2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500: wrong fuel gauge reading

Filed Mar 13, 2014 · Electrical · 82,000 miles · MI

In light of the recent information concerning gm's intentional withholding of problems with the ignition switch in certain gm vehicles, I feel compelled to share my story. I do see other complaints filed here concerning the same issue. In october 2003, I purchased a new 2003 chevrolet avalanche 1500. The vehicle had 5,500 demo miles on the odometer. I drove many miles for work and for transporting hockey kids to practice, games, tournaments, etc. In december 2006 I already had 80,000+ miles on the vehicle and the speedometer, gas gauge (causing me to run out of gas in the middle of the night!), oil gauge, battery voltmeter, rpms, which are all components of an electrical cluster began failing. I contacted my gm dealer and was told that a 'silent recall' had been issued to dealers stating that if a vehicle with less than 3 years and under 70,000 miles was brought in, the dealer should fix the item as a warranty repair. Since my vehicle was 2 mos over the 3 yr and over the 70,000 miles, I was denied a warranty repair and quoted $700.00 to fix the part. Since that date, my son's chevrolet vehicle had the same problem! And, in 2009 a friend's brand new denali with less than 10,000 miles had the same problem. I have never fixed the problem due to cost and disagreement with gm. I wrote the corporate office and got nowhere. I don't see how a safety issue like this can be allowed to continue to happen nor how gm can know about the problem but not tell owners of the vehicle and/or future possible buyers of the vehicle. Oh wait, yea gm doesn't say anything because consumers might take their business elsewhere! I simply wanted to gm to fix the problem, that was obviously known about, but rather, gm simply keeps putting the same bad component in future vehicles!!

Filed Mar 5, 2010 · Electrical · 110,000 miles · MA

Speedometer on 2003 chevrolet avalanche not working, stuck at 120mph. I consider this a safety issue. Other cluster gauges -- tachometer and fuel gauge -- have also failed. Complete cluster needs to be replaced. Gm will not correct problem because it is out of warranty. There was a tsb issued by gm to repair the cluster. However, the tsb only requires gm to repair vehicles (at their expense) with less than 70k miles. My vehicle has over 110 miles. Is this problem any less of a safety issue for me than it is for those with less than 70k miles? Gm is charging $500 to repair the most important instrument in the car. Speedometer failure is clearly a safety issue that should be corrected. The vehicle?s mileage should not be a determining factor as to whether gm or the owner have to pay for the repair. A speedometer should last for the expected life of the vehicle, not just 70k miles.

Filed Oct 26, 2007 · Electrical · NM

Faulty speedometer and gas gauge.

Filed Jun 3, 2007 · Electrical, Fuel system · 40,000 miles · OH

2003 chevy avalanche speedometer fails. Fuel gauge fails. No way to know how fast you are going. Don't know how much fuel is in vehicle. Have to reset system numerous times throughout the year. Dealer quoted $700.00 plus to fix. Problem started soon after warranty expired. Too many failure instances to recall accurately.

Filed Dec 26, 2006 · Electrical · 89,000 miles · VA

Speedometer and fuel gauges not functioning correctly.