'03 all gauges suddenly frozen to zero

sgt panties · April 21, 2018

I'm trying to determine whether I have the common gauge cluster stepper motor problem or if it is something else.

I noticed today that all of my gauges were pegged to zero and inoperable. Is it common for them to go out all at once like that? (I could understand failure of one at the time.) Or is it some other problem?

I pulled the cluster. All of the solder joints looked good --still shiny and new. The only odd thing is that two dozen of the test points (or vias) have splotches or corrosion around them (see pictures).

All of my fuses (both boxes) test continuous. No codes from my OBD2 reader. The lights seem all good.

I just don't want to send my cluster in and find the real problem is somewhere else in the vehicle.

Edited April 21, 2018 by sgt panties

sgt panties · May 1, 2018

It turns out all of the gauges giving up at once is a common result of the cluster on-board power supply going out. I sent the cluster to one of the many speedometer repair shops you can find online. (If you must know, speedometerrepairguy.com.) It was quick and painless. And I think it also fixed the problem I had for several years: The blue "brights" LED would come on all by itself when the truck was off and parked. (Since it was only an LED it wasn't exactly draining the battery substantially, but it was an annoyance.) Well, now that doesn't happen.

Supreme Pizza · May 1, 2018

Thanks for the update. The gauge rebuilds are somewhat common from what I hear.

Fix29 · May 1, 2018

2 hours ago, sgt panties said:

It turns out all of the gauges giving up at once is a common result of the cluster on-board power supply going out. I sent the cluster to one of the many speedometer repair shops you can find online. (If you must know, speedometerrepairguy.com.) It was quick and painless. And I think it also fixed the problem I had for several years: The blue "brights" LED would come on all by itself when the truck was off and parked. (Since it was only an LED it wasn't exactly draining the battery substantially, but it was an annoyance.) Well, now that doesn't happen.

My 03 did the same thing back when I still had it. The entire cluster quit working at the same time. I sent mine to Forelleco, they were great to deal with as well.