new instrument cluster, which i think will be sort of expensive.

My Instrument panel went out after the battery was removed. The fuse was not burned out. My son started the car, took the fuse out and put the same fuse back in with the car still running. It worked. Three mechanics had told me I needed a new Instrument panel.

Hey,

Great addition to this thread! Please feel free to help out on the site whenever it can add information that will help people.

Best, Ken

None of the gauges work on the instrument panel. Daughter had car jumped and now the gauges do not work. I have checked all the fuses. Took the alternator out and had it checked. Also replaced the battery and still do not work. Everything else works, the lights on dash the turn signals. What else could I check before I take it to a shop and spend mega bucks?

I think I have the same problem. I have a 2003 Cavalier. I had to disconnect the negative battery terminal one day as I was trying to work on the horn. After I connected the cable, all the gauges stopped working and a bunch of dash lights remained on. I took it to the dealer and they said I need a new instrument cluster. It was too expensive to replace and I also thought there is an easier fix. What did you end up doing? Thanks.

I have the same problem. I boosted the car yesterday and the gauges stopped working.

What can I do?

I should have come back and posted my fix, sorry.

Simply disconnect the battery connectors, and reconnect them again.

Jason

Had a similar problem on our 2004 Cavalier.
Tried everything all the posts all over the web tried.
Disconnect the battery for 1fifteen minutes, while disconnected short the positive and
negative battery leads together (not the battery!),
and pulling the fuses (more on this in a second).

Here is how I fixed it :


1. Started the car.
Gauges were not working and nearly all the Instrument lights were on.

2. On the side of the dash is the interior fuse panel l located the 10 amp, little fuse for the instrument "cluster".

3. Pulled the fuse and the instrument lights went out just like you would expect.

4. Now here I lose track a bit, but I believe I turned off the car, and then put the fuse back in place. I may have had the car running so if off does not work then replace the fuse with the car running.

5. Heard some noises like the fuel pump and then restarted the car, viola fixed!

got a boost toady now none of my gauges are working (heat, gas, spedomotor

my gauges quit working when I disconnected the battery briefly. I got them to work again by pulling the 10 amp fuse in the instrument panel fuse box while the car was off and then replacing it.

check 10 amp fuse labeled CLUSTER, in the instrument panel fuse block (on driver's side of instrument panel)

After battery change, instrument panel guages no longer work.

Tried disconnecting and reconnecting battery and then pulling and putting back in the instrument panel fuse.

Gauges still do not work.

Any other ideas?

This seems to be an ancient thread, but I ran across it after I had a similar problem and have solved it, so thought I would post a reply. I knocked out my instrument cluster when replacing the battery, and pulling the battery leads, holding them together, and whatever did not work. Pulling and reinstalling the obvious "cluster" fuse did not help either. Haynes notes two fuses going into the instrument cluster microprocessor -- "cluster" and "CLS/PCM". The latter does not seem to exist on my car, but I have got a "BCM/CLU".

Long story short, turned the ignition to "run", pulled the BCM/CLU fuse, put it back in, and everything is alive. Looks like this gives the instrument cluster microprocessor the clean start it so desperately craves.

I had already tried everything else listed (checking fuses, disconnecting battery, etc); got the the pulling the fuses with the ignition "on" steps and tried that. I had to pull both the "BCM/CLU" and "cluster" fuses and replace them with the ignition still "on" to get it to work. By the way, I also got a jump from a drained battery.

This may be significant; I pulled the BCM/CLU fuse first, then the cluster fuse and replaced them in FIFO order (BCM/CLU fuse first, then the cluster fuse).

Thanks much for the help!

I am not mechanically inclined whatsoever, but this thread helped me so much! My grandma has a 2003 Cavalier and her dashboard gauges were not working (gas, odometer). So I told her I would take a look at it because it might be something as simple as a fuse. (I can at least change a fuse) After reading this thread trying to get some insight, I just went over to her house and pulled the BCM and cluster fuses (seen in a reply) and they were still in good shape/not blown. We tried to start the car and I put the fuses back in (in that order BCM, then cluster) and after starting the car again, all of her gauges worked! We could not believe it! So excited! Many thanks to you all for posting your replies on here they helped so much and probably saved my gramma a couple hundred dollars! (the two mechanics she took it to either told her it would be $20.00 to $300.00, or to just drive it like it is.

my instrument panel stopped working when my radio fuse blew is there a fuse for the gauges if so where is it ?

you mean the lighting or all gauges completely stopped working? there is no fuse specifically for the instrument panel but 2 fuses that do include the panel are #6 (10 amp) and #12 (15 amp)

Wife was driving the car, smelled a funny burnt plastic odor and the dash gauges quit working, the turn signals work but the alternator light is on the car runs and starts.

Good morning.

Attached is a diagram of your cluster. check the two fuses listed for power on both sides.

The smell concerns me. it sounds like the alternator may have failed. if the light is on, then there is a problem.

do you have a voltmeter to check the voltage at the battery while the engine is running?

Roy