2004 malibu classic instrument cluster issue
 

2004 malibu classic,

yes its a 2004 sorry about the title,

Ok so when driving the car home after we bought it, nothing wrong, i borrowed his battery as i didn't have a side post battery.
I had 2 batteries laying around, both are good batteries.
Put both in, even put a multimeter on it , engine off, 1 battery was exactly 12 volts, running was about 12 to 13 so seems to be charging.
the smaller battery was 11.3 when not running, im using the larger battery, they are top post so had to buy adapters. made sure all connections are tight.

But now when i put the car into reverse, and also when i start the engine, ( engine fires right up no issues there ) every gauge spikes, and a few dummy lights come on, then gauges either all drop to zero or back to normal, and the headlights blink off, then back on quick, also happens when i test drove and pressed on the brake, but it did that only once, as i only took it around the block. The engine dont sputter or anything runs great. just gauges, Could this be its not the right battery or just crappy adapters? or maybe the alternator?

Also when starting the engine, if they spike, the DLRs turn off and stay off.

Will post a video later today after work.

see if anyone has any suggestions.

12-13 volts is not a good charging reading. a good resting battery should be around 12.6 anyway, everything you mentioned could be tied to a poor connection or a bad alternator. i would check your battery connections make sure theres no corrosion and its a good solid connection, if that doesnt fix it i would take the alt off and take to a parts store and have them test it.

Gotcha.

Just got to work, so.. heater blower dies down when put it in drive.. any doing speed the blower don't go faster like normal...

All gauges work while driving.. but after about 30 mph... Fuel and temp gauge zero out. Radio blibs. Once in a while...

After putting it back I to parks.. gauges all go back to normal.. theft system light stays on.. but goes off when I restart the engine. I did look under hood and noticed the ground wire hooks to the ground battery cable isn't hooked up to the body.. I forgot.. I had to take that off the body because the cable didn't quite make it to the terminal.

So will hook that back up today and check again... But yeah I will take the alt.. and battery both in.. I had battery adapters, but until I can buy a new battery , will have to do.

Update.. so I hooked up the ground cable.. tested it out no change..

Took it to AutoZone... They came.out and tested the battery and alternator... Both passed everything.

What size battery is recommended?

Will too small of a cca battery make a difference m

This was in my 4 cylinder 2.0 ltr.. 1999 Tiburon so..
Just odd.. drove it home when I bought it with his battery .. all worked fine..

Put my battery in..and does this..
Tommorow I can ask him if I can borrow his battery and throw it in and see what happens..

is your gauge and battery still reading 12-13?

Ok so when the engine is off, battery reads 12.5
running reads 14.6V , when I rev the engine, the volts do NOT move at all, so that means the voltage regulator is good
When I put it in reverse or drive, the temp and fuel gauge drop to zero, and driving, when I let off the accelerator, ALL the gauges spike straight up, then back to 0 then back to normal, and my airbag and theft light blink then go off except for theft, until I restart the engine, When I come to a complete stop, the fuel and temp gauge will go up to normal reading. then start going again they drop to zero.
My radio blips off then on, and sometimes blips completely off, and I have to turn it back on, and change the clock and settings again. I disconnected the battery, and drove it, same thing.

what about just disconnecting the alternator completely, and driving on battery only? would that hurt it at all>? basically like driving on a bad alternator , same thing isn't it lol

I would think this is more of a bcm issue rather than voltage. To be sure check your volts at the battery at idle and carefully with someone putting the car into gear. Since when you originally got it tested just sitting at idle

BCM, where is this located? and of course not cheap?

also does this need to be programmed before install?

In reality they seam pretty cheap but idk for sure

There's a recall on your car for the bcm anyway check to see if it's been done or not. Might help you
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/amp/n...ms-051614.html

first off, im not the original owner, does that matter?

and yea about 150.00 new, could try a scrap yard.