OBD II display units anyone??

Soooo the oil pressure gauge on my '03 Silverado threw up over the weekend joining the inoperable temp gauge and speedometer as reminders of GM's troublesome electrical reputation.

From reading Chevy forums the dashboard cluster and/or stepper motors for the dash gauges are known to go bad. I am not interested in spending $$$ for the new cluster or the time involved to replace the stepper motors since I am probably going to trade it in later this year after the mileage crosses the 200K barrier. I was occasionally using my GPS for speed, but got to thinking if I could plug into the OBD socket and have it display the speed, engine temp and oil pressure I'd have my display back and also be able to use it for diagnosing the other vehicles too (new toyol). And since I am lazy (I burn coal rather than wood) it'd be much much easier than tearing apart the dash too!

I am looking at ProScan and ScanTool. Anybody have any experience with either of these or another one they've used?

For about $5 each, you can solder on new stepper motors and it will work like new. I've done it to mine. Even have a couple extra stepper motors laying around.

I never worked on circuit boards before either. I bought a de-soldering iron (pretty much required) and a low watt soldering iron. Once I got the cluster apart, it took under 5 minutes to fix a gauge. There are some pretty good write-ups on the net about it. Need to make sure you get the needles back on in the right position, that's the trickiest part. Total time was maybe a half hour. It really is pretty simple.

I fixed mine about 60K miles ago, still works perfect.

Even easier way around this is to just grab an old school set of 2, 3, or 4 gauges, mount them to the dash somewhere of your choosing, and wire or plumb them direct to the engine. Those gauges will then become the most reliable system on your truck.

I already have an Actron Scan unit ($70). So Yes, I have used it on my '04 GMC when the dash acts up. Only give MPH, coolant temps, tach.

Since you viewed the GM forums. Why not spend $100+ shipping too have a tech on Ebay or the dude in TX rebuild the dash just a bit more that my cost for scan tool.

SMITTY wrote:Even easier way around this is to just grab an old school set of 2, 3, or 4 gauges, mount them to the dash somewhere of your choosing, and wire or plumb them direct to the engine.

Hard to beat a good set of old school gauges, But if you want to be lazy, that's an awefull lot of work and time to install!!

Just as much work pulling the cluster and de-soldering the stepper motors. I personally would rather install the old school gauges. Would take me an hour tops to do all 3.

SMITTY wrote: Would take me an hour tops to do all 3.

Even on one of these new vehicles where you can't even see the motor cause of all the hoses and electrical junk!

Popping the gauge cluster out on these newer chevys really is easy. Half the dash snapps together. The rest is about 6 screws.

Well....
since i have 190k miles on this now and will probably be upgrading to the next work truck in 10 - 15 k miles....

and since 5 seconds to plug in takes less time than anything suggested so far....

and i wouldn't mind having something like proscan to help diagnose issues and to play with on the other vehicles .....

I am still leaning toward the scanner software.

Although if i decide to trade in the '87 Ford truck and keep this Chevy then the stepper motors or the old school gauges definitely come into play. I like the 4.8 v8 in the Chevy and the body, interior is in great shape, but the peripheral issues with it have been more trouble than the old Ford has been. That 4.9 straight 6 in the F150 along with the manual transmission make it quite the beast.

SMITTY going old school. 0 – 120, no overdrive, I’ll bet there isn’t even an air bag on that steering wheel. Hey what’s that little round thing on the floor by the parking brake?
It reminds me of my grandmas Sunday go to church car.

That's the way cars should be. Even has FLOOR vents AND crank vent windows. Can have a breeze blowing through the car on a rainy day while staying totally dry. Should have never sold that car.

oppirs wrote:Since you viewed the GM forums. Why not spend $100+ shipping too have a tech on Ebay or the dude in TX rebuild the dash just a bit more that my cost for scan tool.

no way its worth the $$ or time to me to take it out, box it up, ship it off and then re-install it.... if i'm going to spend the $$ I at least get the use of it on more than just this truck.

I've been driving without the temp for about 6 years and without the speedometer for about a year. I'm getting pretty good at judging speed via rpm's - haven't got a speeding ticket yet!

Losing the oil pressure gauge was the tipping point but only to the degree of thinking about the scanner software.

Ultragauge here also. I love seeing rpm and mph in digital readout. Also monitor voltage, timing, mpg, and what ever else your vehicle manufacturer chooses to put in the OBD port. I think my 12 year old vehicle has 30 some gauges, the newer 2010 one has over 50 gauges available.

titleist1 wrote:

oppirs wrote:Since you viewed the GM forums. Why not spend $100+ shipping too have a tech on Ebay or the dude in TX rebuild the dash just a bit more that my cost for scan tool.

no way its worth the $$ or time to me to take it out, box it up, ship it off and then re-install it.... if i'm going to spend the $$ I at least get the use of it on more than just this truck.

I've been driving without the temp for about 6 years and without the speedometer for about a year. I'm getting pretty good at judging speed via rpm's - haven't got a speeding ticket yet!

Losing the oil pressure gauge was the tipping point but only to the degree of thinking about the scanner software.

Like me w/o gauges. Lost pup.

I do recommend a scantool. Ease of mine knowing a few gauges work!

I should have also said i have rebuilt dash gauges before. Friend at work had a 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup. Dash would go out, gauges might work if you banged on the dash or if it was warm out. It got worse so he took the dash out, i ordered up all the electrolytic capacitors and replaced them. It was better but then started acting up again. Took the dash out 1 more time and i started looking at all the solder connections with a 8x loupe and could see they were all cracked near a few large 40 pin i.c's. Resoldered most everything and it was fixed like new. They skimp on the solder because lead cost money. Newer vehicles i am sure have lead free which is even worse because it grows tin whiskers and shorts things out.