Gauge cluster issues

[motoking_1990]

Anyone one else have problems with their cluster on the lb7? It was my fuel gauge at first but now other gauges are starting to act up. My gear indicator doesn't come on til I'm driving down the road now too. At first I thought my fuel sender was screwed. Now I'm starting to think I'm losing the stepper motors or something. It will read fine one minute but then be way off the next. My fuel gauge randomly goes from wherever to empty on and off constantly. Idk what the deal is with it. Any ideas?

 

[08txlmm]

Check the batteries and alternator. Since several gauges and the gear indicator are messing up it would make me think its a bad connection behind the cluster or the cluster isn't getting enough power.

Also since the gear indicator comes on once you get moving that could be showing that once the alternator gets spinning, enough power is getting supplied to make it work properly. That would also point towards batteries or alternator instead of stepper motors.

 

[motoking_1990]

I will check it out today How many volts do these alternators put out? Is it like gas vehicle alternators.

 

[08txlmm]

I think you should be looking for the current instead of the voltage for the alternator. I'm not sure though. When I suspect alternator or battery problems I usually just pull it and let O'reillys or similar do a load test. That seems to give much better information in my experience.

Someone else may chime in with what voltage or amps to look for.

 

[motoking_1990]

I was thinking about that too. Autozone does that. But I figure I have a dvom so I could check it and save a little time pulling it.

 

[DAVe3283]

When charging, it should be around 14 volts. The clusters do get weird when voltages are low.
I didn't think that pre-03 clusters had stepper problems like the 03-05's did, so you might want to look elsewhere first.

Something to look for is put your meter on the battery terminals and have someone start it. Look at how low the voltage gets. IIRC things like the dash will bork if it drops below 7 or so volts when starting. In my opinion, it shouldn't really drop below 9.5-10 volts when starting unless its really cold or something.

When you are having dash problems, try pulling the dash fuse for a few seconds, then putting it back. If it works right afterwards, you are probably dropping too much voltage when starting, and its time for new batteries.

 

[motoking_1990]

The batteries are brand new I bought them not even a year ago now. Will it act up after the truck has been driving? The fuel gauge jumps around the entire time I'm driving at random. Sorry to ask a dumb question but what is IIRC?

 

[countrycorey]

IIRC = If I remember correctly

 

[motoking_1990]

Yep that makes me feel dumber lmao

 

[RENODMAX]

I've seen 01s with stepper motor failures. But they typically fail as in quit working, not jump around like crazy.

 

[chevytuf01]

Buy A New Cluster ... Has Nothing To Do With The Battery Or Alternator :thumb:

 

[motoking_1990]

What makes you think it's the cluster? Did you have the same problem?

 

[motoking_1990]

Well I haven't had any time to work on the truck this weekend to look at the alternator. Been hunting all weekend, but I did notice my lights get brighter a lot brighter when on the throttle thinking more and more it might be the alternator but it still starts and runs fine for the most part. Except my tune problems

 

[fairladyaffair]

I am having similar issues with my cluster. The speedometer at start up immidiatly goes to 90mph and sits there until you start going down the road at which time it will eventually max out and sit there until I slow down and it will come back down to 90 and sit there again. The oil pressure gauge fluxuates so I do not trust its reading. It will be above 60psi at cold starts which appears normal and drops below 60 at OT, which again i would expect to be normal but continues to slowly slip down to below zero over time on the road...makes me quezy. The Volt reading is good and the eng temp and fuel are good but the tac sometimes seems accurate and other times seems jumpy. Heard about the stepper motor issues but also heard about the programming issues they were having with them as well and want to lean towards that. I have a 2005 tahoe thats doing the same/similar symptoms and a dealer told me it needed to be programmed. Hope someone out there has a better alt. because there saying its 300 bucks to reprogram

 

[motoking_1990]

Yea not knowing how much fuel I have scares me a bit. Really don't wanna run out surely that's not too good on injectors or cp3. But I do know the dealerships sent the clusters off to be repaired. It's quite expensive from what I heard. Just don't wanna start throwing a bunch of parts and money at something unless I know what the problem is at first. Wish I had a v2, someone said it can tell the actual fuel level reading to rule out the sender if that's the case. :banghead:

 

[fairladyaffair]

One of the first things i want to invest in is a programmer that i can view real time data on to troubleshoot when necessary. Which will be right after my steering issue and will be followed by an airdog and then the cluster since the programmer can give me all the cluster can and that much more anyway.


2004 Lb7