My 2004 Silverado has instrument panel issues.

Speedometer often zero MPH, sometimes works, sometimes way off...also other gauges (oil, temp) started acting wacky sometimes working sometimes not and latest is now my gas guage starting to act same way. Over time they have gone on the frits one by one but sometimes still work though usually at least a few work while others don't.

Likely cause?

 

Sounds like the stepper motors that drive the gauges may be bad. I had problems with the tachometer a couple of years ago in my 2004 Silverado. It was erratic too, sometimes not working at all or it might show 6000 rpm when idling.
I did some research on the problem and it pointed to the stepper motor. There are videos on YT that give detailed instructions on how to get to them and replace them. It does require desoldering the existing stepper motor[s] and soldering the new ones in place on the printed circuit board of the instrument panel.
I found from research that the stepper motors are inexpensive to buy, I paid around $20 for the full set for my truck so I would have extras in the event of future problems. I replaced the one for the tach and that fixed the problem.
I also found from my research that it is a pretty expensive repair if you take it to a dealer or repair shop. Prices were as much as $600 for that. I spent about 2 hours total from the time I started removing the gauge cluster until I had it back together and finished.

I'll try to embed some videos here that I found to be helpful. I haven't done this here before so I'm not sure if it will allow that.

 

Hmmm? Does every guage have its own stepper motor? If so does it seem odd that these are all going out?

 

Every gauge does have it's own stepper motor. In the photo of the second video the 4 round white objects you can see are the stepper motors. They are about an inch in diameter.

GM had a lot of problems with these and would repair them for free on vehicles up to a certain age and mileage. The age limit was 7 years so you are on your own now.

Check this link for a bit of background on this issue. The common symptoms cover pretty much any or all of the gauges. Click on the "special coverage adjustment" there for info of the class action suit that made GM provide what repair service they did.

http://www.gmspeedometerrecall.com/

I can't tell you for sure if that is what is causing your problem but it does look pretty suspicious, those are the symptoms you would see. I only had a problem with the one gauge but I had read of others who had multiple problems such as yours.

I remember seeing an ad by someone who would do the repairs quite a bit cheaper, like around $200 to replace all of the motors in the cluster for you. The problem with that is that you would have to ship the cluster to them and wait for several days to get it back again. You would be without the entire thing during that time period, if that would be a problem to you.

 

I did a little digging around and found this site that does the repairs. It looks like you might want the $75 option [$95 w/shipping]. This is even cheaper than I recall seeing and might be your best bet if you don't feel comfortable with doing the repair yourself. They claim a 24 hour turnaround time so you wouldn't be without it for very long.

The removal and replacement of the cluster is pretty easy, the previous linked videos show how to do that.

GM Cluster Repair**********Phone Us @* 270-993-9533 - Home

 

I have a 2004 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3L V8. I also have had the issue with my instrument cluster -- but only with the voltmeter (all of the time) and the tachometer (only sometimes). The speedo, fuel gauge and other indicators seem to be doing just fine.

For now, I am not going to do anything about it -- but may have to get it fixed in the event I ever seek to sell my truck.

Thanks for the information!!

 

You're welcome.

I might add that they came out with improved stepper motors in response to this problem so make sure you get the latest version if/when you do this. I think the latest upgrade at this point is the X27.168 version. There may be some sites selling older versions, so it's something to watch out for.

 

I had gauge cluster issues and found out that I had a problem at the interior fuse panel. There was a 10 amp fuse that power the cluster. The problem was not the fuse but the terminals the fuse plugged into for the panel. Tightened it up and no more problems. All gauges worked great. No problems. Good Luck.