04 silverado z71
instrument cluster was stuck cycling languages constantly. Found a Cluster out of an 03 swapped it into it my 04. Everything worked (except for buttons to view MPG and that info in odometer) so it stayed on the odometer, which is fine. The problem is the fuel gauge reads E but the low fuel light is not on. The only information I can find about this says if its not working its probably your fuel pump or sending unit. I know this is not true because the fuel gauge works on my original cluster.
My question is: how likely is it that the stepper motor in my gauge is the problem? I have to order a rebuild kit in order to get one and just want to hear some opinions before I throw more money into this junkyard gauge cluster that turned out to have 300K+ miles and no working fuel gauge.