Electrical issues with my 2003 Silverado

Also, I disconnected the ground on the frame below the drivers feet and also the ground from the battery. I cleaned the contacts and reconnected. I had read the ground below the drivers feet is sometimes a culprit for issues similar to this.

These have had many issues with the instrument cluster doing this and the wiring behind the dash to it.

Look at the wiring behind the dash to the instrument cluster, radio,etc. These are known to melt,burn where you can't see it without pulling the dash apart.

ive looked under the dash and around the steering column for frayed/melted or burned wires but haven't seen anything. What made me start looking for wires there is sometimes when I am turning to the right, especially exit ramps( why ramps I don't know) it has caused the chiming and abs/parking brakes to flash. When I want it to do it(when the gm certified guy is driving it) it doesn't do it! I will go back and look deeper on the wires though. Thanks

There have been many harnesses changed here with vehicles doing the same things as yours intermittently. Something about those year models.

Haven't had the dash light issues in a few weeks but the transmission is dropping pretty hard and wants to start in 2nd gear like before(check engine light came back on). I pulled the cluster, radio, HVAC controls, pulled the electrical tape off most of the wiring around those and around the steering column and the BCM. I didn't find any issues with any wires. Put everything back together, drove it, shifted properly and the check engine light went out. Crazy!

Could be the instrument cluster itself. You can have it rebuilt with a lifetime warranty. That's what I did a few years back. I think it ran around $150.

I have the same thing happening. There was a recall on this in 05 or 6. I had mine replaced. The replacement only had a one year warranty this one is on me and I got a $350 quote from my dealer. My tach, speedometer, fuel, temp, oil pressure and odometer will stay off for days and then come on for a short time. This is also putting a drain on my battery. Can anybody help?

I'm having about five of the similar problems you are having I have a 2003 Silverado and everything I've read is pointing to the body control module which controls almost everything inside the cab where you sit

My husband having the same issue - now none of the gauges work - we were told to get a new instrument cluster - called part store almost $500 - called local junkyard $150 used and have to return old one (like a core).

on the newer clusters 2003 and up can be rebuilt i have done two trailblazer clusters its pretty strait forward... normally just needs new stepper motors. here is the how to from the trailblazer forum that i used to fix 2 clusters. http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php? t=48886 but if its not just the gauges working then i would think there is some other problem.

Thank you all for help and suggestions. We actually got one from junk yard for $150 - it says on back "re-manufactured" and only had 1630 hours on it. Beats the $500. Un-plugged old one and plugged in new one and boom all gauges even cruise control working again!! :)

Came out of a "Tahoe" working perfectly for over two weeks now.

Folks I need your help, same issues + so my cluster gages dont work not a big deal right i used the led read out of my trip miles to gage my gas. But now it dont work one day it just stopped some times it would chime and come back on then it would go off but now it looks as if it is in chinnese or something and now it will have one lil tiny dot lit ALL THE TIME even after its off and keys are out this is causing the battery to die i found tons of guys to rebuild the cluster but none of them say anything about the led read out any ideas, thoughts ? mail me sub line YOUR TRUCK smush these words together THE SHORT WHITE GUY G MAIL

You need to replace your ignition switch harness, i had the same problem transmition in second gear and cluster fail.change the igntion switch problem solved.it trows you lots of codes as well and after you replace your ignition switch you wont have that problem.

I'm having the same issue on my 2004 Silverado with 143K miles. The gauges turn off and the ABS, parking brake lights flash on with the audible chime then a few seconds or minutes everything returns back to normal. Sometimes it does it 1-2 times a day or whenever it feels like it. I remember taking my truck to the dealer when it was still under warranty to fix the speedometer acting up when it was a few years old. Did anyone ever find out what the problem was and how did you fix it ?? Many people say it's the instrument cluster and others say it's the ignition switch.

01 Silverado 202K miles.. No SES codes last 4 yrs. Noticed trans not going into first..taking off in 2nd. 2 days later while merging into x-way traffic;SES light illuminates.Code generated: P0751.(shift solenoid A). Replace shift solenoids A & B (sold in sets). Replace trans filter,fluid and gasket. Then I realized I never disconnected the negative battery cable. I then did the former for 15 minutes. Upon restarting the SES light stayed on. I then test drove and it is performing like a newer trans..auto shifting throughout all 4 gears and shifting into all gears on demand. the only code showing is in the history and its from before the fix. My questions for discussion are; 1) Should I have test driven before I attempted to reset the computer by removing the Neg. cable? 2) Will this reset on its own after some number or cycles? 3) Why did disconnecting the battery not reset the memory or is this a misconception; that it clears using the disconnect method? I should also add that for about 2 years my fuel gauge has been acting funny intermittently but will fix upon braking gear changing or generally sloshing fuel around in the tank. This has never generated any codes but the Low Fuel Light can also come on during these episodes. This also never happens above 1/2 tank. All this time I've been thinking bad ground on the frame or bad sending unit in the tank but the earlier discussion about instrument cluster and harness fails has been enlightening. ..

i had this issue when I replaced the factory radio with a after market and the wiring harness had a short in it, the abs would not turn off, the underscore on the PRDNL123 was gone, after I removed the radio and removed the harness it was all good.

Check for Ground wires that are bad mostly G104 and G103 along with the wires on the outside frame drivers side by your feel there should be 3 wires there and bolts get rusty causes all kinds of problems you will see many OBD errors and they can be related to bad grounds...

Check for Ground wires that are bad mostly G104 and G103 along with the wires on the outside frame drivers side by your feet there should be 3 wires there and bolts get rusty causes all kinds of problems you will see many OBD errors and they can be related to bad grounds... Also will get REDUCED ENGINE POWER warning due to bad ground replacing parts that show up on OBD reader will not fix bad ground problems new parts will also show up as bad expensive lesson to learn. The wires I mentioned are only just a few you could have others.

Need help please!!!! We have a 2005 Silverado flex fuel. A couple of weeks ago we noticed that after the truck was turned off, and the ambient air temp went down at night that the fans would come on by themselves overnight. We would start the truck, the fans would stop, all ok. Then 3 nights in a row the fans came on and drained the battery entirely so we replaced the battery. We checked and were told to replace the 3 fan relay sensors. Did that; didn't help. We also changed out the thermostat on the outside of the engine block. No help. Then a week ago it began doing really weird stuff. We began disconnecting the battery unless or until we ran it. Pain in the butt, however, only thing we could do until we figure it out. Now, in the middle of driving, the gas, battery, temp, etc guages will just drop. No reading at all, and the security system, check engine & check battery lights come on. Still have working tachometer and speedometer, but that's it!!!! Any help???? Please

Please check all battery connections, both ends, and find out how to reset the computer in your Car or Truck. this is now part of most repairs it is good advice to read all stuff on this page of problems The oldest way to reset the computer is remove battery minus then positive wait 5 minutes and hook em up positive first, key on.

What are G103 and G104 grounds? Where are they located?

I just had similar issues in my 2003 Escalade ESV as all stated above. Stability lights, ABS, radio, all gauges on right side of cluster and windows wouldn't work. I started noticing the car starts fine and I have no issues if I was sitting down. Then as soon as I got in and sat down it would all stop working shortly after, doesn't happen all the time like that but most of the time. I read some where else someone that had a 03' Silverado had the same issue and he would punch his seat to get it working again lol! So I followed his fix, which was relocating a wiring harness under the driver seat that was pinching between the seat and the seat rails whenever sat down or after bumps in the road.. hope this helps others too

Have you solved this I've replaced cluster cleaned all the grounds I could find and wiring to cluster plug in speed sensor still nothing

I have the same issue as you i was just wondering if you happen to have found the problem

I need help also. About once a month or so, My electrical drops off when I come to a stop. I have to put it in neutral at the light and rev the engine to keep it running with the other foot on the brake. I had the alternator replaced and that didn't help. It last for a few minutes and is fine for another month or so.

Have you found out the issue with you dash electrical problem. If so please contact me at 419- 357-4556. I have the exact same issue to the T

Have you found the issue what your dash problem. I have an 06 with the same exact issue to the T. Please call at 419-357-4556 and she if you could assist. Names Mike.

It was the idle control module. It's right on the side of the inner air cleaner. Watch a utube on it and ordered a highly recommended one from Amazon. Haven't had a problem since.

James ginzel who responded to my question, did you have the same issue

What size engine Did you have

I had a response to a post about my electrical issue on my 06 Chevy and was told the idle control module which my truck doesn't have its either the control valve and far as it being on the side of the air cleaner, sounds like a map sensor or something along those lines I need some verification on what the idle control module may or may not be

I had gauge problems on my 2005 GMC and used "GM GAUGE REPAIR" for all 2003 to 2006GM Vehicles,same day service. I had this done 2 yrs ago and still works great. cost $125.00 complete. Go to: www.gmgaugerepair.com or call 608-304-0155. Hope this helps. ( It took me all of 7 min. to remove the cluster),and Fed -Xed it to La Crosse ,Wi.54603.I think it too a little over a week turn around. John

Jk having a lot of the same problems with my gauges stop working on and off also the radio Windows and interior ligh won't turn on sometime. Going. To try some of the suggestions hop one works. Im very determined to find the problem it's very frustrating. And would appreciate if somebody finds out what this problem is please text me at 412-302-1026 thank you very much. I have a 03 Silverado 1500

I found that I had to replace the instrument cluster. Apparently this is a common problem with some GM years. I purchased the rebuilt instrument cluster from Orielly Auto Parts. I believe it was approximately $125. It was very simple to replace remove dash trim {just pops off} and 4 screws hold the instrument cluster and one plug. That's it takes about 15 minutes to replace. Hope this helps Paul

I have a 2003 Silverado 2500 hd,abs light and brake light comes on and the blower motor stops and transmission won't shift into high gear, any ideas

I have a 2009 GMC Sierra and when it's cold and I crank the truck I have no headlights no dash lights no brake lights the heater works and the radio works after I want it up for about 15 minutes and cut the switch off everything goes to working can you tell me what's wrong with it

2003 Gmc Sierra 1500. was sitting for 3 years because no one could figure out what was killing the battery, or why the dash cluster was going berserk. New battery, truck would not even crank. read on here about a ground connection on the frame below the drivers feet area. removed the 2 ground bolts and wire brushed everything. hooked up the battery and the darn thing started right up.. I hate electrical issues, we had pulled the dash cluster to check for corrosion, pulled the fuse block on the fender, found a mouse nest but no eaten wires.. pulled headlight switch, everything we read, we tried.. Today I saw the ground wire / frame story and finally back on the road..

Unplug ur aftermarket radio all the way to one harness.. I had issues after radio install I unplugged all after market stuff boom it worked

Eric my radio is stock. I noticed something especially when it's raining when I used my turn signal and hit my brakes my that light comes on as well as abs and brake lights and my guages drops momentarily and when I stop braking or using my turned signal at same time it quits. Thanks problem is vary sparatic

Try changing out your rectifier. It's a little thing that allows your engine to harness the full cranking amps of the battery only while starting. The rest of the time it acts as a resistor reducing the amps going thru the vehicle and extending the life of your other components. There's no way to test it other than replacing it with a known good one and driving it to look for improvement.

Something worth checking...a friend at work told me to check this because of electrical issues with my 99 sierra. The wiring under the drivers door along frame. (where the grounds connect to frame) It runs between the box and frame and sometimes gets pinched or broken wires etc. I checked mine and there is actually a small bolt coming out of frame that worked it's way into the wiring. I'll try to put a photo on if someone wants. Hope this helps someone. If anyone has repair tips for this they would be appreciated.

Some of the electrical issues I am having are gas guage all over the place, abs light, ebrake light and ding, and a few more.

GuruWXPGH if you have pics that would be great. I f you want call or text at 4193574556. I'll be more available after 3:30 today Eastern Standard Time

I have a 2003 chevy silverado as well, and when i use my right turn signal, my hazards come on. The left turn signal however works just fine. I put a wiper switch in to see if that fixed it, it did not, i was going to try the flasher relay, but i am also having issues with the cluster and my battery voltage gauge is sporadic and my speedometer has died twice. Im a broke college kid with little to no money to play around with, PLEASE help!

I have an 03 avalanche with similar dash and gauge problems. After replacing the BCU, rebuilding the dash with Mr. Whizard and replacing the ignition switch the problem still existed. I could change things by tapping the dash above the radio. Most of the time this would help. I tore into everything methodically trying to find the problem again. I found that when I installed the heater control module things would act up. The two harness’s from the heater control contacted the bottom of the radio flexing the bottom cover up slightly shorting something in the radio causing all the problems I was having. I routed the harness away from the radio bottom and so far so good.

i have a 04 Chevy z71 4x4 and the speedometer drops to zero and stays in second gear. All other gauges stay working. Has anyone had this problem and what do I do to fix it. I have a problem with the truck staying in driver 1 it wants to go back to unkown driver. please help

Chevygirl, I have a 2004 Z71 and have had both problems you describe. Chances are the speedometer dropping to zero and staying in second gear are separate problems. The step motors that move the needles on the gauges are defective on those model trucks. The speedometer was the first gauge to go on my truck. Also fairly common for the solenoid that shifts from 1st to 2nd gear to go bad and require replacement. Mine went out around the same time as my gauges started to fail. A deal will charge $500-600 for the solenoid. Multiple options for the gauge cluster repair depending on your soldering skills and can cost $20 for a self repair up to $150 for a rebuilt cluster.

Richard: my instrument gauges stopped working so I ordered the 6 step motor kit from Rock Auto for $50.00, took the cluster out (4 7mm screws and i electrical plug) after disconnecting the neg. ground on the battery (check the youtube video on replacing step motors) desoldered old step motors and replaced them with the new ones. Plugged cluster back in, hooked up neg. (ground) to battery and all gauges worked.

anyone ever found a fix for this

ive had mine repaired twice n am bout to throw it in the dumpster. it works but its draining my batery. it is not working properly hell one time i went in my truck n the hazard light lights wer stuk on(not blinking) jus on the cluster not the lights outside. u no sumthin aint right with the cluster

@Jaidenspapa what did you do to correct your issue?

My 2003 GMC Duramax was doing like every ones was, I swapped out the BCM had it towed to the Chevy Dealer in town ,to have it programmed to the vehicle worked for less than a week , started same exact problems ,It's back at the Dealer again . Two mechanics told me it's the BCM . the Dealer mechanic are scratching heads as if they had fleas. it could very well be battery cables or batteries themselves.

I have almost the same problem my 04 avalanche half my cluster doesn't work my power windows and locks don't work today my cluster went completely dead and everything else worked fine for 2 minutes then herd a loud click niose from under dash then everything stopped working and my cluster came back to life meaning only my rooms n speedometer work everything else says zero n all the lights are on even my 4×4 switch won't light up any help on what can fix this would help

Your transmission is hesitating to shift in warmer weather due to a vacuum leak in the valve body. A new valve body is only $250 but to pay someone to pull your transmission out to put it in is. Going to cost at lleast $500 in labor alone if you can even find a mechanic honest enough to tell you thats theproblem and not that you need a rebuild or remanufactured transmission.

Leslie mine 04 tahoe is doing exaclty what' yours is doing was you ever able to figure out the problem if so please share

This is a Aveowner. Per my above answer on finding a glitch in the heater control wiring which only corrected the problem for a short period of time. My next best effort was to buy a 13 Avalanche which I love. Retired the old 03 Avalanche to our Iowa home. Still concerned with the problem and as my last ditch effort I bought new positive and negative battery cables from Amazon. I installed them thinking that this was an exercise in futility again. Well it has been several thousand miles later and a year or so without even a small hiccup. Evidently there is corrosion in the molded battery end of the cables that can degrade the current which can cause the problem. Never been happier in several years of having this weird problem and after spending several hundred dollars chasing this ghost only to find out that 50 dollars in battery cables corrected the concern. Who would have thought that.

I have a 03 Chevy Silverado and here recently it is having a problem cranking..its random when it stops but what happens is the abs break light and the emergency break light will come on and the truck will go into like a limo mode where if ur stopped at a redlight and it’s turns green u gotta put the peddle to the metal just to get it o go anywhere... but once the abs break light and emergency break like comes on and then I kill the truck it won’t crank back up. So in other words as long as the abs light and emergency break light is on the truck won’t cran. I’ve taken it to a shop twice to fix the problem... they have completely rewired the truck back to factory the first time it was in the shop and it ran for maybe a month then the same problem occurred it’s been in the shop for about a week and i just got it out two days ago and this morning as I’m driving to work the abs and emergency break light came on again and as soon as I killed the truck again it wouldn’t crank and still won’t! I need to know wth is going on someone please give me answers

Oh I forgot to mention the second time it was in the shop they replaced the ignition switch

My 2004 tahoe 5.3 half my gauges ac windows 4x4 button door locks all of that not working I disconnected the battery and unbolted the pcm and plugged it back back tightened the bolts up good and everything is working still have air bag light and abs light on but everything else is working I've changed befor I messed with the pcm I changed the bcm and it only worked for a short period of time

Did you ever find the problem?

i had the crazy gauges and idiot lights in my 2005 Silverado 1500 as well as the shift indicator not working right (would mechanically go into gear but would stop at reverse until i took foot of the brake) radio would cut out. it only seemed to do it when i pushed on the brake pedal. so naturally started looking at the brake light system. replaced circuit board under bed of truck cleaned all the grounds. was about to rip the dash apart chasing a short, when i read a post on here about replacing the main battery cables. I didn't replace mine . but what I found was that if you disconnect the negative lead. then pull the bolt (that goes into the battery ) out of the cable, that is just a cover over the end of the cable. i had cleaned the cable connection, but it was completely covered in corrosion inside there. after i cleaned this off my problems went away,

My instrument cluster just started going totally dead. Then a half hour of driving later, it comes back and works like normal. Sounds like I need to check for a bad ground. There is a Youtube video of a guy that jumps the black to the black stripe wire on the OBD and his gauges all start working again. Also, it seems a lot of these instrument cluster boards were made with marginal solder jobs. A lot of guys are reflowing the solder up near the pin connector. One guy wire brushed the thing to remove the lacquer first. Not sure I am that brave. Hope it is just the ground on mine. If it was a bad solder joint, likely it would be confined to just one or 2 gauges.

I’m having similar prob on my 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 2wd vortex 5.3 with aftermarket stereo,I noticed that when I pish the trip Reset button and turn off the ignition and keep holding it a code pops up that says h6666.8-does anybody know what this means??

I'm having something similar. I just bought an 04 Chevy Silverado. The speedometer is the only working part of the cluster when I bought it. I came out one day to absolute no power. We charged battery and it started up but my radio (after market) no longer worked and now the lights for the heater/HVAC just come on and off randomly while driving.

I am the original poster of this thread. I totally forgot I had posted this and am thrilled to see so many people posting and responding. I still have my 03 Silverado and yes……still having issues, only it’s all the time and even affects my A/C. No more transmission issues(found that to be a separate issue). I thought I had it pinpointed down to the clock spring or something internally on the steering column. I needed to replace the intermediate steering shaft (notorious Chevy bumping…..put it off way too long), so I decided to replace the steering column and steering wiring harness also. This worked!!!!! For about 2 weeks……then everything came back. I thought it may be something in the brake or gas pedal wiring harness and that’s what led me back here. I see someone else thought that because of it coming and going while pressing the brake pedal, and I’m going to look into that now, but I think for $50 I’m going to replace the battery cables. I’ve never done that because they look fine, but who knows what is happening inside them. I love my truck, have almost 300,000 miles on it, and the dinging and lights I’ve almost gotten used to since it drives fine, but sporadic not starting and having to jerk the steering wheel and it’ll start and also in the southeastern NC heat with no A/C has really taken its toll on me( especially since my driver window won’t go down…….motor and track are fine…..either it’s the switch or part of these other issues.

Greenbean20 I have exactly the same problem as you did you ever fix it

Hi @jaidenspapa I am also having the exact same issue with my 03 Silverado. It went away for a while but last weekend it’s affecting the AC also. I’m hoping maybe you figured out what was causing it? I feel so stranded and frustrated. Thanks for the help.