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Help, 2003 GMC 3500 , all instruments reading nothing

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Help, 2003 GMC 3500 , all instruments reading nothing

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Old 07-23-2012 | 08:44 PM
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Default Help, 2003 GMC 3500 , all instruments reading nothing

I borrowed my dad's 2003 GMC 3500 Duramax because a guy totaled my Titan and tonight driving all the gauges went to zero.Checked all fuses, looked for bad connections , battery power (both) are 13.8 at idle, fluids all normal etc. Far as I can tell everything else (flashers, AC etc) works fine but every gauge on the panel reads zero. Been a bad week for cars, might buy a bicycle soon. :-) Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
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Old 07-25-2012 | 06:07 AM
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Update: I did some searching on the web and cleaned and tightened all battery connections and ground points I could find and the gauges seem to be working, crossing my fingers that was it.
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Old 07-25-2012 | 06:12 AM
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99'-04'ish are known for the entire gauge clusters taking a ****.. my 02' z71 winter beater went out at 66k.They can be bought at a salvage yard for 90$.
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Old 07-25-2012 | 07:39 AM
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The "stepper motors" go bad in the clusters. If the battery is going bad, particularly on a diesel when you start it the drain spikes the power and the gauges go haywire. My 03 diesel had the issue but my 01, 04, 05 gas trucks have been fine. In the end the speedo finally died, odometer kept counting but the speedo never got over 10-20 mph.

There was a guy on ebay that was fixing them (swap deal, send yours and he sends you a rebuilt cluster) but it sounds like your battery connection was the culprit.
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Old 07-26-2012 | 10:57 AM
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I am an Original owner of a 03' GMC Duramax. My cluster went out a few months ago. There was a service bulletin that GM put out a year or 2 after I bought the vehicle. If I am not mistaken, it effects 02' 03' Yukon, Escalade, and Sierras. A couple of hundred dollars to have dealer replace it.

My Neighbors Escalade Cluster went out a few weeks ago.

Only a matter of Time before my Denalli's is up.

~J
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Old 07-26-2012 | 11:19 AM
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There are very simple to change out. The stealer charges several hundred dollars. You can find one on eBay if yours takes a dump. You pull the dash off from it's friction clips, remove 4 or so screws from the cluster & ribbon cable from the back and you are golden. There are videos on Youtube.
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