Instrument cluster works intermittently. When it decides to come on-all lights are lit for a few seconds and all the needles activate and there's a strange noise behind the cluster in the dash, kinda like an grinding electric noise that stops after the cluster comes to life. All lights are out accept the oil gauge and then it goes off in a few minutes. Once when I bumped it then half the light came on for the speedometer. It can go days with out working at all and then magically start working and sometimes quit working a few miles then the needles are stuck in place. Is it the stepper motors or the mother board?

 

Mine is a '04 Tahoe, maybe yours is the same design. I just replaced the tach stepper motor and when the cluster is first plugged in and powering up it will sound about like what you describe. Could be as simple as the plug at the top of the panel on the back side is loose and not making a good connection. Look at youtube for Dr. Speedometer or others about how ez it is to pry off the dash bezel, remove 4 screws and tilt the cluster out enough to check the latching plug. Please reply on what you did. Thanks. *BW*

 

I have already taken the entire cluster out, several times. I have checked that plug and it's in pretty tight. I don't have the dash back together, I keep it so I can just pull the cluster out when I want

 

Also, I did see the speedometer needle slightly go downward (I barely caught it) before it rose to the correct speed

 

Tanin Auto Electronix here. We are vendors on the site and work on these often. It is not something that we can diagnose without first testing the cluster but if you are interested, here is our repair service:

2003 - 2006 Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Escalade, Envoy, Trailblazer, Impala, Monte Carlo, Cavalier, Sunfire Gauge Cluster Repair

If the cluster is not repairable, we also help locate replacements and program the correct mileage into them as well. Let us know if you have any questions at all. We are happy to help out any time.

Thanks!