Cluster Removal on a 1999 GMC Sierra 1500 (new body style)

As I stated when I announced that I bought the 1999 GMC Sierra 1500 LS, this truck was owned by a pipeline company that works in the western US.  That turned out to be significant in the fact that I didn't think about where these types of vehicles probably spent much of their time.  Now I know that they spend a great deal of time on dirty, dusty roads probably in the middle of nowhere.  Even though the drive train seems to have been well taken care of, the rest of the vehicle needed quite a bit of TLC.  I actually didn't buy it directly from the pipeline company.  I bought it from a guy who had purchased it from the pipeline company.  Not sure how long he had it, but he obviously didn't care much about it other than keeping it running well.

I can't complain too much though, I got it for a fair price and it really does run great and everything on it works.

Since it was out on dirt roads much of the time, dust got everywhere.  The instrument cluster had a nice layer of fine dust covering the inside of the bezel and on the gauges.

Removal of the cluster is actually quite simple.  If you have a repair manual, I'm sure that they cover how to do it in there.  I bought a Haynes manual at my local auto parts place.  It tells you how to remove the cluster in there.  Only problem is that the pictures are small, black and white and very low resolution.  Hopefully the color pictures I will add here can help you out if you need to remove your cluster for any reason.

Here is how you do it: First off, you need to remove the bezel that covers all of the components of the dash. These first couple of pics show you what comes off. It's pretty simple, it just clips on the truck, no screws to remove or find. 

Somewhere around the edge of this bezel, you just need to grab hold of it and pull towards you.  I would suggest doing it a bit gingerly, don't get overly aggressive with it.  It you are careful, it should come out fairly easy.  To make getting it out easier, you need to do a couple of things.  First, tilt the steering wheel down as far as it will go.  Second, if you have an automatic transmission, shift the gear selector all the way down to the lowest gear.  You have to put the key in the ignition and turn it to be able to move the selector.  I would suggest that you disconnect the battery so you don't short anything out while removing the cluster.  Better to be safe than sorry.  As you are moving the bezel away from the dash, you have to manipulate it a bit to get it to clear the hazard light button, but it will get past it with no problem.

Once you have the bezel off, you can work on removing the cluster.  There are four 7mm bolt/screws that hold the cluster in place.  They are located one at each corner of the cluster.  Here are some pictures showing where, with the cluster in and out.

This picture shows the cluster still in place, couldn't get a picture with the cluster in showing all four screw locations, there is one in the lower right corner not visible.



This picture shows the cluster removed and the locations of the screws:


Once you have the cluster loose, you need to pull it out a bit and remove the wiring harness from the top of the cluster.  It can be a little sticky, just take your time and don't force it.  There are a couple of clips that lock it into place that you have to squeeze to release it from the receptacle.

I thought that I got a picture of the wiring harness, but apparently I didn't.  I did take a picture of the receptacle for the harness on the top of the cluster, here it is:


These last pics are of the clips that hold the clear plastic lens over the actual cluster.

These two are on the bottom of the cluster, if you're not sure, you can see two small black tabs sticking out from white square shapes.  (I normally draw lines pointing to what I'm describing, but my photo hosting site changed the way they do things and I haven't figured it out yet.)


This picture is of the top of the cluster and the four tabs that hold the clear plastic cover on the cluster.  They look like the bottom tabs:


Once you get the cluster opened up, you can clean it however you like.  Just be careful around the gauge needles.  If you're going to use some type of liquid cleaner, don't spray it directly on the cluster, spray it on a rag first and then wipe down the cluster.

Once you have cleaned or repaired your cluster, installation is reverse of removal.  

Hope this helps.  Good Luck. 

Instrument Cluster removal on an E34 BMW

This will probably be my last post concerning the two E34 BMW's I've owned and written about here. My Mom just turned 86 recently and decided that she doesn't want to drive any longer. She had a ten year old car that only had 26K miles on it that was in really good shape. She gave it to me, hence I no longer need the 95 525i that I've owned for the past four years.

The 95 BMW's registration was up for renewal, so I needed to get it smogged. These old BMW's can put you through the wringer when you try to smog them. I did what I had to do last time I smogged this car, new air filter, new plugs and fresh oil change. Took it down to the Smog Test place after driving it hard on the freeway for about 30 minutes to get it nice and warm. The Smog guy got to it in about 10 minutes, but it failed. Didn't know it at the time, but the "Check Engine" light was not working. In California, that is an automatic fail even if you pass the rest of the test, which I didn't.

On my way home from the Smog Test, I decided to just get rid of the car. I had a much nicer, newer vehicle to use and really didn't care what I could get for it. I called around to some local wrecking yards and got someone to give me $500 sight unseen. This was on a Friday afternoon. I then started thinking about this buddy of mine who enjoys working on cars and is quite a good mechanic. I talked to him at Church on Sunday and he said he would buy it for $500.

He picked up the car this morning.

Before I handed it off to him, I decided to go ahead and at least change out the bulb for the "Check Engine" light. I figured while I was in there that I might as well replace the Gear Shift indicator light in the dash that burned out a while ago. I had some of the bulbs for the dash for over a year.

So, this post is mainly to give you some extra photos to look at above and beyond what the Bentley manual shows (their photos aren't always the best quality).

If you came here looking for a complete "how to" on how to remove your cluster, you won't find it here. The Bentley manual has excellent instructions on how to do this. I'm just enhancing the procedure a bit with some color pictures that are clearer. If you don't have a Bentley manual, I would suggest buying one.

If you look in the Bentley manual under Instrument cluster, removing and installing (Section 620-2) it gives you the step by step for removing it.

To remove the cluster, you have to remove the drivers air bag and the steering wheel. The air bag removal instructions are in section 721 and the steering removal instructions are in section 320 of the Bentley.

Just make sure you disconnect the battery before you attempt any of this.

These pictures added below should help you during the process:

Once you have the battery disconnected, you need to remove the air bag. You need to unplug the connector under the steering wheel column to do that. The picture in the Bentley isn't real clear. In this picture, the yellow arrow points to that connector. It has orange on it as stated in the manual. I took the air bag out of the 93 525i I had and the plug seemed to be a bit different that the 95 525i. As long as it had ORANGE on it, that will be the right plug. If you remove the plug denoted in the picture with the green arrow before the air bag plug it makes the entire process easier.




Once you have those plugs disconnected, you are ready to remove the air bag. Just follow the instructions in the Bentley. My air bag used the T27 Torx to remove it.

Once the air bag is free from the steering wheel, you need to remove the plugs attaching it to the steering wheel. It's fairly simple to figure out what you need to do at this point.

With the air bag completely removed from the steering wheel, you can remove the steering wheel. Again follow the instructions in the Bentley.

With the steering wheel gone, the cluster comes out fairly easy. Follow the instructions to get the cluster out. Make sure that you cover the steering column with a towel or thick rag. I did, but didn't secure it as well as I should have and it fell off. While I was working on the cluster, with the towel gone, I ended up scratching the bezel to the cluster.

This next series of pictures show the cluster coming out.

This one shows the cluster still attached to the cables. The four green lines show the location of the plugs that plug into the back of the cluster:




This picture shows the cluster removed and the four cables that were plugged into the cluster (see green lines):



This pic shows the cluster out of the car. The picture is the back of the cluster. If you look at the plug sockets, you can see a small black lever to the left of each plug except for the second from the left. Those levers release the plug from the socket. This car is 17 years old and those levers are made of plastic. I tried my best to gently manipulate those levers, all but the one worked fine, the other one broke even though I was trying to do it as gently as possible.



These last two pictures show the location of the bulbs that I needed to replace. The first one is the "Check Engine" light, as you can see, there was no bulb there, that's why it wasn't working. The second pic is where the Gear Shift indicator light bulb is located.



Installation is reverse of removal. Just remember that you need to plug in those two plugs under the steering wheel. If you have any questions, leave me a comment or email me. Good Luck!