# Gauges/Cluster, Turn Signals, Airbags, Traction Control, TPMS All not working



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

So my wife just called me as she is leaving work and something has managed to entirely **** itself up on the car. This morning as she went through one of the roundabouts on the way to work (so not right when she started the car), all of a sudden the Airbag light and Traction control lights both lit up and gave her "Service Airbag" and "Service Traction Control" messages on the DIC. Then they went away shortly thereafter and the rest of the drive in was uneventful.

Coming out of work, and putting the key to on should have given her the light for the glow plugs, but it did not, and starting the car - none of her gauges work. The fuel gauge is sitting at zero, neither the analog tach or speedo work, the digital speedo doesn't work, and all the DIC tripodometer and fuel economy readouts are dashes. The only thing working is the odometer. Her turn signals don't even work, nor the radio, or her heated seats. It has lit up the Traction Control and Airbag lights again and gave her "Service" messages on the DIC for the Airbag, Traction Control, TPMS, Parking System, and maybe one other I'm forgetting in a slight rage. The car starts and drives, but she has absolutely zero readouts. Her HVAC is working (again, not the seat heaters) - who knows if the brake lights are working.

Any idea what in the **** is going on? I'm pulling the battery cable the second she gets home.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Negative battery cable maybe?

My Volvo did similar things when the ignition switch wasn't exactly in the right position.


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## TDCruze (Sep 26, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> Negative battery cable maybe?
> 
> My Volvo did similar things when the ignition switch wasn't exactly in the right position.


Exactly what I was thinking.

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-g...al-coverage-14311-negative-battery-cable.html


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

I'd check grounds and fuses first as well as voltage. Possibly a BCM issue, could also be a bad/corroded battery cable.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I'm hoping it's the negative cable, since that is covered. We're going out in a few minutes to try a few things. I'll try wiggling the **** out of it and see if it comes and goes (with my wife inside). And if not, I'll pull the negative cable for a bit.

I have to imagine since it came, but only partially, this morning and then went away, and then came back full force...just feels like that should be a cable issue. But who knows.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

All right, so considering its dark and then decided to start sleeting (when it was in the high 50s earlier today), I didn't go too crazy - but I tried wiggling the 35,000 grounds right there by the battery while my wife sat inside the car (with the ignition switched to on) to see if any of the cables caused it to all of a sudden work. No luck there. So I pulled the negative cable off for about 15-20 seconds and put it back on. Still nothing.

I had a seat inside and worked the key so I could see first hand. The one message I didn't remember from the first time was Service Anti-Theft Deterrent System, that was there earlier. Now, she did not mention the Service Power Steering one I saw just now, so whether or not it was there when she left work, I'm not sure - but she didn't have any issues with the power steering. I did see the glow plug light come on, but also then would watch the whole cluster go dark, and then come back on with the messages (like it reset itself, almost), but still no gauge readings.

When you turn the ignition to on, when it normally does the gauge sweeps, you can see the gauges wanting to move, but they don't, almost like they're stuck on their lowest point (0 rpm, 0 mph, Empty, Cold). I was able to get the radio to work just fine by turning it on with the power button, but it was not on by default. Turn signals DO work _outside_ the car, but absolutely no indication inside other than where the stalk is at.

No CEL. TC off, Stabilitrack off and Airbag off lights are all on. 

Guess we'll be taking my Cavalier tomorrow, because you know 18 year old cars with 255,000 miles should be more reliable than your 3 year old 55,000 mile car...nothing I love more than having the new car parked in front of the house because it's broken again. If this isn't something that is fixed under some kind of warranty, that'll be strike two towards us buying a new car again.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

Chris Tobin said:


> I'd check grounds and fuses first as well as voltage. Possibly a BCM issue, could also be a bad/corroded battery cable.


That's too many modules to all fail together. I agree with Chris Tobin. What's the voltage at the battery terminals with a volt meter with the engine off after 30 minutes. Less than 12.6 charge battery. What's the voltage on the multimeter after your wife cranks the car to start. 

May want to also disconnect the battery from the car and have it load tested. 

I'm guessing on a voltage drop issue. If there's a voltage drop issue it could be causing the modules to shutdown. Blinkers though? Kind of surprised that they would be controlled by the Body Control Module, but I guess it's possible with todays design. 

I'd be checking for power and voltage drops before assuming it's module failures.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

TDCruze said:


> Exactly what I was thinking.
> 
> http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-g...al-coverage-14311-negative-battery-cable.html


It's as good a place to look as any, but I don't know if that bulletin applies to the diesel. What's been posted here doesn't indicate what VINs are involved.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

With the engine running measure the voltage between the negative terminal at the battery, and the other end of the negative wire that attaches to the ground point at the frame. If there's a high voltage reported on the meter this means there's high voltage drop between these two points, or high resistance in the wire. 

I realize this is a diesel and not a 1.4l, but I'm safely assuming that the negative battery cable goes off the battery to the front frame for a connection and is easily accessible. 

You can also measure the resistance of the wire with the engine off. The resistance of my 1.4L wire is about 0.3 ohms. That's low enough for me to confirm the connection is tight.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Since it was dark and starting to snow, I wasn't going to be able to get under the car (in the street), but maybe I'll have some time tomorrow before it is dark, but I'm not sure about that.

The turn signals do work - but you just cannot tell inside the car, as the indicators don't show up on the cluster, and I don't think the sound played through the speakers.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

MP81 said:


> Since it was dark and starting to snow, I wasn't going to be able to get under the car (in the street), but maybe I'll have some time tomorrow before it is dark, but I'm not sure about that.
> 
> The turn signals do work - but you just cannot tell inside the car, as the indicators don't show up on the cluster, and I don't think the sound played through the speakers.


Did you do the simple things and check fuses and such yet?


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Chris Tobin said:


> Did you do the simple things and check fuses and such yet?


I was going to, but the sleet picked up and my wife was cold, haha.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

MP81 said:


> I was going to, but the sleet picked up and my wife was cold, haha.


10-4 I understand that... I'd go over all of those simple things before getting too worked up about it. Have you ever had the dash apart on the car where a connection would be loose?

I'd honestly lean toward a ground/voltage/corrosion issue as the #1 possibility, with a blown fuse a very close second then the BCM going bad a distant 3rd...


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Yep, I'll probably handle that when we get home from work tomorrow. 

Nope, never had the dash apart. 

I'm thinking something along the same lines, which would be great.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Chris Tobin said:


> 10-4 I understand that... I'd go over all of those simple things before getting too worked up about it. Have you ever had the dash apart on the car where a connection would be loose?
> 
> I'd honestly lean toward a ground/voltage/corrosion issue as the #1 possibility, with a blown fuse a very close second then the BCM going bad a distant 3rd...



After taking my gauges out a few times, the blue connector and harness don't just wiggle their way free. Other items I can't speak for.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Chris Tobin said:


> I'd honestly lean toward a ground/voltage/corrosion issue as the #1 possibility, with a blown fuse a very close second then the BCM going bad a distant 3rd...


Since this is a 2014, I'd put a bad battery in at #2 or higher. Lots of strange electrical issues when the battery fails at it's job of smoothing out the power from the alternator. Three years on the factory battery seems to be about the norm on the Cruze. I know other diesel owners have changed batteries already.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

ChevyGuy said:


> Since this is a 2014, I'd put a bad battery in at #2 or higher. Lots of strange electrical issues when the battery fails at it's job of smoothing out the power from the alternator. Three years on the factory battery seems to be about the norm on the Cruze. I know other diesel owners have changed batteries already.


Wouldn't that cause starting issues as well, though?


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

All right. So I did a voltage test on the battery, having it sit overnight and through today, and it showed 12.7 Volts. Testing between the negative terminal and the grounds right nearby, I had nearly 0 resistance, but I did not test them all, since they're all right there. I started pulling a bunch of interesting fuses (things relating to the ECM, BCM, etc) and all looked good.

Anyway, I figured I'd look inside and see if it was still an issue and to my surprise, it was working - though it had a message telling me to open the driver's window all the way and then close it completely. Did that, that message went away, and all seemed to be good. So I actually took that car to go get my headers welded (O2 bungs), figured that would be a good test drive to make sure it was all good.

It must've gone off and on probably 70-80 (or more times). It really seemed to heavily favor when I would be braking coming up to a light (or slowing down for the typical slow person in front of me), and during medium-speed turns (roundabouts, but not necessarily turns in a subdivision). Rarely did it turn off and on when I was sitting still at a light, if at all. It DOES turn off the HVAC (though the radio would stay on), it would sometimes turn on various lights, but not always the same thing, and sometimes you would get the DIC messages, sometimes not - depending on how long the cluster was "off", and every time it would do that, it would turn off the rear defrost as well (and since it was snowing on the way back, I had to keep turning the **** thing back on). Had one time it was real bad where it did it probably 5 or six times, and it would "freeze" the turn signal indicator on, and off. 

The car drives totally fine, seems to be completely ignorant of the issues going on inside the car, but holy **** is it crazy. It will be sitting in front of the house again, and my wife and I will carpool once again.

Trying to determine what I want to do next.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

MP81 said:


> Wouldn't that cause starting issues as well, though?


Depends on how it fails. If it's opening up while driving, the results could be pretty entertaining. The Cruze is a big computer and the battery is the main filter cap.




MP81 said:


> though it had a message telling me to open the driver's window all the way and then close it completely.


Standard message if the battery has been disconnected. If you didn't disconnect it, then you need to find out what's opening up. Keep in mind that whatever it is can test fine one moment and fail another. I'd check the voltage on the battery ground cable with the car running - and wiggle it to make sure it doesn't change.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Yeah, it probably was one of the fuses I pulled to check. Oddly, it did not do that last night when I actually disconnected the negative cable.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Since this is a diesel I can only speculate.
Does the negative cable go directly to the engine block with no ground flags attached to the body?
If it is a straight run to the block, loosen and retighten that lug at the block.
If it is a straight run, there is another ground cable from block to subframe or body.....again, check, loosen, tighten.

Because this happens on turns or changes in throttle position, when the engine is rocking about on its mounts, it is clear there is a grounding interuption.........One of the many ground points.

Rob


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

There appears to be about 10 different ground cables to the core support right by the battery. 

So, I did speculate perhaps it was from engine rock - but it did not really do it when I would accelerate. Also, I put the car in neutral before I began braking like I would to come up to a light, and it still did it, all while at idle speed. So that rules out the engine rocking.

And it seemed to favor going out on left turns rather than right turns. But that could be because there, somehow, seem to be mostly left turns there and back.

Also something I forgot to mention, when I got home and turned the car off, everything turned off inside - no accessory delay like normal. I turned it back to accessory and on and there weren't any issues. Odd...


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Overall the issue is this: we're going to the other side of the state next Friday. 

I'm starting to think it's probably just worth taking it to the dealer so that the car can be fixed in time for our trip (which cannot be rescheduled). I'm not driving the Cavalier that far. I suppose I can rent a car, but I'd rather not - especially since usually with rentals we could not take our dog.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

Merc6 said:


> After taking my gauges out a few times, the blue connector and harness don't just wiggle their way free. Other items I can't speak for.


I spent a little time last night reading the online chiltons service manuals around the instrument cluster, and some of the issues your seeing. What do you mean by "taking my gauges out a few times". Have you ever removed the instrument cluster for anything? What is the blue connector you mention? I'd remove any auxillary gauges that maybe interfacing with the Instrument Cluster, and see if the instrument cluster will communicate and lock with the BCM as designed. 

In diagnosing the instrument cluster there's two things that came to mind. 

The first step is if the gauges don't do their initial power up sweep, then replace the cluster. While this could be testing the mechanical motors, it could also be some sort of test of the electronic control board. From your message above these needles are dead so maybe there is a cluster problem. Problem is the cluster must be programmed, and it doesn't look like there's an easy way for a home driveway test.


Both the BCM and the IPC (Instrument panel Cluster) store the Vehicle VIN. If the handshake doesn't occur the readouts in the instrument panel go to horizontal lines. My understanding this is the first attempt. If it happens again it goes into full "lockdown brick mode" The only way to unbrick it is through the GM SDS system. This must have taken the place of the Tech 2 that many of us are familiar with. They have gotten pretty sophisticated in programming to prevent someone from putting a low mileage junkyard cluster in a high mileage car.

The BCM module is behind the map pocket on the passenger side foot well. It appears to be up fairly high in that compartment. I think the only thing you can check is the connectors themselves, without a scan tool.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Nah, cluster has never been out - at least by my hand. The fact it comes and goes is what's weird. If the cluster were bad, it should be dead all the time - and if its intermittent, it should happen randomly, rather than during specific maneuvers. 

But ultimately, it's seeming like it is past what I can really test (it's cold out, so sitting out there with my multimeter isn't really something I'm wanting to do; and I definitely don't have one of the nice expensive scan tools). I guess I'll be calling the dealer - I just hope that I can drop it off real soon...I don't really have time to wait a week for them to have time to look at it. I'm just hoping it is something that is covered under some kind of warranty/TSB/etc. I can't in good conscience pay for a repair to an integral part of the vehicle (if it is, say, the BCM) when it only has about 56k miles.


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

MP81 said:


> Guess we'll be taking my Cavalier tomorrow, *because you know 18 year old cars with 255,000 miles should be more reliable than your 3 year old 55,000 mile car...*nothing I love more than having the new car parked in front of the house because it's broken again. If this isn't something that is fixed under some kind of warranty, that'll be strike two towards us buying a new car again.


Ayyyyyyy now you know how I feel and why I regret selling my Pontiac Grand Am with 172k on it!

and why I won't be buying GM again...


Renting a car with a pet is a good idea if you have a good vacuum cleaner.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

This would not deter me in the least from buying GM again - I have had four myself, and my wife has had four (one of each being the same car that I took over when she got her Cruze), and all have been great. This is just something that has recently happened.

Now, what it may deter me from is buying a new vehicle. If I buy a used car and have something similar happen, at least I don't have to get upset that it should be covered under warranty because it's still relatively new, but isn't. 

And yes, I do - but I have a pure white Husky - so the hair will get in places I may not even think to clean...or even can see.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Given the range of symptoms, I'm going to go with either power or something jamming the computer bus. Anything plugged into the OBDII port? 

It wouldn't be the instrument panel, unless it was jamming the bus as well.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

ChevyGuy said:


> Anything plugged into the OBDII port?


Nope, it's clear.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Will be dropping the car off Monday after work for them to look at Tuesday morning.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

Hopefully it is something simple and easy for them to diagnose. If it is not covered under warranty I hope it is something that you can repair/replace yourself...


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Chris Tobin said:


> Hopefully it is something simple and easy for them to diagnose. If it is not covered under warranty I hope it is something that you can repair/replace yourself...


I'm hoping so - or if I have them do it, it's cheap. Just from a timing perspective, it may be the only choice.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Car is dropped off - of _course_ it wasn't having this problem when my wife drove it to the dealer today. The dealer tech has a '14 and had his negative cable replaced due to funky issues, so he was thinking it might be the culprit as well.


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## yz85608 (Dec 29, 2014)

OP, I'm having the same issue with my 13 Eco. I replaced the negative battery ground cable and It ran fine for 2 weeks. Until this past weekend. My car also blows fuses to the infotainment screen when this starts to happen. I've noticied it goes south when it starts raining. I will be intrested to here what the dealer says is wrong with yours. For what it's work mine has 107K, and the blind spot monitoring and backup camera havent worked for the past 50K.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

If it is the negative battery cable, couldn't you connect a jumper cable from the negative terminal of the battery to the bolt connection on the radiator support. Carefully of course, so that you don't create sparks. 

That should make the ground connection stable, and if it's the problem cure things in the short term. 

This is a little easier to do with the gas models that have the extra space in the battery tray due to a small battery installed. I remember reading this was done by another member so I don't take credit for the idea. 

Not responsible if you damage yourself or your car, but adding a temporary ground shouldn't cause any problems, just be careful with the placement of the clamps. I'm not sure you will be able to get the hood to fully close. I guess it depends on the size of your clamps.

For the gas model this battery cable is in the Rockauto Catalog for under $25.00. I may just fix it, rather than have to take it in.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Car didn't give the dealer any problems either, of course, but they still contacted GM, who told them that even though the negative cable has been replaced before, to go ahead and replace it again, because sometimes the issues come back on cars even though they've had it replaced prior. So that was free. The only thing we have to pay is $60 for the inspection of the service side detection, which it appears has a bad module again. 

Being that was almost $700 to replace with labor, I declined that (I can do it on my own later for a lot cheaper), but the car should be ready later today. Here's to hoping the negative cable solves it - or it just mysteriously went away as randomly as it appeared. We'll see, I suppose. 

I just spent the past half a week or so driving my wife to work and back, and she will now be doing the same for me thanks to the rain this morning, so let's hope it's good!


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

So the car has been working fine up until today (well, apparently, Thursday afternoon - my wife decided not to tell me until yesterday afternoon...), and now the radio screen refuses to turn on - and the controls underneath the screen don't work. _However_, all audio functions work fine, and can be controlled through the steering wheel (or by plugging in our USB drive) - can change source, song/station, raise/lower volume, etc - but cannot see what I'm doing. Also, this means she can't see her backup camera.

Also, apparently...she decided not to tell me that it did this previous issue again earlier in the week - but only prior to starting the car, and then it was fine. I'm wondering, though, if she just saw the Side Detection Sensor service warning (which is an ongoing issue) and got a little confused thinking the problem was back.

Well, regardless, now the screen doesn't work. Seems like as of late, this car is having a bit of an issue working properly inside. Runs and drives just fine, though.

Maybe I need to pull the battery cable or the fuse and try to reset it?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

MP81 said:


> Maybe I need to pull the battery cable or the fuse and try to reset it?


That's something I'd definitely try. You might try starting your car at night when you can see if the backlight comes on. (The screen won't show anything, but you could tell by the faint glow that it did power up.

This does bring up a question of what the backlight is. I'd hope it is LED, but it might be a florescent light. That was the standard before LED backlighting.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I couldn't find the fuse for the MyLink Screen - any ideas?

It was doing the old **** of the cluster not providing readings again, but that would go away once the car was started.

It appears the backup sensors now don't work - likely related to the blind spot sensors not working. 

My wife said it didn't do anything this morning (other than the screen not working), but I'm getting kind of sick of this **** not working on a car that is only nearly 3 years old now.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

I can't help but think that it is related to the original problem and that the dealer did not actually find or fix anything...

Look for a loose/corroded ground under the dash and through the engine bay...


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Chris Tobin said:


> I can't help but think that it is related to the original problem and that the dealer did not actually find or fix anything...
> 
> Look for a loose/corroded ground under the dash and through the engine bay...


That's my thought. The fact it wasn't doing it when we brought it to the dealer (of course) meant they weren't able to troubleshoot the problem. 

I had a look yesterday and it didn't appear like any of the grounds were bad. If they are, I should be able to give it a tug and have it replicate. Thus far, I haven't been able to do that.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Would probably help if I wasn't an idiot. I forgot about the second fuse panel in the lower IP. 7.5A "Infotainment/Screen" fuse is totally blown. I'm so happy they included 0 extra fuses like the used to (or at least I didn't see any underhood or in the IP fuse panel). If the cluster starts its **** again, this will be where I go to next.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Looks like the new fuse blew immediately. 

Also, the cluster bullshit is back again. I pulled the cluster fuse and every single BCM fuse inside the car, and that did nothing. None were bad. Giving me all the error messages, needles won't do their sweep, and then I had the cluster turn off and "restart" and go through the lights again. 

The only thing that works is the odometer, and it doesn't appear to be updating when the rest of the cluster isn't' working correctly.

Thinking of just bringing the car up to the dealer while it is doing this. I'm not waiting for an appointment, I'm sick of this ****. Especially now that I know there's something up with the screen if it's constantly blowing fuses.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Car is at the dealer, and luckily this time, it didn't fix itself prior to getting into it. Thing was lit up like a Christmas tree for two of the tech advisors in the service bay. So much so they actually went and got the tech who will be working on it, so he could see it first hand too. Now everyone knows we're not crazy.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Update: Our dealer was able to get the car in this morning (I think once they all saw how crazy this was for themselves it went from "Maybe not until Monday" to "We'll try tomorrow morning", haha) and they figured it all out - and the blown MyLink screen fuse was what really helped them diagnose it.

They tracked that fuse, and the related harnesses - all the way to the back of the vehicle. What is in the back of the car that is absolutely notorious for failing, and currently was not working on our car?

The side detection sensors. They unplugged both, and boom - screen works, cluster works, no module failure error messages - everything is normal. Both sensors had failed, the harness connections had corroded and shorted - and were causing _all_ these problems all the way back up inside the car.

~$170 for their labor to diagnose (and a few fuses that were blown during it), they are going to disconnect the sensors and tie up the harness out of the way (replacing the harness and both sensors would probably be over $1500 - I could care less about them for that, and our tech adviser definitely felt the same way) and the car works great. 

Gave us both a good laugh!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

That's...crazy. I never would have suspected they were all on the same circuit.


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

So is your car's odometer off then?

Wow, that is something else. I'm with J on that too, never would have guessed that one.

Talk about a headache. Glad it's fixed though.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I'll check when we get to the dealer, but I'm suspecting it simply wasn't updating from the BCM due to the issue - I'm thinking it should jump ahead the 25 or so miles that was put on it after the cluster stopped when my wife was leaving work yesterday. 

Absolutely crazy though, I'd have never thought!

Though, on the Cobalts if you converted to an LED 3rd brake light without maintain the proper resistance - your cruise control would stop working, haha.

These side detection sensors/harness should really have extended coverage on them...


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Got the invoice, little more info on there.

So the right side detection module shorted internally, causing the data line to go down, while the left side corroded at the connector, causing the fuse to blow. 

I'm glad they were able to take a look at it right away this morning, picked the car up on our way home from work!


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