My cost for a cluster from oreillys is $330. So adding a $1.99 relay isnt that big of a deal.

 

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Online vendor " Fix My Gauges dot something something "
sells custom or reman gauge clusters for 300 .
Options include white faced gauges, ala chevy SS trucks, and can be ordered WITH transmission temp as well. choice of lighting ( I'll go with incandesent )
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Anyone order from the above company ?........... Good, Bad, BS ?
$300 seems about reasonable price, if they are legit..

 

Tons of people online doing that. I went with a local shop for my last cluster repair.

 

I believe that is the seller that go's by Digital Dash Solutions on Ebay. I have used him 2x through Ebay for New cluster and have been Happy with both purchases. I have also purchased parts off him in the past as well also through EBay.

 

I used digital dash many moons ago but I eventually had this issues

 

Only problem you may encounter adding a relay is that the PCM bus communications happens faster than a relay can close and repower the cluster when you turn the key on. You may have a bunch of warning lights on the IPC and or continuous codes in various modules for loss of IPC communication. Worth a try

 

Attempted repair to gauge cluster: Removed, disassembled and re-heated, fluxed and soldered 2 groups of resistors that had obvious heating, board discoloration and some crystallization of their solder pads.
Bonus: my gear position indicator ( PRND321 ) is now functional, which is a nice change.
Unfortunately, the cluster is still pulling current. Total key of draw remains .240 Amp with DIC fuse installed.
I have pulled the 10 Amp DIC fuse, and installed 8 inches of about 28 gauge wire jumper ( pulled from Cat-5 cable ) from the DIC fused circuit to a nearby keyed IGNITION hot 15 amp circuit.
As "jerry -rigged"
Gauges work normally and Key Off draw is at 10 mA, which is very bottom or below my accurate measuring threshold.
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I have a couple more gauge clusters to experiment with.

 

Broke down and threw money at the problem:
fix
my
gauges
dot somethingorother in Tennessee shipped my a very clean "ReMan" cluster, white faced gauges like the Chevy SS, and with transmission temp included.
$300 seems reasonable. So far, working well.
Parasitic draw somewhere around 22 milliamps, which is at the bottom limits of resolution for me.
........... Consider one GMT800 electrical gremlin cured ................

 

Noice!

Thanks for the update! :-)

I also got mine on my 04, a few months ago. Also solved the problem :-)

 

I used Digital Dash in 2009 for a Police Tahoe 140 MPH cluster w/Trans temp and still going strong.