Hey Guys,
I'm looking for a little input/info as I'm coming up dry online. This issue doesn't actually relate to my Monte, but a friend of mine has the a Monte as well that is his daily driver. Normally he goes to Mechanics for work but since I've been talking about the forum so much lately he has put in a request. LOL

He is having the same issues many of us have had with our gauge clusters and 'sticky' stepper motors. He has a 2005 Ls or LT I can't remember at this moment, but he managed to get his hands on a Instrument Panel from a 2003 Impala.

So, His Current Gauge Cluster in the MC has 6 gauges I believe; Oil Pressure, Voltage, Temp, Speed, Tach and Fuel.

The Cluster he got out of his old Impala only has 4 or 5 Guages I think; Tach, Speed, Temp Gas and maybe Oil Pressure, But don't quote me.

So after acquiring all this info it appears as though this cluster will fit in the dash, however I wasn't able to find any info on the plug/connector or Compatibilty. Will lack of 1 or 2 gauges make a difference in the operation, is the plug different, is this Impala Instrument Panel compatible with the MC interface?

Sorry for not posting this in the electrical section guys, I started typing with the intentions of 1 or 2 sentences and it just got away from me

 

To my knowledge, the clusters are interchangeable.

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind:
- Most people are swapping the "basic" clusters for the SS cluster (has an oil gauge). All the gauges in that swap work, except the oil gauge (I'm not going to say it's "impossible" to make it work, but I believe the answer is in the PCM programming and it's an obscure setting that no one has bothered to "unlock"). In your friend's case, going from a cluster that had more gauges to a simpler cluster, the swap should all work.
- The mileage (or kilometers) is stored in the cluster. This means when he does the swap, unless he got one with close mileage, it's going to be inaccurate. Allegedly a dealer can reprogram them, but it gets complicated (some dealers refuse to touch salvage parts).

If he already has the cluster, swap it out and try it. If it doesn't work, it should not harm anything.

 

Thanks maniac.
He swapped the clusters today with no problems
He isn't too concerned about proper odometer reading as he plans on driving the car until it won't drive anymore

 

Cool. Glad it worked

If he decides he wants to go back to the full cluster, I have a couple for sale in the thread below (the speedo reads both miles and kilometers per hour). I'd just have to get you guys a price for shipping to Canada if he was interested:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/pr...ts-sale-43701/