2004 High Beam Indicator Too Bright

mjwencl · April 4, 2005

My 2004 Silverado's blue high beam indicator is extreamly bright when driving during really dark night time conditions. It is so bright that it is very distracting. I have to hold my hand over the steering wheel just right to block the intense glow. My dealer looked at mine with their Tech 2 Tool and said my IPC already has the same program setting like the 2003 had to reduced it a lower intensity. I see Technical Service Bulletin 03-08-49-006 applies to 2003. Not shown as a fix for 2004 and later though.

Can the PWM duty cycle be reduced even more to reduce the intensity? Can the IPC firmware be tweaked via sending a modified firmware patch download to the TECH2 Scan Tool.

Your help in resolving this overly bright high beam indicator issue would be greatly appreciated. I know many have complained about this situation yet but don't know what to do about it. The dealers say they can't do anything about it until Chevy sends them an update for it.

Michael

lrymal · April 4, 2005

Simple solution is just to find some hard clear, thin, plastic, such as what is used with packaging and blister packs. Color this lightly with a blue pen. Trim to fit, and then insert this between the overlay and the instrument cluster's body, where the bright bulb indicator is.

Most amount of time spent is removing the bezel and removing the cluster to get to the area. Some guys will open the cluster up more and put some Marx-a-Lot ink on the brightness bulb. The colored plastic idea is less invasive, since it can be removed.

71GMC_3/4T · April 4, 2005

In my '03, I had the dealer reduce the intensity.

Man, what a big difference!

I hope they can do the same for your '04.

GM-Tech · April 4, 2005

Can the IPC firmware be tweaked via sending a modified firmware patch download to the TECH2 Scan Tool.

Sure... if you know where you can get such an update, because I don't. We can't do any custom programming. If GM doesn't supply an updated calibration, there is nothing we can do.