Dash/Infotainment Screen/Climate Button Backlights Randomly Turn Off . . . then On

jake111 · January 16

2024 2500 WT Gasser, less than 6k miles. I've had it on a few trips in the last 1-1/2 years (3k miles, 1k miles) without any issues. This week, on a short trip (<100 miles) the backlights on the dash would go off (gauges still worked, just hard to see), along with the infotainment screen (again, dark but could make out it was working), and lights on the climate control buttons (seemed like it worked, just couldn't tell what was on/off). This would happen seemingly at random times, and on return trip home it didn't happen for the first hour. At that point we tried to roughly time it, and the outages seemed to last about 4 minutes (but only 2 occurrences on way home).

A couple of weeks ago I let GM do an over-the-air update (N25-F163BU). I hate to be suspicious, but... Or maybe it's a coincidence? I peaked at wiring diagrams. Egad, not like the good old days. Any ideas?

I'm pretty sure I have to take my slide-in camper off to take truck to a dealer. Unless these things have super good logs, I would expect a "cannot duplicate" response. I guess I can call them (sigh). Take it out and make a video (sigh).

Chuck FB · January 17

On 1/15/2026 at 8:13 PM, jake111 said:

2024 2500 WT Gasser, less than 6k miles. I've had it on a few trips in the last 1-1/2 years (3k miles, 1k miles) without any issues. This week, on a short trip (<100 miles) the backlights on the dash would go off (gauges still worked, just hard to see), along with the infotainment screen (again, dark but could make out it was working), and lights on the climate control buttons (seemed like it worked, just couldn't tell what was on/off). This would happen seemingly at random times, and on return trip home it didn't happen for the first hour. At that point we tried to roughly time it, and the outages seemed to last about 4 minutes (but only 2 occurrences on way home).

A couple of weeks ago I let GM do an over-the-air update (N25-F163BU). I hate to be suspicious, but... Or maybe it's a coincidence? I peaked at wiring diagrams. Egad, not like the good old days. Any ideas?

I'm pretty sure I have to take my slide-in camper off to take truck to a dealer. Unless these things have super good logs, I would expect a "cannot duplicate" response. I guess I can call them (sigh). Take it out and make a video (sigh).

Does your truck have automatic headlights by any chance ( I am guessing no given its a WT ). Just wondering if for example the headlights were triggered to come on for brief periods even though it may not have been dark out. Or its a manual headlight switch and something is causing the headlight circuit to come on and in either case if the instrument panel is set to a dimmer setting for night time and so therefore typically only comes into play when the headlights are on and its dark out and the reason why the headlights were turned on. Its just a weak theory but you may be able to eliminate that idea of mine if you don't have the system set to dim the instrument panel when the headlights are turned on.

jake111 · January 18

Thanks for giving this some thought. Even the WT trucks have automatic headlights, just not LED headlights. I will check further, but uh-oh, I think I may have had something on the dash that partially covered the light sensor. I didn't think that was it because the dash and infotainment screen didn't just get dim, they were off. But this might be yet another case of operator error! I will check further and let you know how it turns out.

I searched the internet for problems after that particular update. The ones that showed up were far worse than what I experienced (like their truck not starting). A solution that worked for some was to disconnect the battery, let it sit, then reconnect. So I also did that, but now I'm leaning toward covering the light sensor as the issue.

Chuck FB · January 18

Who would have thought the work truck series would put a fancy gizmo like automatic headlights on it, I wasn't sure and would have guessed probably not. I also never looked into it as to where the light sensor is for auto headlight trigger functionality, if I think of it sometime I will run my hand over the top of the dash to see if I can trigger the lights. If I drive into a shed or the garage for example its dark enough even in the middle of the day that the lights always come on the moment I start rolling past the threshold.

Its surprising actually as to how dim one can turn down a display during the night and if that monitor or display is triggered to dim as its set for night, only its full daylight, it can seem almost like its turned off its so dark to see anything on the display. In what I am referring to is a GPS unit for in tractors etc and it has a night time setting and if left bright it will blind one as per not being able to see out the windows properly as its like driving with a bright interior light on at night.

For sure give it a test as per driving the truck and keeping the dash settings that are currently still in it for dimming the dash/info screen for night time driving and can even have a magazine or what have you with you to pass over the sensor area as your in various daylight situations and see if that appears the same ( as in not being able to read the dash ) as you were experiencing. It would be nice if it was something that simple. Also once you determine that it might in fact be that item laying on top of the dash, try the truck at night when it is good and dark out so that you can confirm the dash/info screen is not turned down too far as again who knows what silly things could happen in an update that could somehow have an effect on a prior setting to change it ... computers on wheels !.

dieselfan1 · January 18

My 2026 3500HD LTZ radio cuts out for a second or two a few times almost every time when I first get going. After that it's fine.

It also has went black a couple times.

Yesterday the big clock disappeared. Came back the next time I got in the truck.

I'm just waiting for it to quit altogether.

This infotainment system GM is using has been plagued since it's introduced in 23.

My 23 1500 High Country was the same.

CRApex · January 18

2 hours ago, dieselfan1 said:

My 2026 3500HD LTZ radio cuts out for a second or two a few times almost every time when I first get going. After that it's fine.

It also has went black a couple times.

Yesterday the big clock disappeared. Came back the next time I got in the truck.

I'm just waiting for it to quit altogether.

This infotainment system GM is using has been plagued since it's introduced in 23.

My 23 1500 High Country was the same.

Mine does the exact same thing. I took it in and they did a software update that did not fix it. It only hapeens the first 3-5 minutes after starting the truck.

jake111 · January 19

For my "problem", I'm 99% sure it was me covering up the light sensor on top of the dash. Doh!!

Chuck FB · January 19

6 minutes ago, jake111 said:

For my "problem", I'm 99% sure it was me covering up the light sensor on top of the dash. Doh!!

Hopefully that was the issue and don't have to spend to chase down something elusive or have already taken every part of your truck apart and laid out in your driveway !. And like I said, this was a heads up to me simply because of having never looked into where the sensor actually is even though I am not one that typically has laid items on the dash much with vehicles but I know its a very common practice and never used to be an issue doing it other than blocking air from coming out of the defroster vents for the windshield.

Just make sure the night time dim setting on the dash is working the way you want it and in the future if that same thing happens and you plunked something on the dash, it won't be a worry when the headlights come on and the dash goes dim.

Chuck FB · January 20

I thought of it today as I was driving my pickup and yes the auto lights probably still were on at 9 am or later as I made it to town ( dark early and light late way up here this time of the year ), to test out the automatic headlights. So after it became light enough out that the headlights turned off and I was parked, I had a large envelope within grasp so I used that and I spotted what I figured would be the sensor in the middle of the dash close to the glass. Yours may be shaped differently but more than likely in that same area, this one is over an inch square and sits between the right and left defrost vent grills. Its not instantaneous, it takes a few seconds and then it reacts as is covered up to turn the lights on and my dash goes dim with the night time setting I have programmed into it. Take the envelope away and again takes some seconds and the system to respond and the headlights go out and the dash goes bright again. I can see where if one is tinting a whole windshield ( which is illegal here, well so is tinting the front side windows ! LOL ), that would mess up what the sensor would think and the headlights would come on sooner than what it was designed to do.