Step By Step Instruction

So first things first, what does this cover? Many GM instument clusters containing the digitial odometer with the gear selector in the panel, I know for sure 99-02 Silverado. Here's a picture of mine.

You'll notice I've already removed the instrument cluster bezel, it's only held in by push connectors, the best way to remove it is grasp it with your fingernails and pull, I started around the stereo area first, it's easier if you turn on the key and put the truck into L and tilt your wheel all the way down, you should be able to get it off rather smoothly like this.

This picture gives you an idea of where the bezel clips are located, gently pulling around the edges will get the job done.

You'll notice two of the four bolts in this photo that must be removed to remove the cluster, you'll notice the odometer working in this picture, this is when I was putting it together. Once you have the bolts removed pull out the cluster and disconnect the power cord, you must squeeze the blue connector to release it, be care not to damage the board by pulling too hard.

Thats the plug, just squeeze that blue connector and wiggle it back and forth, it will come out with some gentle backward force.

This is what you are dealing with once you remove the cluster, you must remove the black backing plate, you don't have to remove the front cover but I did with mine, it makes it easier to work with, just be careful not to damage the gauges or put fingerprints on the inside of the clear cover, otherwise it would a bit annoying to see.

Now this part is a little trickier only because you must take extreme care not to damage the circuit board, the circuit will seperate from the white plastic, you just have to work the edges and try not to bend it too much, it's only held together by metal pins connecting into aligning holes, all you have to do is gently work them apart. Take note of the message center connector plug, this must be disconnected before you can completely separate the two pieces. The next picture will show you what they look like separated.

This is what it looks like separated, notice the stepper motor connectors are what really hold it together, that's it. Now you have access to what you need to look at.

As you can see I unclipped the odometer from the circuit board and bent the pins, if you don't feel comfortable doing it I recommend stopping here and taking it to an electronics shop to desolder the odometer from the board and resolder all of the connections on the odometer, but by gently bending the pins you gain access to the weak solder point, just make sure to check the connections when putting it back together to make sure you didn't break any by bending it, once I soldered the connection I just plugged it into the truck and wiggled all of the pins to make sure they had good contact, as a matter of fact you could do that before you try to solder to make sure you know what pin is giving you the trouble, mine was a bit loose so thats how I could tell and the lack of solder.

This picture is zoomed in so you can see the bad connector on my circuit board, also the pin was physically loose. Very poor solder job from manufacturer, hard to believe a cent worth of solder costs so much money to replace at other places, anyway, should mention that you should scrape away the silicone before soldering, its already scraped away in this picture. At this point with any luck you've fixed your problem and it didn't cost you any money, just a short amount of time. PS: Don't forget to plug your message center back in when you marry the two pieces of the cluster back together, otherwise you won't get any messages, such as check engine, ABS, Cargo Lamp etc, now that I think about it, you may want to leave it disconnected if you have an annoying check engine light flashing in your face all the time, if after you have completed the job the message center does not work, you'll have to come back to this step to fix the problem.

At this point gently put the odometer back in place on the board, check the connections to make sure bending didn't dislodge any other pins or the one you just fixed and test it in the truck before putting it all back together. Another thing I would like to mention, a fella named Ruben emailed me one complication. When you have the speedometer out of the truck the speedo needle may fall forward maxing out. All you have to do is tilt your cluster to the left to set it at zero before bolting it back into place. So if you put your cluster back in and your speedo needle is maxed out, you will have to remove the cluster and tilt the cluster to the left to set it to zero. (just an FYI) 

Please don't blame me for anything you may break by doing this, this is how I did it and it worked great, I hope it works for you, please let me know if this works for you and let others know about this website if you find it helpful. I'm located in Moncton NB Canada as an FYI. Good Luck and don't break anything. By the way installation is the reverse of this, have fun. Chris

UPDATE Jan 30, 2011 I just wanted to say that I'm receiving emails all the time on how well this is working for everyone, I fixed my truck about two years ago and has never even flickered once since. Good luck with your fix.