Tach and Speedo Acting up, warning chimes???

[ELind]

I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but its real... I did a search and couldnt find anything either. .



I have 650 miles on my 04, and I am cruising down the highway and I see a red light on the right side of the dash flicker and a bried warning chime. Hmmmm. A little later, my speedo and tach fall to zero and then right back up to normal. Everything else is cool.

The speedo and tach thing happened 2 more times when driving. also heard another warning chime and briefly saw a red light in the upper center of the dash (between tach and speedo)



Everything else seems cool, no faltering in the truck, no dimming of lights. I tried driving over rough roads to see if maybea ground was loose, but I could not intentionally replicate the problem.



Any thoughts? Should I be driving it??



Thanks!

 

[Bfoot17]

Since your gauges are controlled by the BCM it could be giving you a problem or it could be something as simple as a loose connection. Have you checked with your dealer and which light comes on?

 

[ELind]

yeah, I am gonna go poke around

After it stops raining. That's what its acting like, a loose connection. The lights come on so briefly, that I haven't determined which they are. I only catch them in my peripheral.

 

[ELind]

hmmm

Looks like there is a TSB for the chimes/warning light thing on 03's that requires a reflash. A little nervous about that since it seems people lose power and mileage and I am getting 17. 4 unloaded already (just 700 miles!)



Can someone point me to the BCM and its connectors so I can go through and check them out today? THanks



Erik

 

[ELind]

Going to the dealer monday morning

Well, I checked all the connections, banged around checked grounds, etc. Cant reproduce the prob. Dealer is gonna run the codes and do the reflash monday morning. We'll see if that fixes it.

 

[ELind]

Well, I brought it in and the previous TSB did not apply to my truck or computer. Could not figure out what's up, so they sent info over to STAR at DC. No reports of other 04's with cluster issues, so they are supposed to get back to me. We shall see... .

 

[ELind]

STAR said they want a couple of other tests run.



To add to my frustration, I got a Check Engine light yesterday. Stayed on through 5 start cycles and a bunch of driving. Went away this morning.

I am headed to the dealer tomorrow to get the codes read and see what we can see. DC is leaning towards a bad cluster. .

 

[AKAMAC]

Hey Erik, which Dealer are you taking it to?

Mike

 

[ELind]

I have been going back to Brentwood. Just got back from there actually. The CE light was a "Start Circuit Rationality Check" problem... Basically something is screwed in the cluster and DC wanted a little more proof. The CE light did it, they are requesting another cluster (apparently not something that can just be ordered, it must be released from DC) Should have that in next week.

I have been dealing with John(mechanic) up at Brentwood, he has been very professional and knows what he's doing. He even returns my phone calls personally, which is pretty unusual.

 

[AKAMAC]

Just wanted to make sure you were'nt going to the other one.

Glad you are getting this resolved.

 

[ELind]

Yeah, the other place gave me the creeps when I was looking at trucks, so I figured it was worth the drive.

 

[ELind]

Well, my new cluster is officially on the way, hope that is the prob as I have my first real tow on Saturday. 3000lb racecar in a 2800lb enclosed trailer from my house to Thunderhill Park (@2hrs)

 

[ELind]

Update

Super... . I took the truck in, the mechanic whips out the new cluster and... . has a puzzled look on his face. Turns out the plugs are on opposite sides of the cluster from the old one.



He calls detroit to ask, they say "Yup, design change, no prob"



He plugs it in and "Puff" a little of the magic smoke comes out.



Ok, greeeeaaaat... . He re-installs the bad one, and then we hunt down the 3 blown fuses and replace them.....



He is displeased, I am displeased, and DC looks to have screwed us. So now I am waiting for the callback from the mechanic to let me know what the verdict is from DC and why the clusters were different.

 

[DavidGardner]

I"m so glad I have a 12 valve

 

[ELind]

Well, this more an annoyance than a real problem, I am sure they will get it resolved. I am scheduled to go back in first thing on Friday morning.

 

[ELind]

OK, they replaced the cluster again (turns out the first time, DC sent one for an '03... despite having my Vin#)



Everything works... . Just like it did before. Still having the same problem, waiting for my next step

 

[JGoodwin]

star wount get you any where. I had a coulple of these and it turned out on the two I repaired was the front control module not programmed to ecm. there are also two grounding points on left front fender and one on the right that should be checked. If you have a skim module, a loose connector at the skim module aslo does tricky things. From the sounds of it, a communication problem between modules.