suggestions please

[TCG]

Hey Ya'all..
after owning a few fj40's and a disco or two, i now have a family and required a bigger ride..i have heavy things so i chose a somewhat overpowered platform, i bought a 2003 2500 suburban with the 8.1, overall its a terrific truck, owned by an older guy to pull his 6K camper, it has 180K on the truck and is in great shape...except... gauge cluster DIC and analog gauges are goofey, the steering wheel buttons dont work and power tow mirrors do there own thing..SO..my reading on all these shenanigans leads me to two conclusions with two possible courses of action..3 actually if you count a hammock and cold beer..but i want to fix this, apparently the gauge clusters back then were bad, and i gather the switches wern't the best either..so, do i replace everything, and have the dash cluster rebuilt or do i need to look for underlaying electrical issuer..what thinks you ?
Thanks in advance

 

[kmlacroix]

Check your grounds also.

 

[Martinjmpr]

What does "goofy" mean WRT the gauge? Some of the GMT-800 trucks were known for the stepper motors failing in the gauge cluster which causes the gauges to not work. You can pull the gauge off (4 screws and one electrical connector and it pops right out) and then either send it off for repair or replace the stepper motors yourself (there are YouTube videos for this, apparently. I sent mine out.) Not aware of DIC problems except that IMO the DIC is rather dim on these trucks and tends to "wash out" in bright sunlight.

If the PRND321 display is very dim or not appearing at all that is a gauge cluster issue as well.

 

[workingonit71]

GM-Trucks.com website for possible solutions

I use this forum to track down problems on my 2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD, and for my 1998 GMC Sierra 1500 extended cab. The forum covers just about every truck that GM has made in the past 50+ years. http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/(Except for my '09 HHR Panel -sorta a truck-, for which I frequent the Chevy HHR Network forum, @ http://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/index.php).

 

[TCG]

What does "goofy" mean WRT the gauge? Some of the GMT-800 trucks were known for the stepper motors failing in the gauge cluster which causes the gauges to not work. You can pull the gauge off (4 screws and one electrical connector and it pops right out) and then either send it off for repair or replace the stepper motors yourself (there are YouTube videos for this, apparently. I sent mine out.) Not aware of DIC problems except that IMO the DIC is rather dim on these trucks and tends to "wash out" in bright sunlight.

If the PRND321 display is very dim or not appearing at all that is a gauge cluster issue as well.

goofy, gauge's will read full on or dead left. except tranny gauge which seems accurate. DIC is stuck on odometer and buttons on steering wheel have no effect.

 

[TCG]

i'll do it. Thanks

 

[Martinjmpr]

goofy, gauge's will read full on or dead left. except tranny gauge which seems accurate. DIC is stuck on odometer and buttons on steering wheel have no effect.

.
Ah, so the problem isn't with the DIC itself it's the fact that the steering wheel buttons don't work. I've had good luck working through issues on the Tahoe/Yukon forum:
.
http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/
.
As for the gauge cluster, sounds like the typical stepper motor issue. A couple folks here have rebuilt theirs, I paid about $280 to have mine done and they installed the transmission temp gauge and green LED lights while they were at it. I had mine done by these guys but there are multiple places that do it:
.
http://www.circuitboardmedics.com
.

 

[rayra]

stepper motors and gear display are easy fixes, detailed in my 'Hey Vortec Guys' topic here.
If none of the steering controls do anything, it's very likely the harness in the column is damaged or pulled free. That can happen easily if the steering wheel is spun freely / too far while disconnected, say when fixing the intermediate steering shaft. Those repair / replacement instructions explicitly warn about such damage.

As a general statement, No, these clusters aren't 'goofey'. We didn't have any trouble with any of ours until far beyond 100k mi.

 

[TCG]

stepper motors and gear display are easy fixes, detailed in my 'Hey Vortec Guys' topic here.
If none of the steering controls do anything, it's very likely the harness in the column is damaged or pulled free. That can happen easily if the steering wheel is spun freely / too far while disconnected, say when fixing the intermediate steering shaft. Those repair / replacement instructions explicitly warn about such damage.

As a general statement, No, these clusters aren't 'goofey'. We didn't have any trouble with any of ours until far beyond 100k mi.

moving forward, ill use the correct terminology, goofy was referencing the erratic behavior of vital gauges, i enjoy knowing the vitals of my motor.
ill bring her to my shop and check into wiring harness problems as well as pulling cluster for repair. Thank You