# 2003 To 2006 Gm Speedometer Problems



## N7OQ

Most 2003 to 2006 GM cars and trucks have a known problem with their speedometer and gauges. The speedometer Tachometer, and all the gauges use the same stepper motor and they have had tons of problems with them. On my DW's 2005 Tahoe has had speedometer problem for 2 or 3 year now. The problems don't show up until you drive for awhile in her case it will start to read wrong and get worse until it is reading negative MPH. But when you turn off the key and start it again it fixes it's self. We got a letter in the mail from GM advising us that if we have this problem the warranty will be extended.

Well we took it to the dealer and told them we having the problem but they will not fix it because they can't duplicate it. Well hello you have to drive it for awhile before it shows up. But they said it has to fail totally before they will fix it. I was thinking it must be a hard job to fix it.

Well it has become such a problem I had to install a GPS so my DW would know her speed when it happened. I decided to fix it myself I did some research on the internet and found you can buy the new stepper motors and I found directions on how to remove the instrument cluster and replace the stepper motors. I also found out that all the gauges use the same motor and on ebay I bought 6 new stepper motors for under $30 plus they sent me a couple of extra light bulbs. Today I took out the cluster brought it into my ham shack and replaced the motors and put it all back together.

To calibrate the Speedometer, tach and gauges, you have to leave the front clear plastic off, just barely put the needles on the motor shafts, turn on the key then turn it off the gauges will move to 0 then you carefully pull the needles off and move them to 0 then do it again. I will take a few tried to get it right. The Speedometer took me the longest. I would drive and check it with the GPS. Once you get everything calibrated you just push the needles all the way on and replace the front clear plastic cover. All in all it took me no more than 30 minutes to do the whole job.

So if your GM car or trucks speedometer, Tachometer, or gauges are acting up and you feel comfortable with a soldering gun just fix it yourself.


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## SLO250RS

Thats a good tip







Also for people that are not that handy Dorman products sell complete reman clusters for the problem vehicles also and they are avalible at most autopart retailers.


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## bbwb

I have also seen on ebay repair places that will go through the entire cluster and calibrate it for cheap.

bbwb


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## 708

We had this problem in our 2003 Tahoe about 2 years ago. We received something in the mail about a month after it started messing up saying if we had the problem it would be covered under the warranty. I took the Tahoe and the letter to the GM dealer and they replaced it no questions asked. Maybe you could try another dealer.

Andrea


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## KTMRacer

N7OQ said:


> Most 2003 to 2006 GM cars and trucks have a known problem with their speedometer and gauges. The speedometer Tachometer, and all the gauges use the same stepper motor and they have had tons of problems with them. On my DW's 2005 Tahoe has had speedometer problem for 2 or 3 year now. The problems don't show up until you drive for awhile in her case it will start to read wrong and get worse until it is reading negative MPH. But when you turn off the key and start it again it fixes it's self. We got a letter in the mail from GM advising us that if we have this problem the warranty will be extended.
> 
> Well we took it to the dealer and told them we having the problem but they will not fix it because they can't duplicate it. Well hello you have to drive it for awhile before it shows up. But they said it has to fail totally before they will fix it. I was thinking it must be a hard job to fix it.
> 
> Well it has become such a problem I had to install a GPS so my DW would know her speed when it happened. I decided to fix it myself I did some research on the internet and found you can buy the new stepper motors and I found directions on how to remove the instrument cluster and replace the stepper motors. I also found out that all the gauges use the same motor and on ebay I bought 6 new stepper motors for under $30 plus they sent me a couple of extra light bulbs. Today I took out the cluster brought it into my ham shack and replaced the motors and put it all back together.
> 
> To calibrate the Speedometer, tach and gauges, you have to leave the front clear plastic off, just barely put the needles on the motor shafts, turn on the key then turn it off the gauges will move to 0 then you carefully pull the needles off and move them to 0 then do it again. I will take a few tried to get it right. The Speedometer took me the longest. I would drive and check it with the GPS. Once you get everything calibrated you just push the needles all the way on and replace the front clear plastic cover. All in all it took me no more than 30 minutes to do the whole job.
> 
> So if your GM car or trucks speedometer, Tachometer, or gauges are acting up and you feel comfortable with a soldering gun just fix it yourself.


our 05 duramax had the spedo stepper motor go bad also. knowing they upgraded the motors, I did as you did and bought a whole set of motors on ebay and replaced them all rather than replace them when the failed. Pretty easy fix if you have good soldering skills. My spedo read consistently 2 mph high, so when I replaced the motors, I also did a "recal" on the needle, now it is dead on.


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