Well I took the truck down to my buddy who is a mechanic after work because he has the really nice GM service books. On my way down, no dash lights/functions. I slammed it a few times with my hand, but still nothing.
So we started reading through and of course everything said hook it up to a computer. It also showed the steps to remove the dash and dashboard cluster. The dealer already told me I needed a new cluster and it would be about $1800. Please note thats the same dealer who said I needed some tranny sensor to fix my service 4wd light which came on 3 times a day and hasn't come on in 2 months since being there. So I'm not hustling back up there just yet.
I found out that taking the dash apart, at least the section I needed to get to, takes about 2 minutes while being careful. I unscrewed the four 7mm bolts holding the gauges in, dropped the wheel, put the truck in 1st, and that was it.
With everything apart and the connector still plugged into the cluster, I started the truck up....still nothing. So i wiggled the connector a bit and the dash came alive.
We pulled out the cluster/gauge section to see if there were any solders cracked or missing, but everything looked good.
I kind of think the connector is the problem since when I wiggled it, I got power to the dash. All of the wires in the connector seem tight, but I wasn't 100% confident all the wires and tabs are fine. We figured it cant hurt to add some electrical grease to the holes in the connector so that when its plugged in maybe that will help any loose wires from moving and loosing connection.
If this doesn't work I guess I am going to replace either the connector/harness myself or the whole damn cluster.
