MarkSmith

I did a search on this, but couldn't find any threads on the subject. I've put around 100,000 miles on my truck and every once in a while every gauge in the dash goes to "0" (when you are going down the road). Sometimes you can "pound" the dash with your fist and they'll come back on, most of the time when they do come back on the air bag light stays lit.

Anything to look for, or just a fluke wiring glitch? It's not keeping me from driving the truck, just very annoying.

weadjust

The gauges on my 06 w 150,000 miles did that recently. A couple of miles later I was sitting on the side of the road with a bad alternator and a dead battery.

Mod (Ret.)

As already stated, this could be an indication of a battery getting weak and/or an alternator not keeping the battery charged.
The cluster will do strange things (needles sweeping) when the battery is below charge. My factory radio/GPS began to reboot itself off of its disk every morning for about a week; then the battery simply went bad. When a new battery was installed, the factory radio/GPS stopped this reboot process.
I was very suprised to find that the battery was an 11 year old Interstate. I suspect the previous owner or the dealership that it was traded in at installed this "left over" battery, as the truck is a 2007, but the sticker on the battery indicated it was a 2004.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

If it's not an Alt or battery issue (no Battery light mentioned) I would suspect the cluster has a short somewhere...very common issue with our year..

ReaperHWK

I would also take your cluster out, I believe there are 2 harnesses on the top. Spray some electrical contact cleaner in there, and reconnect the harnesses.


Maybe just a bad connection...............

Mod (Ret.)

^^ Good suggestion ^^^ It has worked for a few on this site in the past.

MarkSmith

Thanks for the replies gang, much appreciated. I'll have to pull the cluster and check the connections when the weather gets a little better.

About a year ago the battery went out unexpectedly, no warning whatsoever. Then a week or so later the alternator quit charging, so I replaced it as well. The entire time the voltmeter on the dash showed what it always has, couldn't tell any lower reading than usual.

I sure hope we're not going through that mess again!

P.S. Still love my truck, best one I've ever owned.

ReaperHWK

If I remember correctly, to get to those 2 cluster harnesses you just need to pop off the top dash trim piece and you'll see them right there.


The steps were in a Haynes manual I used.