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2003 Buick Century insturment cluster


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countrygirl
Novice

Mar 12, 2013, 8:26 AM

Post #1 of 15 (3197 views)
  post locked   2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Yesterday I fixed the shift pattern on 2003 Buick Century. When I put it back in the car the fuel and temp gauge quit working. Speedometer and everything else still works. I had it scanned and you can make the gauges move but they won't work otherwise. The scanner shows nothing wrong. So what could be the problem


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 12, 2013, 9:45 AM

Post #2 of 15 (3171 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Did the temp and fuel gauges pass the sweep test also? Did they monitor the instrument cluster data stream to see if it was getting coolant and fuel level information from the PCM?





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countrygirl
Novice

Mar 12, 2013, 11:04 AM

Post #3 of 15 (3156 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

It's getting info to the fuel gauge because he was low on fuel and the idiot light and chime to us so. Any clue?


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 12, 2013, 11:17 AM

Post #4 of 15 (3151 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Did the temp and fuel gauge sweep during the sweep test? If your sure the instrument cluster is getting fuel and temp data from the PCM, the cluster has a problem.





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countrygirl
Novice

Mar 12, 2013, 11:21 AM

Post #5 of 15 (3147 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Yes they worked for the sweep test


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 12, 2013, 11:24 AM

Post #6 of 15 (3143 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Are there any trouble codes stored in the ICM?





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countrygirl
Novice

Mar 12, 2013, 11:25 AM

Post #7 of 15 (3140 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

The battery died while I was changing the restores. Would the battery dying have any effect on the cluster?


countrygirl
Novice

Mar 12, 2013, 11:26 AM

Post #8 of 15 (3139 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

No trouble codes


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 12, 2013, 3:51 PM

Post #9 of 15 (3115 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

If you have fuel and temperature information showing in the ICM's data stream and your powers and grounds are good to the ICM, the only thing left is the ICM itself.

What kind of repair did you do? You corrected shift patterns? Is that related to the instrument cluster?





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.

(This post was edited by Discretesignals on Mar 12, 2013, 3:53 PM)


countrygirl
Novice

Mar 13, 2013, 4:25 AM

Post #10 of 15 (3094 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

The shift pattern and mileage wasn't lite up. So I put 4 new resistors in to replace the ones that were bad. I do this all the time and never had any problems before.


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 13, 2013, 5:28 PM

Post #11 of 15 (3070 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Did the temp and fuel gauge work before you made the repair?





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.


countrygirl
Novice

Mar 13, 2013, 7:46 PM

Post #12 of 15 (3061 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

The fuel was already low so I can't really say and I don't remember if the temp worked or not. I didn't drive it far maybe 100 feet from the parking lot to the garage. But even if it did me unplugging it shouldn't make it quit working should it? This has me puzzled.


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 14, 2013, 5:12 AM

Post #13 of 15 (3043 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Usually unplugging the cluster will make it not work, but plugging it back in they usually work. That is if you have a a good connection between the connector and the socket in the cluster.

We can go round and round on this. If you have good powers and grounds to the cluster, good terminal tension in the terminals and pins of the connectors, you can communicate with it using your scanner, and the cluster data stream is showing temp and fuel information correctly, the only possible thing it could be is the cluster itself. Maybe during your repair some other part of the cluster's solid state circuitry was damaged.





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.

(This post was edited by Discretesignals on Mar 14, 2013, 5:14 AM)


countrygirl
Novice

Mar 14, 2013, 8:31 AM

Post #14 of 15 (3027 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

I have worked on many clusters and not had this happen. We have gone to our last resort. We got a cluster from our local junk yard that we know works to check to see if it was the cluster or something in the car. It turns out it was the cluster. Thank you so much for your help.


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Mar 15, 2013, 5:00 AM

Post #15 of 15 (3009 views)
  post locked   Re: 2003 Buick Century insturment cluster  

Glad to read that you got it figured out. Maybe it was like that before you worked on it...who knows. Thanks for the follow up.Smile

Closed as solved.





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.






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