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.

mamatried01 · December 22, 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.

Thanks for the reply. I did replace all 6 motors. The speedo actually started skipping around as I was driving the truck around yesterday. Since that happened and because I have dash lights and the digital display at the bottom of the cluster, I guess it can't be any fuse or anything other than either the motors or the soldered spots. Given my solder expertise, It may be a solder problem and I think I will resolder the joints today. I will let you know if they work later today.

Thanks.

If your fuel gauge is acting up could just be your sending unit in the tank. It's part of the fuel pump. ABC auto had them about $100 cheaper than Autozone or Oreilly's. I've replaced mine twice in the 210k miles I've put on my 01.

[email protected] · September 30, 2011

Got my silverado instrument cluster completely rebuilt by - http://www.myairbags.com/products.php. Been working ever since

Z71Fan · December 6, 2010

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.

jbordi · April 21, 2009

A lawsuit was just settled with GM regarding the cluster stepper motors. I just received my check yesterday for $100. I had the dealer replace mine about a year ago. I received a full refund for the amount the dealer charged to replace mine. Check out speedometersettlement.com for the claim form.

scottydawg · May 19, 2009

Just as a chip-in, I purchased 6 of these stepper motors from Ebay and installed them in my 2003 Tahoe cluster in about 20 minutes, including dash disassembly and reassembly. If you can use a soldering iron, you can do this, it is extremely easy. I didn't have any solder wick or a desoldering pump, so I used compressed air to blow the hot solder off the joints. If you lay down tape and mark the needles at full counter-clockwise travel, you won't have to have the cluster re-calibrated. Doing this fixed a really annoying speedo problem and also fixed a wonky gas gauge. I replaced all 6 because the motors were like $28.80 for all of them.

Thanks GM-TRUCKS.COM for the invaluable information. You saved me a lot of money, the goober dealership said they wouldn't cover my truck because it had over 70k miles. Needless to say, I won't be buying another vehicle from them!

lw60 · September 4, 2011

Replaced the steppe motor for the tach yesterday....took about 45 minutes thanks to the great advice from this site! Here may be a tip to get the guages set correctly: BEFORE you do anything, start the vehicle and let it 'settle down' to it's normal rpms. Then, note the position of all of the guages with as much accuracy as possible. Write down the results. After completing the whole job, start the engine and note the guages....if you did everything correctly, they will all match your previous results (allow for a very slight variation due to engine cooling off a bit). If they are off....then you can go back and adjust ever so slightly. Mine were right on the button so all is well!!

Thanks to all!!

bigbengalbubba · April 17, 2009

Thanks!

Z71Fan · December 8, 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.

Thanks for the reply. I did replace all 6 motors. The speedo actually started skipping around as I was driving the truck around yesterday. Since that happened and because I have dash lights and the digital display at the bottom of the cluster, I guess it can't be any fuse or anything other than either the motors or the soldered spots. Given my solder expertise, It may be a solder problem and I think I will resolder the joints today. I will let you know if they work later today.

Thanks.

youtee · November 14, 2011

Update: Apparently, on an older truck (03) the filaments on the bulbs are worn out. Bumping them around can break them. I pulled out the old tester and all of the leads were getting 12v. I went to radio shack and bought 12v 50mA bulbs and replaced all of them I had to get rid of the little blue holder that the old bulbs were in and solder these directly to the board. THEY WORK!!!! Easy fix, but just make sure you test out the lights BEFORE putting everything back together. A two hour job took me a day and a half with all the testing and internet searching.

Ethan9987 · May 1, 2015

Hey everyone, new to this group, but hoping for some help. I have a 2004 gmc Sierra 1500... Guages had issues so I decided to replace the stepper motors. Not all of them were broke but I figured since I had it apart I may as well replace them all. Anyway, on the speedometer motor, when I unsoldered it from the board, the solder pad fell off. I didn't think much of it until I tried to solder the new motor onto the board. I tried to follow that ribbon back to another solder on the board, but couldn't do that. I used a small screwdriver and kinda scraped along the edge of the ribbon that was running to that solder post, I was able to get a piece of that ribbon up and tried to solder it to that, but it just melted the ribbon wire. So without the 4th post soldered to the board, the speedometer won't work. It moves but it's all over yh3 place and won't go back to 0 when I shut it off or stop. Does anyone have any idea of this is fixable? I thought maybe there would be a way to run a wire from the post where the pad fell off, and hook it to the same post on another stepper motor, but that might be stupid! Any advice or help would be appreciated. Thanks you

BPain · July 20, 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

youtee · November 13, 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.