Oil Gauge Off Its' Rocker

XYZ · February 28, 2014

Noticed the oil gauge was starting to read a little high a couple of weeks ago. I replaced the sending unit, which i already had on-hand as a possible fix for a leak (which, of course, it didn't cure). Now, it has completely flipped out, pegged past 80 (see pix), yet, true oil pressure at idle is as it should be (see pix).

Saw a pricey cluster replacement on Ebay, guessing this is the route to go? 2003 Sierra, 4.8L.

Chris · February 28, 2014

Possible stepper motor

[email protected] · February 28, 2014

yeah i would guess stepper motor first since its a cheap fix. i had to replace a couple in one of my trucks and was pretty easy as i recall

white1500 · February 28, 2014

Oil pressure sensor?

dtspitcherguy · February 28, 2014

Probably the gauge. In my Yukon, once one went bad, they all went. At one point, I was doing 40mph sitting still and had no fuel because of bad motors. Common issue in those model years. You can replace the individual steppers or do the eBay route which is what I did with no issues. Whatever you are comfortable with.

rjgogo · February 28, 2014

Probably the gauge. In my Yukon, once one went bad, they all went. At one point, I was doing 40mph sitting still and had no fuel because of bad motors. Common issue in those model years. You can replace the individual steppers or do the eBay route which is what I did with no issues. Whatever you are comfortable with.

I just had this happen as well. Started with the oil gauge and then the transmission gauge and I took the cluster out and had the stepper motors replaced.

XYZ · March 1, 2014

Thanks for the replies. Think I am going the Ebay route, but getting a cluster with a factory trans temp gauge in it already. This will allow me to monitor it in the dash cluster vs. the Interceptor scan gauge, freeing it to monitor some other functions I need to familiarize myself with.

XYZ · March 1, 2014

Here is today's reading lol...

kstruckcountry · March 1, 2014

You'll have to get the cluster programmed. From what I've heard doing the motors is less trouble than the whole cluster.

PS you can get a scanguage for ~$100. I had one and liked it a lot. Up to 4 parameters at once.

KMGZ400 · March 1, 2014

Just be glad your battery, oil pres. and temp gauge didn't stop working like they did in my 03. It was progressive though, first was oil, then a month later battery, then a month, oil another month temp, sold the truck next month.. Was afraid fuel gauge would die

rjgogo · March 3, 2014

Here is the route I went. www.gmgaugerepair.com I took the cluster out, sent in in and got it back two days later. for $110, it was cheaper then having me mess with it. I have no affiliation with them, but they replaced all the motors for me and I plugged it in and it was all good. No programing, just reinstall and all is good. Frankly I picked them for two reasons; good reviews, and they were close so shipping time would be fast. There are a ton of people doing it for various prices, some way more and very few for less.