Problems with 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

I received a letter from gm saying that my 2004 silverado could have a faulty odometer but if the vehicle has more than 75,000 miles it would not be covered. i then saw a news story on a local dallas news station covering the same issue. below is the information i sent to the news station. thank you for your segment last night in regards to the gm speed odometer issue. i have a 2004 gm truck and have a problem with both the tachometer and the speedometer. i contacted my local gm dealer about a year ago asking if there was any recall information and they told me no. i just assumed my case was isolated and would have to pay for the repair or live with it. then about three weeks ago i received a letter from gm stating a known issue with my model year. but unless my truck had less than 70,000 miles it was not covered. i can not believe gm is not willing to issue a recall or that the nhtsa does not view this as a safety concern. in almost every auto collision story or statistic i can find, it names speed as the number one cause of the accident. a possible different angle on this topic is gm owner loyalty. the problem affects 2003 and 2004 model years. based on 80% to 90% of all cars on the road are financed and most people only keep a vehicle 4 1/2 years, there will be many people that are affected by this problem that will be looking to trade in very soon. if most consumers are like me they will perceive this issue as very negative toward gm. it seams like a very large gamble on gm's part for such an inexpensive repair. i know when i go to purchase my new truck this coming spring i will not be looking at the gm products. thanks, michael fulkerson *tr

The speedometer on my 2004 silverado with only 16,000 miles stopped working. it has went all the way over past 120 mph and has stuck there. seems this is a not so rare problem with a lot of gm vehicles. see internet. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. while driving 55-60 mph, the speedometer failed. the dial moves, but displays inaccurate speeds. the current and failure mileages were 37,000.

2004 chevy silverado speedometer began to malfunction . it would occasionally work but now it has quit working altogether. this is a known defect in the instrument cluster panel. the company refuses to replace due to mileage, even though this is a known defect. *tr

Speedometer does not work. *tr

Speedometer no longer work on my 2004 chevy silverado 1500. *tr

I was notified that there may be a problem with the gauges in the instrument panel just last week, therefore possibly making the speedometer off. just this past week i looked down and was going 120 i have no idea how fast i'm going and even more interesting no recall. i look and see hundreds of complaints. also, i just got the letter last week and it stated it would be covered if it were 77,000 or 7 years of service mine is 87,000. how convenient for you guys. how many complaints before a recall? *tr

I have a 2004 silverado z71 it has about 73,000 miles and the speedometer has stoped working properly somedays it works and some it does not. this is a saftey issue and i am wondering if there is a recall on this issue since there are a lot of owners with the same issue. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. while driving 50 mph, the speedometer failed. the contact restarted the vehicle and, when he depressed the accelerator pedal, the speedometer moved from 50 to 120 mph. the vehicle is 900 miles over the 70,000 mile or seven year special order. the contact also stated that there is a class action law suit, of which he would like to be included. the current and failure mileages were 79,300.

My 2004 silverado tachometer and fuel gage are totally erratic or not working beginning around 73,000 miles. i just have to guess what fuel i have in the tank and fill up frequently. had a flat and could not remove spare, removed entire hoist system and found the secondary latching system totally froze up, so just threw the tire in the bed of the truck. cost a tow to get home with a load of christmas gifts. *tr

Gauges not working. first the temp gage would bottom out in either direction or start in between; checked all cooling devices/fluids. then fuel gage would sit anywhere regardless of actual fuel; no leaks or stoppages, airways clear. then speedometer sticks; at a stop would sit anywhere from 20-65 and start off from this point. i'm doing the math while driving to maintain speed limit. *tr

Speedometer needle is buried past 120mph does not function. where is the recall i have seen alot of complaints online of the speedo not functioning. *tr

Odometer is marking 120 miles went the truck is on parking gear. *jb

Speedometer sticks at different speeds. shows any where from 30 to 70 mph at a dead stop. *jb

The speedometer needle has been malfunctioning--not moving from a specific speed, not calibrating to zero mph and making a "clicking" noise when starting the engine. *jb

Purchased the truck and one week later, the gas gauge started sticking & going crazy. next went tachometer followed by the amp hand. have a 126,000 miles on the truck - everything else is in excellent condition and has been well maintained. this is a very common problem that needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. *tr

The speedometer on my 2004 chevrolet silverado quit working. i was driving 75 mph on the freeway when it started to drop. i drove about 80 miles. by the time i got home , it had quit working completely. now it sits at zero and "bounces" a little. *jb

Electrical panel gauges (speedometer) quit working at 68,000 miles. i filed a complaint. chevrolet notified me by letter they would replace the defective part if my vehicle had less than 70,000 miles. by the time i got the letter my vehicle had over 70,000 miles. now chevrolet will not repair the defective part. *tr

Speedometer failure. speedometer gives no, erratic or false readings such as 60 mph while standing still. online boards indicate this is a common complaint with 2003-2004 chevy trucks. *jb

Speedometer and other gauges failure on 2004 chevrolet silverado. started approximately fall last year. now speedometer is inoperable. causing me to have to guess my approximate speed. g m finally sent notices to owners of affected vehicles but mine is out of warranty. this seems to be a serious problem posing possible danger to the owners and other drivers. a lot of folks will probably not be able to get this repaired soon enough or at all due to high repair costs. *tr

Tl*the contact's father owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. everytime the vehicle is driven, the air conditioning changes from hot to cold, the speedometer displays inaccurate readings, and the tachometer does not work at all. the contact had to constantly restart the vehicle in order for the components to work properly. he received a recall letter regarding the instrument cluster, but it was not repaired due to the mileage on the vehicle. the recall number was unknown. the current mileage was 91,400 and failure mileage was 75,000.

I have had trouble with my speedometer, heat, and gas gauges. the speedometer will set at 60mph or it will not work at all. than it will start working when it feels like it. my temp. gage will go to the red line or it won't move at all. my gas gage will set on empty when it full or it will work when it feels like it. this is very important to me and can cause problems with on how fast your going or not going, and with the other gauges you don't know if you have gas or don't, and with the head gauges that can scare you. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. it is a salvaged vehicle. both the speedometer and alternator failed. the contact received a notice from gm, but because he owns a salvaged vehicle, the repair was refused. gm stated that they were only responsible for smog regarding his vehicle. the purchase date was unavailable. the current mileage is 28,000 and failure mileage was 26,000. updated 01/14/08 *bf

While driving home my speedometer dropped to zero and stayed there. it started working the next day. this past saturday it went haywire again, freezing up at 49 mph. not good when you are driving through multiple speed limit zones. this morning i started out at 54 mph before i put it in drive. upon reaching the stop sign, i shut it off and restarted. it dropped 10 mph. i continued to stop and restart dropping another 10 mph with each effort until it reached zero. froze up again when i went to lunch. what should i tell the cops if i get stopped for speeding? i know, i'll just let them look at my dash to see how fast it says i'm going sitting still. *jb

(2004 silverado extended cab ls 5.3l with 54k miles) i was driving to work this morning (cruising about 70mi) but i noticed that when i slowed down in traffic, the speedometer was stuck at 70mi. once i got off the freeway, i pulled into the gas station to fill-up, and noticed that the needle on the speedometer was still stuck @ 70mi. as i drove away, i noticed that now, the new 70mi. mark was 0mi, and as i drove down the street, the car was reading 100mi. it continued to move back to 70 as i came to a complete stop. i understand there is a class-action law suit for this issue. i will not pay to repair this problem as i feel it's gm's problem to resolve. my next vehicle will be a toyota...and they wonder why imports are flooding the market...gm needs to step up and be responsible for this stuff! i fear that when i take it in to the dealer ship, they are going to charge me an arm and a leg, despite that fact that i purchased an extended warranty package from them at the time of purchase (truck). now that this issue is there, i can't really drive my truck until it's repaired since i don't want to have an accident or get a ticket. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. the contact stated that the speedometer displays inaccurate speeds and the fuel gauge does not display the correct amount of gasoline. the failures occur intermittently. the manufacturer has an extended warranty regarding these failures; however, the parts are unavailable. the current mileage was 67,250 and failure mileage was 50,000.

Speedometer began "sticking" on acceleration and deceleration at approximately 47000 miles. eventually, it began to register up to 70 mph while stopped at stop signs. now, the only reliable way to tell my speed is with hand held gps. i'm at approximately 54,000 miles and speedometer registers between -10 mph and 120 mph. according to the speedometer, i regularly do 100 mph through school zones. *tr

Speedometer failure. *tr

Speedometer goes to 120 mph after driving more than half hour. to get back to 0 mph i have to turn ignition off & on 8 to 9 times. this happens every day. *jb

2004 chevrolet silverado pickup truck with safety defect customer believes that it is a defect in the wires due to them catching on fire twice**cc the consumer stated the fire did not spread to other parts of the vehicle and enclosed 2 repair invoices to show the defect. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 1500. while driving at all speeds, the speedometer malfunctioned and the dial would not move at all. the contact received a notice from the manufacturer stating that they would replace the speedometer if the vehicle had less than 70,000 miles. the manufacturer would not repair the vehicle because it exceeded 70,000 miles when the notice was received. the failure mileage was 69,000 and current mileage was 79,000.

Speedometer started acting erratically, showed over 100 mph when really going 30 mph, now has totally stopped working? no repairs have been done at this point, using tachometer to get my speed.*ak

My speedometer on my 04 chevrolet tahoe is erratic and sometimes it just sits at 0. *tr

Instrument panel dimmer and lights, speedometer ,fuel,temp ....do not work! very unsafe!

I just do not understand why a recall has not been issued for the instrument cluster on the 2004 chevy silverado trucks. how is not having a speedometer not a safety issue? gm did come out with what they do not call a recall for the instrument cluster but it obtained a mileage limit. this is not right they know the part was defective they just do not want to admit it and that is bull. the 1st time i took it to the dealer they would not fix it because the limit was 70k i was at 72+k. now i am at 187k+ and it should not matter the mileage gm needs to grow up like toyota and admit their faults. *tr

Speedometer is no longer accurate, does not work properly. *tr

2004 chevrolet silverado safety issue. speedometer does not read correctly it will jump around or read to low or to high. since i don't know how fast i am going this could lead to an accident if i am going to fast and do not know it.*ak

Instrument panel gauge needles stick, flutter and have become inoperative at times. this has caused inaccurate readings to the speedometer and fuel gauge. *tr

Intermittent, yet happening allot more lately. the driver side air conditioner keeps going to hot hot air, as if in full heat. must pull over to side of road and restart truck to get air conditioner working again. in south texas, heat is unbearable as you may know. already had instrument panel out of warranty that i paid for and after complaining to chevy was reimbursed because of recall and am finding out this is a very common problem as well with the a/c going out. don't have money to take to shop and repair and am looking for answers from gm. *tr

My speedometer started acting erratically at about 35,800 miles. at first it stuck at a speed and wouldn't go down when the vehicle slowed down. then it simply stayed at zero mph. the problem went away for a few weeks, and because i couldn't reproduce it, i allowed the vehicle to roll over my warranty mileage of 36,000 miles. ever since then, the problem has gotten more common and more erratic, until finally today during a 200 mile drive, the speedometer went totally dead. it now reads 60 mph when i'm standing still and it is buried at 120+mph at highway speeds. no luck yet from gm about a recall or anything else. this is a dangerous situation and needs to be resolved. *jb

Speedometer quit working at 61071 miles 500.oo to fix this is ridiculas

1. driving down highway and speedometer started reading 35 mph while traveling aprox 65 mph also 2 days prior to this amp meter quit functioning 2. could cause accident 3 dealership wants 600 to 700 dollars to repair service tech told me this is a problem that gm should address and recall to repair. *jb

Instument cluster in speedometer stopped working. 2004 chevy silverado 1500. *ak

Speedometer quit working. my speedmeter won't register any speeds. baseline now starts at 30 mph *jb

My 2004 chevy silverado 1500 speedometer stopped working on feb 13th, 2007 on the way home one night. it only has 62,000 miles on it. it's been working intermittently since then. i've researched on the internet where this is becoming a common problem. it needs to get fixed, but i don't think it should be my responsibility to fix it since i am not the only one who is having this problem. *nm

While driving on hwy 278 towards hamilton, al my speedometer failed it worked partially for the rest of the trip but now does not work at all. *nm

Speedometer does not indicate correct speed, it is currently parked and the speedometer is reading over 100. it was reading 20 to 30 mph whilst i was going down the interstate at approximately 70. *jb

The speedometer registers in accurately and randomly does not work at all. this could lead to a driving hazard and affects the safety of all on the road. *jb

Nothing led up to the problem. i left the house on feb. 3rd, halfway to the grocery store i noticed my speedometer was reading 120 mph and knew i wasn't going that fast. nothing has been done to correct the issue yet. *jb

2004 chevrolet truck speedometer not working 53,000 miles no recall even though service representative @ dealership said there have been a lot of problems. *nm