My cluster started slowly dying over the last year. First the tachometer wouldn't zero itself and is now locked in the fully pegged position, then the engine temperature gauge did the same thing. I could live without the tach and it was a leap of faith driving without knowing the engine temp but now the fuel gauge is dying and I'm not going down that road. I've bought 6 new stepper motors off ebay and when they arrive, I plan on replacing all 6 motors... plus a few burned out bulbs in the process.

My question is, does anyone have a way to re-calibrate the cluster needles in their CORRECT resting positions? Since mine are always in the wrong position with the car off, it does me no good to mark their positions before starting the procedure. I've looked for a pic on the internet of the cluster in the resting position and haven't had any luck (thinking I could use that for a reference).
Would it be possible to set the needles with the engine running since I know where the cars temp sat when it was fully warmed up as well as the idle speed location on the tach? The fuel gauge would be the tricky one to get it accurate...even with a full tank.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome!

The problem isn't one of recalibrating the needles, you undoubtedly have bad stepper motors in the instrument cluster (which actually move the needles). They wear over time, bind and needles stick in all kinds of positions or display erroneous information. This is a very common problem in these (and many other GM) vehicles. I believe there is a write-up here on the forum about how to do this, otherwise you can PM harofreak00 here on the board because he does these repairs.

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Bose Luxury Sound System w/Touch Screen Navigation, Addition of Factory XM, 2005 MY Antenna, OnStar Upgrade (3G),
RainSense Wipers, Backup Camera, '00 Style Door Panel Courtesy Lights, Heated Washer Solvent, 2X Remote Trunk Release,
Turn Signal Mirrors, Center Console Courtesy Lamp, Rear Outboard Heated Seats, PVD Chrome 18" Factory Rims, Upgraded
Carbon Fibre Appearance Interior Trim, Highly Modified Main Body Harness, Instrument Panel, Door, Door Panel & Headliner
Wiring Harnesses, Custom Fuse Box & Tire and Loading Information Decals, Additional Acoustic Insulation

Thanks for the quick response!
I read over my question and see that I didn't word it properly. The needles are just pieces of plastic and there is no calibrating a piece of plastic (I get that part). Let me rephrase that. Taking apart my cluster involves removing the needles. Before I remove the needles, their resting position should be marked so that they can be put back to their factory position (or close). The faulty stepper motors don't allow my needles to reach the proper resting position so I was hoping for a dash picture that would show the positions so I could gauge where I need to place them. If not, I can just guess them close enough, but I just thought there might be a trick that I wasn't aware of.
Thanks again!

If you're going to replace the steppers you "may" be able to gently wiggle the needles a little so you can return them all the way to their counterclockwise stop.

If you can't get the needles to return to the stepper motor physical stop so you can mark them you will need to estimate on some. RPM, oil pressure and voltage will be some for sure. With a cheapo scan tool and/or multimeter you can get the needles pretty close though by looking at voltage, oil pressure and RPM data. As for temp, I'd get the engine up to operating temperature and then place the needle where it normally sits. On my GXP it's right around 90 Celsius which is pretty much middle of the scale. This may vary slightly for your car. With the car in park (but in the 'On' position), the speedometer simply sits at zero.

Without a machine to send the correct data signal to the cluster so you can replace the needle at a calibrated point, this is about your only option. I'm sure this is what they do at the GM Electronic Service Centers.

_________________


Bose Luxury Sound System w/Touch Screen Navigation, Addition of Factory XM, 2005 MY Antenna, OnStar Upgrade (3G),
RainSense Wipers, Backup Camera, '00 Style Door Panel Courtesy Lights, Heated Washer Solvent, 2X Remote Trunk Release,
Turn Signal Mirrors, Center Console Courtesy Lamp, Rear Outboard Heated Seats, PVD Chrome 18" Factory Rims, Upgraded
Carbon Fibre Appearance Interior Trim, Highly Modified Main Body Harness, Instrument Panel, Door, Door Panel & Headliner
Wiring Harnesses, Custom Fuse Box & Tire and Loading Information Decals, Additional Acoustic Insulation

Thanks again. I replaced them yesterday. Wasn't too bad at all as far as time involved. It took me about 30-45 minutes to replace all 6 motors. While I had the bulbs (that came with the kit), I also replaced the 3 bulbs behind my radio led screen and got that back to working again.

The motors actually did have a point of resistance that I could feel when I rotated the needles counter clockwise that seemed like the correct spot so I used that point as my resting point and marked them there. My speedometer reads 1 mph while I'm sitting still but other than that, they all look good doing their thing again. I'll be taking it back apart to replace a bulb behind the speedo so I'll adjust the speedometer at that point.

For anyone looking to fix their cluster, I'd say don't hesitate to do it yourself as long as you have a little experience with soldering on a pcb. The kit I bought on ebay was $27. It came with all 6 stepper motors, 10 bulbs, a 35 watt soldering iron, a solder sucker, 1 foot of Kesters solder, and detailed instructions (with pictures).

That's good news. It sounds like you have everything well under control.

_________________


Bose Luxury Sound System w/Touch Screen Navigation, Addition of Factory XM, 2005 MY Antenna, OnStar Upgrade (3G),
RainSense Wipers, Backup Camera, '00 Style Door Panel Courtesy Lights, Heated Washer Solvent, 2X Remote Trunk Release,
Turn Signal Mirrors, Center Console Courtesy Lamp, Rear Outboard Heated Seats, PVD Chrome 18" Factory Rims, Upgraded
Carbon Fibre Appearance Interior Trim, Highly Modified Main Body Harness, Instrument Panel, Door, Door Panel & Headliner
Wiring Harnesses, Custom Fuse Box & Tire and Loading Information Decals, Additional Acoustic Insulation

Hey kadowson, I see you replaced bulbs behind your radio screen? I have an 05 GXP with a cd/cassette radio (says Monsoon when you turn it on) and the left end of the time read out is dark. Would what you did in replacing bulbs fix this problem I have, or is mine inside the radio? Thanks

This thread is a few months old, probably would have been better to start a new one and ask the question to the group. Here's a link to everything you need to know about radio bulbs for a 2000+:

2000-2005-other-than-gxp/topic7188.html?hilit=radio%20bulb

Don't be afraid to use the search function.

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Resident Tightwad

Screw you, Photobucket.

And file this under lessons learned........I replaced the 4 stepper motors for the gauges and didn't do the tach and speedo and now my speedo has crapped out. Ugh.......at least it's not a horrible repair but just the fact that I have to pull the cluster out again. Plus I think I have a couple of burned out bulbs that I can address now.........oh well, live and learn.