Stepper Motor Replacement

bigbengalbubba · April 16, 2009

I need to replace the stepper motor for my speedometer. Is there a write-up here anywhere? I did a search and found lots of topics related to the issue but not a how-to. If not I'll be winging it and taking pictures and notes to post one.

zalez · December 7, 2010

Does any of the gauges work now? Did you just add one stepper motor or change all of them? To me it sounds like you need to check your solder joints on the motor(s) that you replaced. You could pull the motor(s) and check the cluster to make sure it still works and then resolder the motor(s) again.

I have an 04 chevy z71 with 120K on it. The gas gauge and the speedometer were acting up. I saw this thread and bought the stepper motors and soldered them in yesterday. I tested the instrument cluster and the gauges don't work. Any ideas? Sounded fairly simple to me to fix. I sure don't want to have to send the cluster off to be fixed. Can someone help?

I put the needles back on and then rotated counter clockwise to the marks I put on with tape. I noticed that the needles move freely upward as if it isn't engaging the gears in the stepper motors. This was done while the truck was idling.

Frustrating.

Thanks.

dallasman999 · January 17, 2011

My cluster went completely dead. Sometimes when i wiggled the plug it would come on for a second. Anyways i found this guy that rebuilds the cluster completely for 125 and free shipping. I've had mine in for 2 months and works perfect. Heres the link:

www.gm-cluster-repair.weebly.com

rino744043 · October 2, 2011

. Hello all just wanted to let all the GM owners in Houston area know that if your gauges are messed up. Help is here, I am a mobile service, I only use switech steppers no cheap knock-offs I also do the LED conversions.

Just e-mail me for contact or check out craigslist my listing have the pic of a blue led cluster.

Rage67ss · July 29, 2010

Thanks for the post. I've been asked by a friend to take a look at his 2005 Impala displaying symptoms of stepper motor failure. I'm guessing that the procedures are about the same for replacing the motors? Anyone know if it will be any different? Everything I've been reading says that the stepper motor numbers are the same. Thanks.

repairdr · May 9, 2011

OK - I tried changing out the Stepper motors in my cluster and uhm what a pain in the ....I reinstalled uhm I made it worse. The fuel gage was bouncing and the temp read too cold. I finally sent the unit in to D&B Auto Radio in Carol Stream, IL. My brother in law told me this is where the local Dealers send in their radios and instrument clusters to get fixed. I was told the repair price at the dealer would be $435 but my brother in law said to go direct to D&B and they wpuld take it in even though I was not from a Dealership. They fixed it for almost half the price and the thing works great.

My suggestion to anyone wanting to fix this on your own, DON'T do it!!! So much easier having the guys that know what they are doing fix it.

Just my 2 cents..

firethorn · December 6, 2010

I have a '98 pick up and the fuel gauge vib and never shows the correct level. Could it be the same thing or is it something only for newer models?

bmwhd · June 4, 2011

OK - I tried changing out the Stepper motors in my cluster and uhm what a pain in the ....I reinstalled uhm I made it worse. The fuel gage was bouncing and the temp read too cold. I finally sent the unit in to D&B Auto Radio in Carol Stream, IL. My brother in law told me this is where the local Dealers send in their radios and instrument clusters to get fixed. I was told the repair price at the dealer would be $435 but my brother in law said to go direct to D&B and they wpuld take it in even though I was not from a Dealership. They fixed it for almost half the price and the thing works great.

My suggestion to anyone wanting to fix this on your own, DON'T do it!!! So much easier having the guys that know what they are doing fix it.

Just my 2 cents..

Well, I have to strongly disagree. I just did all 6 in my '05 Tahoe. Took a total of 30 min and couldn't have been easier. Total out of pocket $27 thanks to eBay and this great thread.

I will say that the part about marking the needle position and then putting them back on at 12:00 did not work for me. Several were way off when powered up. However, it was an easy matter to pop them off (with truck running and warmed up) and get them back on correctly.

I verified the RPM and Speedo readings using remote tach and GPS. The fuel, oil pressure, volts, and temp took a bit of trial and error but again, no problems at all.

I strongly recommend taking a picture of the needle positions with the truck warmed and running both at idle and at 3,000 RPM to get a sense of the correct positions.

Mr Cluster · November 16, 2011

I have an 04 chevy z71 with 120K on it. The gas gauge and the speedometer were acting up. I saw this thread and bought the stepper motors and soldered them in yesterday. I tested the instrument cluster and the gauges don't work. Any ideas? Sounded fairly simple to me to fix. I sure don't want to have to send the cluster off to be fixed. Can someone help?

I put the needles back on and then rotated counter clockwise to the marks I put on with tape. I noticed that the needles move freely upward as if it isn't engaging the gears in the stepper motors. This was done while the truck was idling.

Frustrating.

Thanks.

NEVER move the needles while the cluster is plugged in and it has power to it. If you need to adjust your needles PM me and I can help!

OmarR · May 20, 2009

I pretty much did it Frycaptain's way too.

Here are some pics I took:

Stepper Motor

Mr Cluster · November 16, 2011

Hey guys,

I replaced my stepper motors tonight and it was easy, HOWEVER, when I got everything back in, only one of my backlights works. Everything else is dark. A couple of the lights will blink on when I plug up the harness, but then they are out. Any thoughts? The only suspect I have is bad capacitors on the circuit board, but I really don't have a way to prove that.

The blue bulb holders are the problem. If you even touch them while you are replacing the motors it will break the solder joint underneath them. Usually the bulbs are still good, you just need to discard the blue bulb holder. It's not the fillament.

Mr Cluster · November 16, 2011

I have the same problem with the cluster, but when mine goes out the odometer goes blank, as well as the gear select display, and lights behind the cluster. Would this be caused by the stepper motors only or would I be facing a larger electrical problem? I can un plug the cluster and sometimes it will start back up or I can tap on it above the fuel guage and the rest will come to life. Please help. Do not want to just throw stuff at it until I find a solution. Thanks All!!!

Blake

There are more problems with your cluster than just bulbs and stepper motors. Your power supply should be updated to repair that issue. Some clusters,depending on the year of the vehicle have up to 5 issues with them. Send me a PM and I can help or check out my other posts. I have rebuilt clusters that have been to 2 or 3 other repair shops because they weren't aware of all the issues with them. Check the back of your cluster to see if there is more than 1 sticker on the back.

Fyrcaptain · April 17, 2009

Stepper Motor Install Link

http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=48886

Updated instrument cluster stepper motor part # is X25 168

DEFECTIVE OEM stepper motor is # X C5 168

Materials:

1. One or more stepper motors.

2. Fine rosin core solder

Tools:

1. Desoldering tool. There are several types. Some are “suckers” that you use with a soldering iron to pull the solder out of the joint. The one I used is from Radio Shack for about $11. It is a 45 watt soldering iron with a hole in the tip and a rubber sucker bulb.

2. Soldering iron. About 25 watts is good for this job.

3. 7 mm nut driver or equivalent.

4. A small flat blade screwdriver.

5. A kitchen fork. (yes, details later).

Procedure:

1. Set the parking brake. If it doesn’t work, block a wheel.

2. Turn the key on and pull the shift down to “1”. Chime goes “ding ding …”

3. Pull the tilt wheel all the way down.

4. Pull off the dash bezel. It uses spring retainers so pull it straight back.

5. Take out the 4 screws (7 mm head) that hold the cluster in.

6. Work the cluster back. Release the electrical connector at the top back of the cluster by releasing the retainer. Unplug the connector.

7. Remove the cluster. It’s a bit of a squeeze between the top of the dash and the shroud thing on the steering, but it will come out without breaking anything. Honest.

8. Take the cluster to your clean, well lit work space. Plug in the desoldering tool and soldering iron to heat up.

9. Take the back off the (black) cluster by using your small screw driver releasing the lock tabs that hold it to the (white) frame part. You are now looking at the back of the cluster PC board.

10. Take off the front lens/bezel assembly. It has lock tabs at the top and bottom to hold it to the white part. The top ones are easy with a small screw driver. The bottom ones are a bit of a bitch. Mild cursing helps.

11. The PC board is now being held in by the gauge needles. You have to remove all the needles even if you are only working one stepper motor. The guy who sold me the stepper motor provided directions to get the needles back on pointed to the right reading but I got it wrong. More later.

12. Twist each needle a little counter clockwise to break the bond between the needle and the stepper motor. Use the kitchen fork to lift off the needle. No need for a 10 ton porta-power.

13. The circuit board will now come out. Be REALLY SURE you pull the stepper motor you want to replace. Maybe mark it with a Sharpie.

14. There are 4 pins that come out of the back of the stepper motor and are soldered into the PC board. Take your now hot desoldering tool, squeeze the bulb while NOT pointed at the PC board. (We want suck, not blow.) Melt the solder and suck it up. Repeat for each of the 4 pins.

15. The motor should now be easy to pull off.

16. Put the new motor in its place. There are locator pins. Make sure it is flush against the PC board.

17. Take your soldering iron. Make sure the tip is clean and tinned. Solder each pin to the PC board. Heat the board pad and the wire; then let those parts melt the solder. Don’t try to melt the solder on the iron then try to dab it in. That doesn’t work.

18. Examine your solder joints carefully. They should be smooth and shiny, flowed onto the pad and the wire.

19. Unplug your soldering iron and desoldering tool. If you are lucky they will cool off before you accidentally grab the wrong end of one.

20. Place the PC board back in the middle (white plastic) frame. Put the back cover on, press the retainers down until they lock.

21. Replace the instrument needles. The guy that sold me the stepper motor recommended pushing the needle on pointing at mid scale, then twisting to the bottom of the scale. Try it, but this didn’t work out for me; maybe I didn’t understand correctly. Hence:

22. DO NOT PUT THE FRONT LENS PART ON YET. More later.

23. Put the cluster (less the front lens) back in the truck, with the cable plugged in. Don’t put in the screws yet.

24. Start the truck. Oh, shyte, no start. Oh, I’m in first gear. Neutral safety switch. Put it in park and really start it this time. Watch the gauges come to life. In my case some were reading really whack.

25. Shut off the truck. For each gauge that is not reading bottom of scale, pull the needle off and put it back in pointing at bottom of scale. Repeat this step a few times until you have it all right.

26. NOW put the front lens back on your cluster. You can do this with the back part of the cluster in the dash. Push until the locks click.

27. Put back the 4 retaining screws and the dash bezel.

justcuz7197 · January 27, 2011

Logged into this forum toi let you guys know theat GM, specifically my Chevy dealership here in Cleveland Ohio is honoring the special extension of the warranty for the instrument cluster stepper motor issue...

Just started happening to my truck last week and now the speedo is pegged out and doesn't move.

On one of the forums, there is talk about an extra warranty and it is true. I will have to take the truck to them to verify the trouble and get the correct part number, then return for them to put the new instrument cluster in. All fort free, parts and labor are completely covered.

On a web site I found it talked about a mileage limitation, all work free till 70,000 miles and truck must have a vin inside a particular range. Apparently mine fits. Also, the site mentioned a limitation of 7 years from the date of service. I have a 2004 Silverado 2500 HD and they are doing it for free next week when the cluster comes in.

All of the info here and on other forums has been such a big help I thought I would share.

LeoS41280 · January 27, 2011

My parents just had their 05's repaired under the ext warr. for free.

bigbengalbubba · April 26, 2009

Finally got around to replacing the stepper motor. It was easier than I thought it would be. Followed the directions and had no problems at all. I can't believe GM pissed me off so bad over a $10 part and an hour of labor.

I'm guessing however that this is not the way they would fix it. I bet they just put a whole new cluster in. Probably with the same POS motors that would go out again.