2000 Chevy Cavalier Gauges Don’t Work

Have a 2000 Chevy Cavalier. The factor stereo got stolen and now the gauges don’t work, such as speedomoter, tac, gas, and temperature gauges along with the sun roof. it is a z24, and when Im in park Idling everything works. just as soon as I get down the road it reads “error” in the odometer, I bought a clip from a Chevy dealer to hook up and after market stereo, thinking it might solve the problem, but no dice…. It comes on and plays fine just like everything else does when im in park and Idleing but as soon as I get down the road everything cuts out.. By the way everything else works fine and runs great.. Please help.

Boy that sounds like a tough one. You could have a multitude of different things causing that problem. You might want to start by looking for broken or cut wiring in the dash from when the factory stereo was stolen. Otherwise, you could be looking at a ground issue, other wiring problems, the cluster shorting out, etc.

Ya I heard about that, just a ground being off could be an issue, and also maybe just unplugging the BCM, and then plugging back in? What I don’t understand, is that it the gauges work fine, in park,and I also for got to mension that when I press the brake the stereo just cutts out and then comes back on and the same with the gauges.

That really sounds like some sort of back-feeding issue with the wiring. Yes, a ground being off or loose, or just partially connected can cause this sort of problem. Unplugging the BCM and plugging it back in probably won’t change anything unless you have a bad connection there. I concentrate in the area of the theft first, and go from there.

Is there an anti-theft situation that I need address, such as recalibration, or reprogramming the computer of sum sort? Im getting these questions just from what I read up on, I have no Idea, so that s why I ask.. I really appreciate the help…

The only anti-theft is the factory Passlock system which is part of the ignition housing. I really doubt that is causing your issue here, otherwise the car wouldn’t start.

Ok I can rule that out… Ok, so I put a after market stereo, and the gauges were doing this prior to the reconnection of the kenwood stereo, and the wiring from the dash were cut. So I found a 2000 Z24 just like it and found the harness with the exact same # of wires and color coated exactly the same, I reconnected securely, and went to a Chevy dealer, like I said and bought a harness that would connect to the one I had found, hooked up the stereo and it came on fine, all the speakers worked. So being the problem occurred before that, I can assume that where ever that harness leds to there could be damage? And If so, where does it lead to and how can get to it? Or any other tips?

That’s where the fun world of wiring tracing comes into play. To really find a problem, you have to trace the entire dash harness until you find the problem. This may require removal of the entire dash assembly, and much more. Not fun, but probably has to be done.

Some tips would be to start easy. Check the battery connections, check all the grounds under the hood and at the fuse boxes. Look for any corrosion of wiring connectors or attachment points. Try and pull or yank on every harness you can grab to see if you get it to act up to try and locate the problem area.

LoL well I had half of it off today, so whats the other half right!

Good luck with your repairs.

Well a bad ground is what would seem to the reasonable explanation, considering everything works fine until I get the rpms up or while Im Idling and shift into gear the stereo cuts out, that sounds like a ground issue. Well thanks alot I just need to rule out anti theft. Thanks.