Problems with 2004 Buick Rainier ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

I have a 2004 buick rainier and the speedometer sticks on a regular basis. it ranges anywhere from 20-70 miles an hour while parked and 120 and over while driving. i can generally tell about how fast i am going and must keep an eye on my rpms. well this is frustrating and very distracting while driving. this is definitely a safety concern for my family as well as everyone else on the road (because of the distraction). also my cruise control does not work and the air conditioner will not blow out of the front vents. i have read other complaints of this nature and wonder when someone is going to do something about it. i cannot afford to pay for the extremely costly repair and believe that gm should recall and repair the numerous vehicles that this is affecting. *tr

2004 buick rainier speedometer is registering 25-30 mph faster than what the vehicle is actually traveling. when in park is shows the suv traveling 25 mph. *tr

Dashborad gauges do not keep an accurate account of rpm's as well as speed. the battery gauge just started being inaccurate january 2012. *tr

I have had trouble with the headlights dimming while driving since the beginning, the dealership has several times worked on the problem, which i think has cleared up..so far. now my speedometer has started messing up, it says i am going 50 while parked and 120 while driving. i only drive short distances and mostly into and back from town 6 mile one way. i have 50,969 miles on my 2004 vehicle, i keep its checkups and oil changes regularly: dealership has records. i feel this vehicle has had electrical issues from day one, i see turn signal and brakelight issues in recall so i don't believe i am wrong about this. they want to charge me over $400 to change the "cluster" as the economy goes, i too cannot afford this kind of charges on an item that should not have issues. especially when i take good care of it and really has low mileage and wear and tear (perfect condition). *tr

While driving on the freeway i noticed that the speedometer reading was too high as i was changing lanes to exit during evening rush hour. after exiting and stopping for a traffic light, my speedometer was showing 55mph. as i continued on the service drive i observed 75 and 85mph in a 35mph zone! very distracting when driving next to a 70mph freeway. i not going that fast i'm crawling. when i turned on to my street i was still observing the speed at 65mph and nearly ran over my neighbor who was putting his trash out at the curb. almost passed my driveway and drove over a bit of the other neighbors grass. i could not believe a 4-yr old vehicle with 64000 miles had a bad speedometer. so i changed the instrument cluster fuse and the speedometer started to work again and seemed to be accurate. on my way home from work it again shot up to 120+mph and that is where it stayed. changed the fuse again seemed to work for a day and shot up again to 120+ mph. drove it to the dealership to have to repaired and they say it is the instrument cluster that is bad and it will cost $450.00. no longer under warranty and i cannot repair at this time. dealership service says they have not heard of this happening at all. for my money they will only warranty it for 1yr/12000 miles. i have always believed buy american but right now i am truly disappointed. *tr

Instrument cluster failed to work. dealer checked and found this is not a safety issue, since i should be able to feel hoe fast i am going. this same failure was covered in pontiacs and chevrolet trucks. *tr

Speedometer stops working when car warms up. as i am driving with my two small children my speedometer will stop working and go below zero. which becomes a hazard because i am unaware of how fast or slow i am going. my family as well as myself are in serious danger of getting into an accident because of this problem. it will not start working again until the next day. it has been happening quicker and quicker as the problem persists. i am also noticing a hot smell when the speedometer stops working. buick refuses to help with this problem even though i have reported this before my extended warranty expired. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 buick rainier. the contact stated the instrument panel light would fail intermittently. the contact stated the vehicle was previously repaired by an independently mechanic for electrical failure within the instrument panel. the failure recurred. the manufacturer advised that there was not a recall for the failure and would not provide any assistance. the failure mileage was 38,000 and the current mileage was 55,300.

Malfunctioning speedometer- the speedometer stops working at random times while driving. it is dangerous to all travelers whether in car or those traveling alongside us. there is no way to tell when it goes out. the speedometer will just stick at a certain speed-it will then continue from that speed and at times shows that you are traveling at speeds well above the limit. i have also experienced where it drops 5 miles everytime its turned off but it also has reset itself at times. i do believe that with all the complaints i've seen supporting the same facts that this should be a mandatory recall and fix. i took the car to 2 different shops for help - shop 1 couldn't easily see how to fix & suggested it would be expensive, shop 2 (*buick dealer) stated no idea on problem but would need complete panel replacement minimum price $700. in view of our economy and dealers wanting support i believe this should be addressed as a major problem due to all the complaints being very similar. hard to pin down to a specific date and once started now occurs monthly. i have also experienced the problems with the lights dimming and the hard to read mileage display. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 buick rainier. the speed odometer displayed inaccurate readings. when the driver is unable to identify the correct speed of the vehicle, excessive speed may be exhibited. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and a technician concluded that the cause of the failure was due to an electrical shortage. the warranty expired and the contact was billed $500.00 for the repair. the failure and current mileages were 30,000.

My husband and i purchased a used 2004 buick rainier with 33,000 miles last may 2008. one evening during the summer we were making a 20 minute trip and the speedometer just stopped working while en route. since then the speedometer gets stuck while making 20+ minute trips and will only go down 5 mph each time you shut off the suv and restart. so you have to shut off and restart several times before it reaches back down to zero and it will then operate okay for a little while until you make that 20+ minute trip again. sometimes while just driving around town running errands it will get stuck. so i would say at least once a week it gets stuck. it's very frustrating when you have to watch your speed especially around the school zones. i often take my eyes off the roads to watch my rpm's and try to calculate how fast i'm going. i'm currently saving to have the problem fixed as i've heard of it being a very pricing item (instrument cluster) to have replaced. i've been doing some research on a possible recall for this item and i've found there have been many complaints and even a class action suit against gm for other suv's similar to the rainier but the buick rainier was not listed in this class action suit and no recalls have been made for this item on buick rainiers. any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. thank you. *tr

My wife was stopped by the sc highway officer for speeding. based on her speedometer reading she was not speeding. in addition to speeding ticket she received warning for operating vehicle with broken equipment. it turned out that the speedometer quit working while she was driving and is now acting unpredictable. *tr

Instrument gauge cluster started working only sporadically march 08. speedometer and tack have also failed to work about 25% of time in the past two weeks. on one occasion while driving about 15 mph through a neighborhood, the gas pedal failed to respond and the engine would only idle at 1000 rpm. after pulling over and restarting, the gas pedal returned to normal. *tr

I was driving one morning and noticed that my speed registered 80miles when i had just pulled off. i cut the car off and then starting back driving and it then said i was going 120. i took my car in and they told me that my car was not under warranty for this repair, and it would cost me $575. to get it fixed. i asked for the main number to buick and called them, they said that my car did not fall in the extended warranty category and they did not have enough complaints to have this as a recall. i also told them that this is a safety hazard and that i should not have to pay out of pocket for a manufacturer defect and that i am not the only one with this problem on this particular vehicle. i could be sitting with the car idle and the speedometer reads 120, even when i made the appt. to have it checked out the service guy said that quite a few people have been in with that problem. *tr

Speed and oil pressure indicator failures. *tr

As i began to work on tuesday of this week, i looked down and my speedometer was registering 120 mph. i was only just beginning so i realized something was wrong. i stopped and switched the car off and thought it would reset the gauges but it only went to 65mph. as i began driving again it started registering 120mph. then on wednesday, it would not leave off the 120mph when i turned the engine off. the next time it went back it beginning at 65 and as i accelerated it went to 120. i have no clue what speed i am traveling while driving. i went to my dealer and he said i would have to pay for it to be fixed. i did not have it fixed. *tr

Instrument control for speedometer and radio just quit working. not always sure of traveling speed because speedometer quits working. very dangerous because of not sure of traveling speeds and afraid of getting ticket because of unkown speed. *tr

There seems to be a known safety issue with speedometer control module. the dealers know about this issue, transmission and speedometer repair shops knpw about this issue. this is a very dangerous problem as you are driving and the speed registers different & sometimes not at all. *tr

Speedometer began getting stuck and now does not give speed stays on zero or slowly moves up and gets stuck. *tr

My speedometer started to stick at 60 mph when driving slowly after exiting off of the freeway at night. i then proceeded on my way home in a 30mph zone and then the speedometer was pegged out at over 120mph. from then on sometimes the needle on the gauge almost goes to zero until you start to drive the vehicle, and then it peg's out again. consequently my wife and i do not know how fast we are going which is a major safety issue especially at freeway speeds or driving through the neighborhood where children play. i have not payed to replace a 500 hundred dollar item. *tr

The speedometer reads erratically at rest pegged to 120 when driving. this occurs intermittently. when driving you do not have reliable display of your speed. gm says this is not a safety issue, i disagree. it is a failure in a fundamentally important function of the vehicle and should be fixed. this began with onset of cold weather and continues to the present. *tr

Intermittent speedometer readings. speedometer stuck anywhere between 0-120mph. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 buick rainier. while driving 70 mph, the speedometer will display speeds between 20-120 mph. while driving various speeds on the freeway, the speed will decrease on its own. the contact must literally stand on the accelerator pedal to maintain a steady speed. while idling at a stop sign or light, the engine continues to rev. the contact scheduled an appointment with the dealer for june 23, 2008 to diagnose the failures. the current mileage was 41,000 and failure mileage was 35,000.

Faulty speedometer, reads between 70 mph to 130 mph at all times. *tr

The dash cluster lighting is too dim in the daylight and non existent at dawn and dusk. there is not a manual override that allows you to select night lighting during these transitional times and on certain days so you can not see the speedometer output nor the driver advisory display. i discussed it with several dealers and they say some work this way and some don't. they have no way to tell which work properly and which ones will not. they all refused to replace it under warranty as buick says that is the way the system is supposed to work. for up to 15 minutes in morning and night the display is totally unreadable while it is slowly transitioning night time visibility. yes, i have the lighting set as bright as the system will allow at any given time but it is still not visible to me or anyone else that drives the car. i have found quite a few others on the net that have the same problem and the same could care less responses from buick on this safety issue. this goes on everyday so it probably is only a matter of time until it results in a serious accident and/or a serious mechanical failure that will be missed because you can't read the instrument cluster under certain but daily conditions such as sunrise and dusk. *tr

We have a 2004 buick rainier. during the colder times, our speedometer tic, so you don't know how fast or slow you are going. this is a safety issue. having no way to tell your speed, we could get a ticket, cause an accident. i have also noticed online, numerous people having the same problem. there needs to be a recall. we have not had it fixed. it would $600 to fix, and should not be charged to us, but to buick for a malfunction. *tr

I was in the midst of a 10 hour road trip over the holidays when the speedometer originally quit working. i was traveling at a rate of 70 mph. the speedometer started inching up and buried itself at 120 mph. i pulled off the road in an attempt to get the speedometer to go back down but it settled on 60 mph while in park. i continued on w/my trip and took the car to the dealership upon arrival in abilene, ks. they were not able to identify the problem in the cluster and checked bulletins for past problems w/speedometers. over the course of 3 months the speedometer continued to repeat this action. i had it into a dealership in austin, tx on three separate occasions w/the same response from the dealership until the speedometer finally quite working altogether. the dealer told me he had seen this in a few other models by gm. i called and filed a complaint with gm and was told there was nothing they would do. i then had to pay to have the cluster replaced in february 2007. three weeks later the car was back in b/c the entire system shut down and the speedometer quit working. the service department saw the problem upon arrival but was unable to prolong. *jb

Faulty speedometer registers unreliable speed. 2004 buick rainier. now, the oil pressure gauge is also faulty and jumps around. notified gm, who was well aware of this problem but claimed it was not a safety issue worthy of a recall. internet website showed hundreds of other gm suv owners with same problem. *ak

In september 2004 while driving the fuse box blew and caught on fire. on january 14, 2005 the dashboard completely failed.*ak

There are no dashboard lights on the vehicle. when it gets dark consumer cannot see the speed. the dealer states they cannot repair the defect. manufacturer indicates it is normal.*ak

The current investigation into faulty ignition switches is much broader than currently being investigated.. in 2004 i purchase the buick rainier above. on initial test drive with salesman the vehicle shut off at 35 mph. after review by the mechanic it was attributed to a computer issue. i purchased the vehicle after retesting. during the next 4 years this happened at least 3 more times. each time it was attributed to a computer upgrade. i have not had a problem since then in 2008. the symptoms and the results are consistent with all reported failures. i also have a friend with a buick full size car 2006 i believe who had the same issue. the reports that this has not occurred on buicks or suv is not correct. this is a larger problem. *tr

The vehicle's engine has been sputtering, missing and surging since it was purchased. *nm the vehicle was taken to the dealer but they were unable to find the cause of the problem. the vehicle battery failed. water leaked through the front driver's side floor. water also leaked into the vehicle by the hood release lever when raining. the passenger's side fender rattled. headlight assembly seemed loose. rack and pinion leaked. *nm