Problems with 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Check engine light came on and "low engine power" flashed where the odometer is. this caused the rpm's not to go over 2800. code reader claims o2 sensors or throttle control module or catalytic convertor issues. we discovered it was none of the above. to fix problem change 3 relays located under hood in fuse box. relay #8864. then clear codes, should fix issue unless code persists. relays will cause a fire if not changed out asap.

Many of the vehicles in this family suffer from random electrical shorts and or poor electrical grounding relating to the drive by wire throttle actuator. the result is that the vehicle will go into 'reduced engine power' mode randomly. in this mode the vehicle will idle but not accelerate or drive. this issue is well documented on message boards with no consistent fix. this condition exposes an extreme hazard as the vehicle can loose power at any time. this is a serious safety issue that should be investigated. i have had my vehicle loose power on the interstate and on high speed 2 lane roads with no shoulder and heavy traffic on 4 occasions. numerous attempts to repair the issue have been unsuccessful.

Driving on the interstate at 65-70 mph truck shut off no power steering no brakes showing "reduced engine power" almost got into a wreck with my 2 year old son and 70 year old grandmother...i still owe $10,000 on this hunk of crap...it went away after a broken wire was fixed....but as i sit here in my truck at 3 am because i had to move it i started it up and once again reduced engine power...just so frustrating

May 2016 installed 5 years warranty battery. battery dead every three month. charged battery. installed new battery last week. battery dead today. had alternator tested. (fine) notice dashboard light where read milage looked like this after truck off #######. only green light will not turn off

When i got into the vehicle to start, the driver information center says "unknown driver". as a result of this condition, i cannot adjust mirrors, roll up windows, or get headlights to work. also, the gauges for voltage, oil pressure, temperature, and fuel do not work. the radio does not work as well. because of over engineering and faulty parts i cannot use this vehicle. i have already had the instrument cluster replaced as part of a recall. many people have had this problem as searched, with no answer. general motors has failed to put in place safety systems or override functions to allow safe operation of the vehicle. gm is using computer controls which often fail to control important safety functions of the vehicle. i currently have the vehicle at the dealer and they have dismantled the bulk of the truck to diagnose the problem. after two days in the shop, they still have not found the problem. faulty engineering and poor parts have lead to this condition. i have been a lifelong gm owner, but i will reconsider this moving foward. i am sure my next vehicles will be other brands.

I bought a 2004 chevy silverado from medved and i feel it has a problem and gm says it's working as designed. my problem is the message module led's are so dim they can't be read in the daylight and the instrument cluster has been replaced 3 times by medved to try and fix the problem. the p n r d d3 d2 led"s are just fine. they told me to take it to another dealership to see if they can fix it. i took it to [xxx] and a 18 year service tech said it doesn't get any better and gm should have sent out a recall but didn't. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr this could be a safety issue if you can't read the warnings and other messages that appear on the module while driving. *tr

The speedometer registers 120mph all the time when moving. was fixed once under warrant. the dealer who fixed it is no longer in business. i purchased a extended warranty, never used it. the truck has 55,000 miles right now. diesel. $43,000 new. chevy changed our onstar to digital. no onstar now. *tr

2004 chevrolet silverado 2500hd. consumer states gauges stopped working and the bolts on the manifold were defective. *tgw

Notice sent out after my vehicle exceeded warranty,instrument cluster failure,7yrs or 70,000 miles ,letter sent out nov 2007,80000plus on my chevy truck at time of recall,gm still having problems instrument cluster,now they want $500-$650.00 to repair what a joke,last chevy vehicle i purchase!!!!!!! *tr

I was just driving my yukon and the speedometer was reading 100 miles i knew something was wrong because when i stop and turn it off the speedometer stayed at 40 miles and i don't know at what speed am at when am on the freeway, i as a mechanic shop an they told me that i had to go to the dealer for that. *tr

Insturment panel making noise and malfunctioning. happened since about 40,000 miles on truck. then a few days ago smoke was coming from dash. shut truck off and disconnected battery. called the dealer and they said warranty had just expired in january. called gm they said to take it to a dealer for a diagnostic test and they would see if the would "possibly help" with the cost of repairs. *tr

I recently purchased in chevy 2500 hd silverado from an individual and the gauges on the dash are not working properly. luckily, the person i bought it from was honest enough to let me know this before i test drove the truck. he told he had already spoke to the local chevy dealer and they said it was a common problem and it could be repaired under warranty if the vehicle had under 75,000 miles.the truck had 142,xxx when i got it. i talked to another mechanic and he also verified that this is a common problem with these trucks, as is a hole being eaten up in the transfer case of the 4x4. the repair estimate i got is $350. i think a class action lawsuit should be filed on behalf of all the current owners( or persons that had to pay for this repair) against gm. i am unable to monitor my speed, temp, oil pressure, voltage, fuel or trans temp accurately because of this. if the motor were to burn up due to overheating, i would have no way of knowing it until it was too late. if anyone knows of a lawyer willing to take on a case such as this, i will be more than willing to sign my name due to the fact i am having to pay for the repair to avoid more serious damage to the vehicle or a possible of life if the vehicle were to catch fire from overheating. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500. the contact was driving 60 mph when the speedometer failed and indicated that he was traveling 90-100 mph. the dealer was contacted but the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was contacted but would not provide any assistance. the failure mileage was 120,000.

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500 hd. while driving at any speed, the contact stated that the speedometer would display the correct speed and then it remained at the same speed regardless of how fast or slow she was driving. the failure began three months ago. the dealer and the manufacturer were notified and advised her that there were no related recalls. the contact did not take the vehicle to the dealer for diagnostic testing due to the cost. the vehicle was not repaired. the current mileage was approximately 96,000. the failure mileage was approximately 85,000.

2004 chevy silverado - the speedometer is not showing the correct speed. my son who just received his permit was driving with me in the passenger seat when we were pulled over by a policeman for doing 20 miles over the speed limit. i was so surprised, i constantly check his speed on a regular basis when he is driving and would never have allowed this to occur. after a nasty ticket. i went home and researched that there is a recall on this vehicle for the dash cluster not working properly. i sent the truck to a neighborhood auto repair shop who ran it on their dynometer and found that the speedometer was grossly off. i contacted chevrolet and they will not honor the recall because the vehicle has 112,000 miles on it. i purchased the vehicle from enterprise leasing company 1 year ago when it had 101,000 miles on it. so i went to them for recourse and they too will not honor the recall because it has too many miles on it. i am appalled that this was not taken care of before i unsuspectingly bought the vehicle from a reputable company that should have made sure that it was in good working order before they sold it. at the very least no outstanding recalls. now i'm stuck with a speeding ticket cost and the new dash cluster. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500 hd. the contact started the ignition and observed that the speedometer displayed an inaccurate reading of 100 mph. the speedometer reading fluctuated at any speed being traveled. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the technician stated the service repair would be an estimated cost of $800.00. the vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. the failure mileage was 118,700.

2004 chevrolet silverado 2500. consumer states problems with replacement alternator *tgw the vehicle caught on fire which may have been due to a manufacturing defect with a replacement alternator that was recalled. *jb

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500. the contact was driving at 45 mph when he noticed that the dashboard gauges were fluctuating back and forth. the speedometer was stuck at 110 mph. the dealer advised there was not a recall for the failure and any repairs would be at the contact's expense. the manufacturer was not contacted. the vin was not available. the failure and current mileages were 100,000.

Speedometer on 2004 chevy silverado 2500hd started acting erratically at 56,000 miles. *tr

We have a 2004 chevy silverado 2500hd. we bought the vehicle with 45k miles on it. not long after, the speedometer started acting up. i turned the truck off, restarted and the speedometer was fine. we now have 100k miles on the truck and the speedometer reads 120mph all the time. this has clearly been a huge problem with chevy, but yet they aren't taking responsibility for the problem. the dealerships continue to make $500-$800 on each incident. we've called multiple dealerships and not one of them will cover it. *tr

Gm pick up trucks have what in my opinion is a safety issue with instrument clusters failing. one can be cruising along and all of a sudden the speedometer goes crazy. mine registers 120 mph at all times. it puts one in unknown territory when in heavy traffic not to mention not knowing when one is speeding. further one does not how much fuel they have or if their vehicle is overheating. gm sent letters to owners of these vehicles indicating that they would replace the cluster if it went bad before 72000 miles.they know that any or all of the clusters are prone to failure and gm should be required to issue a recall and correct this problem at no cost to the owner.the local gm dealer tells me that it is about a $300. fix.gm should not be allowed to get away with selling vehicles with such potential safety issues. *tr

Driving at 55 mph, the speedometer needle went to 5 mph, then to 0. later in the same trip, with the cruise control at 60, (verified by gps), speedometer showed speeds from 50 down to 8mph. no warning before failure, except for a barely noticeable tremor or lack of smoothness in the speedometer needle. the truck has only 36000 miles on it. on next drive, speedometer was ok for the 20 minutes. the drive after, random speeds from startup. no corrective work done yet, but it seems that the servo motor driving the speedometer, or the entire gauge cluster has to be replaced. *tr

Speedometer provided false readings. *tr

This is how it started.. i have a 2004 chevy silverado 2500 hd. as i drove down the road the doors would lock and unlock on their own, and the truck would lose rpm's and would act as if the truck shut off and restarted itself. also the check engine light would blink with the locking and unlocking of the doors. did this off and on a few times as we babied it home. got it home in the driveway and it threw 2 codes camshaft position sensor high volts and low volts. so we replaced the camshaft position sensor. truck drove fine for 4 days. however on the 5th day we attempted to drive the truck and as we were driving down the road this time the engine light came on and stayed on and doors started locking and unlocking again on their own as well as the dic read service brake system and the truck completely died in the middle of traffic, we were able to pull over into a parking lot and truck restarted long enough to get home. at this point the gm dealer wasn't sure of this problem and what causes it but stated to unplug the battery and reset the computer(after speaking to 4 different gm dealers mind you). wow low and behold fixed the problem for about 45 minutes, as we again tried to see how far we could make it before it started acting up again. only this time doors would lock and unlock and all kinds of weird things were going on, for example doors locking and unlocking, truck stalling and restarting, idol was ruff and noisy, service engine light came on and stayed on, and the dic read this time reduced engine power!! and at this point we were only able to go 15 miles an hour and thankfully we were on a road with no traffic and were about 2 miles from our home. also in the mist of all of this the truck was chiming and the truck thought it didn't have any brakes at this point thankfully we were able to get the truck to come to a complete stop. we have had this truck for less than 1 yr and it only has 82,000 on it and noone seems to be able to tell us what is wrong with it. *tr

Speedometer starting acting up by over registering my speed and now reads 120+mph no matter what my speed. it falls back to 50mph when i turn off the ignition. *tr

Speedometer fails to register correct speed. remains at zero while driving and needle jumps erratically. *tr

Speedometer and tachometer indicate erratic speeds, they will lock up at anywhere from 40 to 120mph and 4 to 6000 rpm, has been acting this way for the last 5 months, usually at highway speeds. purchased from original owner sept 2008 with 84,000 miles on it, don't know if it was an existing problem or not, dealer says it is out of warranty and is not covered. safety issue for speedometer, or other gauges should they fail (fuel, oil pressure etc). *tr

I was driving, going about 55 mph, when i looked down at my speedometer and it showed that i was going about 135mph. now, with the vehicle parked, with the key on, it still shows that i'm going 70 mph. the vehicle has only 34,600 miles on it, and gm says they will repair it free, up to 70,000 miles, which is fine, but they (gm) won't recall these trucks because its not a safety matter. if you are exiting an interstate highway with a sharp turn rated at 35mph and you don't have a working speedometer it could be tragic. just check the internet about if there are recalls of these trucks will show this problem is widespread. thanks *tr

2004 chevy silverado instrument cluster sticks and reads a constant 120+ mph. started to stick at around 75 mph for a month. now is stuck on 120+ mph and will not move even when truck is restarted or flashing computer. *tr

The speedometer in my 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500 has begun intermittently showing speeds that vary widely and do not indicate actual road speed. the speedometer fails to return to zero at rest and has shown speeds more than 40 mph in excess of estimated actual speed. this seems to be a common complaint, although i have not yet contacted a dealer or gm. i believe there are two components to this problem: 1) i cannot rely on the speedometer reading; 2) this could affect the miles shown on the odometer or at least cast doubt on their veracity. the truck presently has just under 42,00 miles on it and has been relatively free of major defects other than recall items. *tr

Speedometer quit working. *tr

Speedometer and tachometer have fails at 35,000 miles in 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500hd. *tr

My 2004 chevy 2500 instrument cluster has issues. on 12-24-07 on a family christmas trip my speedometer stopped working. i received a letter from chevrolet explaining that they would cover this issue for 7 years or 70,000 miles. it seems to me if they know this is an issue why there is no recall for this. after many days of calls to chevrolet customer service they tell me that this is not a safety concern and that there would be no recall issued. now i ask how can this not be a safety concern not knowing the speed you are going? the next issue i have that i also feel is a safety concern is the intermediate steering link. this again has slack and rattles. once again chevrolet states this is not a safety concern but how can you say that a part of the steering assy. is not considered a safety item? *tr

My speedometer is intermittently functioning. gm says that i have too many miles on my vehicle to pay for the repairs. this is a 2004 chevrolet silverado and gm has already extended the warranty on this item for 7 years or 70,000 miles. this is an electronics problem and mileage should not be a factor on it. the mileage has no bearing the electronic functionality of this device. it should be time and time only that dictates the life of this component. *tr

Intermittent and erroneous operation of the speedometer in my 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500 diesel truck. the speedometer frequently indicates the wrong speeds, at time over +100mph. at other times, indicates speeds less than actual or freezes altogether. gm refuses to acknowledge issue or offer to repair. this is a serious safety issue and can result in driving at speeds above or below posted limits. *tr

Tachometer & speedometer failure at low temperatures

2004 silverado 2500 hd abs kicks in at slow speeds. now abs light and brake light are always on and i get dinging sound from warning system with message service brake system. *tr

Taking my son to school and while driving past the high school, i noticed my speedometer was showing me driving over 70 mph. concerned that i was traveling too fast and worried about getting a ticket, i slowed very drasticly to slow down to the posted (during school hours speed limit), causing a near traffic accident from vehicle behind me. mean while, young high school student were distracted while crossing the road because of my abrupt speed change. after slowing down, i notice that while almost stopped, my speedometer was continuing to show speeds over 50mph. this all happened with my milage showing around 85,000 miles. the next day, i recieve a notice from gm saying that the vehicle may experiance speedometer problems and that gm will repair the problem with vehicles less than 70.000 miles. since then i have been to the dealers and have heard price from $750 to $1200 to fix the problem. i have been driving very careful and been waiting for gm to recall all trucks with the problems. i am tried of waiting and feel that i am at risk for not having the proper speed shown. meanwhile, my oil pressure gauge is failing which cause enging alarm to sound and i can no longer trust my fuel gauge because it will show half full when it is completely empty. these are all safety problems in my eyes. *tr

Speedometer and tachometer have both failed. with the key off it reads 4200rpm and over 120mph chevy knows of this problem and wont cover it because i have over 70,000 miles. but they know the problem is there and i would think not knowing your speed is a safety issue. it will cost me over $400.00 to fix this and i think chevy should be responsible for this cost. *tr

The speedometer works intermittently and i found myself going faster than the speedometer registered. going around a turn i was forced into the other lane of traffic do to the excessive speed. *jb

The speedometer in my 2004 silverado has started to malfunction. it does not show the speed of the truck on any consistent basis. it will start out at 30 mph and increase correctly then reset it self 60 mph andthe lowest point. it is dangerous. i researched several online discussion boards and there are many complaints out there. my dealership wants $600 dollars to replace the instrument cluster and the truck will not be drivable for at least a week while a new cluster is programmed with my mileage at the factory. this lends itself to many people not wanting to get the cluster fixed and leading to safety issues. *tr

Electrical malfunction/instrument panel. *tr

The gauge cluster, including speedometer, failed at 70,000 miles. nhtsa has received numerous complaints about this model. general motors will not replace the gauge cluster after the warranty expires, even though this is clearly a design problem as evidenced by the thousands of complaints. *kb

I have a 2004 chevrolet 2500 crewcab pickup. some where between 80,000 and 90,000 the speedometer began giving false readings. sometimes it appears to work correctly, sometimes not at all and yet other times it is clearly giving an incorrect reading. *tr

Speedometer working erratically. stays on zero, or reads lower than correct speed. it started working sporadically about 2 months ago, sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. current mileage 38290. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500. while driving 65 mph he placed the cigarette lighter in the ash-tray. next, smoke was expelled from the cigarette lighter housing. he pulled over to the side of the road to inspect the vehicle. upon inspection, he saw flames underneath of the hood near the fuse box. the fire department extinguished the flames. a police report was filed. the vehicle was towed to a collision center. the cause of failure has not been determined. the failure and current mileages were unknown. the vin was unavailable.

Tl* - the contact owns a 2004 c2500 chevrolet pickup. the contact stated that the speedometer hadn't been working for at least six months. the speedometer was stuck at 25 mph, even though the odometer was registering the mileage correctly. the problem originated in the instrument cluster. the vehicle was part of a construction company's fleet which included chevrolet pick-up trucks from 2003 - 2005. seven out of the 40 trucks have had problems with the speedometer failing. the contact stated that weather was not a factor in the failure. the failure mileage was 50,000 and the current mileage was 85,118.*ak consumer states a 20% failure rate on speedometer sticking. update *4/23/07 tr

The speedometer of my 04 chevy truck is not functioning correctly. it stays on 0, goes up way over the speed i am traveling and then sticks at various speeds. i have seen at least 100+ complaints on various google sites. most noticeably this one. http://www.topix.net/forum/autos/chevrolet-avalanche/tji11lgm9554merna/p3#lastpost.*jb

I have a 2004 silverado 2500hd(c/k) with 51,000+ miles. this problem has been occurring for several weeks and just started as i was driving the vehicle on the highway. the speedometer operates erratically by showing various speeds such as 80 mph while i am driving 25 mph or shown 120 mph while i am stopped. at time it might work properly but then jump to 60 mph while i am driving 20 or while i am sitting still. my dealer is well aware of this problem and will repair it for $580.00 i continue to drive using the tachometer to gauge my speeds and speed controls to maintain speeds while in mountainous or hilly terrain. *jb

2004 silverado truck speedometer malfunctioned. *jb