Battery Drain & Instrument Cluster Issues

Tylerp · April 17, 2018

I had the battery drain issue with my 2004 Silverado Z71. After troubleshooting the problem for several days I came across this forum and unplugged my cluster and sure enough my drain went away. So I sent it off to automotivecircuitsolutions.com and for around $100 i got it repair and upgraded to blue leds. Its been a week now and the battery never died. They have a 24 hour turnaround time and it came with a lifetime warranty, I highly recommend them.

Jim Case · January 1, 2019

@Coby7 if possible could you contact Jim Case on facebook about repair on my instrument cluster. Please.

hillpc · January 29, 2019

On 3/3/2017 at 9:05 PM, Deon Boudreau said:

It seems that the IPC is the cause of the battery drain. Before I pull the fuse, the IPC is drawing around 250mA and once the fuse is pulled it drops to 15mA shortly after.

Same problem here; '04 Burb, pulling 210 mA all night (and day) long till it kills the battery in a week or less. I've seen one or two postings that reported getting a new or rebuilt cluster did not solve the battery drain issue that could be (temporarily) cured by pulling the cluster fuse, marked IPC/DIC on my truck. This made me wary of replacing the cluster. Are there things downstream of the cluster that get fed from it, and could thus continue to draw parasitic current even if the cluster were good? I had put new improved stepper motors in all 6 gauges about a half a year ago (only $18 for parts!) because the speedo and fuel gauge were off. The battery drain issue started a couple of weeks ago.

So, leary of replacing the cluster, I made a cheap circuit that would kill the IPC/DIC fuse when the truck shut off. A relay (probably less than $10; I had some saved), 2 fuse holders from Advance (4 and 7 bucks), and some crimp terminals to hook wires together. I could have soldered almost everything in this job to eliminate all the crimp terminals, but not the 2 male plug-ins into the IPC fuse socket. For those I used cut off fork terminals that were fat enough to be inserted into the fuse receptacles and would not bounce out; see pic. Some cheapos I had were too thin and thus would have been too loose. I could have sacrificed some fuses and soldered wires to the blades to make connections. This can all be stripped out of the truck in a minute. I should probably draw up a circuit diagram for more clarity. See the annotated pic below for some info. There's no ground anywhere in that underhood fuse box to run the relay coil, so I ran one (white wire in the pic below) into the box from a stud on the firewall.

After I did it a couple days ago it pulled less than 30 mA at the battery after all is shut down and quiet (a few minutes after shutdown). Now we'll see if something crazy happens because I killed the "on all the time" IPC voltage supply to "on during start and run". Another post somewhere mentioned something about needle positions on shutdown. Once I get my daily driver fixed this weekend I'll let the Burb sit for a week and see what happens.

If the battery still dies it'll be because it can't hold a charge. Though I may have damaged it by letting it go stone cold dead 2 or 3 times.

Edited January 30, 2019 by hillpc

Wayne lav · March 2, 2019

I have 2004 Sierra, dash lights stay on when truck is shut off, kills battery. Pulling wiper fuse for now and lites go out. Do u think this has to do with the resistor? and the wipers went nuts high speed while driving!

sefiroxx · March 3, 2019

Sounds like a short between the wiper fuse to relay circuit and the lights after relay circuit. Probably underneath the fuse box.

MarkII · February 20, 2020

My wife's cluster completely cuts off and stops working periodically. I have had the cluster repaired 2x and bought a new one. It seems like it has a short somewhere. When I first bought the car new, right after I hit 60k the gauge just started going crazy. I have replaced the bcm because it locked my wife in her vehicle twice. I am @ a loss. ANY HELP OR SOLUTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED>>>> THANKS EVERYONE.

carnau · February 20, 2020

1 hour ago, MarkII said:

My wife's cluster completely cuts off and stops working periodically. I have had the cluster repaired 2x and bought a new one. It seems like it has a short somewhere. When I first bought the car new, right after I hit 60k the gauge just started going crazy. I have replaced the bcm because it locked my wife in her vehicle twice. I am @ a loss. ANY HELP OR SOLUTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED>>>> THANKS EVERYONE.

I really would recommend opening a new post for this because it could get muddy from the other posts. But I will try to help you.

What year and model is your vehicle by the way? If it is the same as the OP ( 2003 1500 Silverado ) see below.

The best time to find out what is going on is when the cluster is not working properly. It's a lot harder to fix something when it is working as designed. With that being said here is what I would do. I would remove the dash bezel (because it just slides on and off very easy) and remove the ( 4 ) 7mm bolts that hold the cluster in. Next i would try to wiggle and manipulate the harness where it is connected to the cluster to see if it turns on and off. It could be a pit terminal tension issue or a broken wire) If that doesn't lead you anywhere I would reinstall the bezel or (if your wife doesn't care) Leave the bezel off so you can have access to it as soon as it acts up.

When it acts up is the perfect time to test the cluster. This cluster has 2 power feeds. One that is hot at all times ( Terminal B11 Orange ) and an ignition voltage ( Terminal B9 Pink ) It has 2 Grounds ( Terminal B12 Black/White) and ( Terminal A12 Black )

These are the wires you need to test first. You can use a test light to do this BUT DO NOT CRAM THE TEST LIGHT INTO THE TERMINAL!!!!

Get some T pins ( https://amzn.to/2V96Mry ) and very gently slide them in the back of the connector making a connection and use the test light to test the circuits that way.

Also, you do not want to use a LED test light for this. We need to use a cheap, heavy duty test light so it will also test the amperage. It doesn't take a lot of amperage to light an led, but it takes a lot to run the cluster. ( https://amzn.to/2HJmcuu )

Once you test those 4 circuits, report back what you find and we can move on from there.

But then again, If this isn't a 2003 1500 truck... Everything above is invalid and you have wasted my time. lol

Edited February 20, 2020 by carnau

maccheeseboy · March 7, 2020

hey peeps. I was simply wondering if there were a cure all wire cluster replacement. I have the same drain issue and my cluster only works when i wiggle the harness behind it. I have already swapped gauges ect and entire instrument panels but it goes back to same. Anyone have a link or something to help with finding a simple harness replacement? Thank you!!

Petey1228 · March 18, 2021

My 2004 GMC sierra has cluster problems the PRND321 is dim cluster gauges stop working and after a couple days battery goes dead. When I put the battery charger on the horn goes off until I push the fob. Does this all have to do with cluster will replacing it fix the problems?

JohnH4260 · March 23, 2021

On 3/17/2021 at 6:36 PM, Petey1228 said:

My 2004 GMC sierra has cluster problems the PRND321 is dim cluster gauges stop working and after a couple days battery goes dead. When I put the battery charger on the horn goes off until I push the fob. Does this all have to do with cluster will replacing it fix the problems?

I have the same problem with my 2021 Sierra Denali. When connected to a battery trickle charger (a Battery Tender in this case), the horn goes off every few hours until I push the lock button on the key fob. Still searching for a solution to this problem.

JohnH4260 · March 25, 2021

On 3/23/2021 at 5:04 AM, JohnH4260 said:

I have the same problem with my 2021 Sierra Denali. When connected to a battery trickle charger (a Battery Tender in this case), the horn goes off every few hours until I push the lock button on the key fob. Still searching for a solution to this problem.

Battery Tender problem solved. Park in garage; Leave hood open; Plug in Battery Tender; Remove metal key from key FOB; Lock doors with metal key and the vehicle alarm system will not arm. Battery Tender now functions and alarm is not activated.

GM Gauge Repair · August 29, 2021

2003 through 2006 GM instrument panels can all have this issue which can be easily resolved by having a complete rebuild done. 03-06 problems can have up to 6 separate issues:

The gauges will eventually all fail due to faulty stepper motors.

Backlighting around the gauges goes dim or dead over time.

The VFD's(Vacuum Fluorescent Devices) fail for the digital PRNDL and the digital odometer.

Power issue where the instrument panel will power on and off intermittently.

Parasitic draw resulting in battery drain

Scrolling of the languages from English to Spanish to French, nonstop.

Cold solder joints.

It's usually best just have your original gauge cluster rebuilt. This avoids programming the mileage, VIN#, hours etc.

The mileage, VIN# and hours stay with the gauge cluster.

Not all clusters are interchangeable from 03-06 because of difference in hydro boost brakes vs brake booster options, steering wheel control option etc...

If anyone has questions just shoot me a DM.

Edited August 29, 2021 by GM Gauge Repair