Volt meter gauge not reading correctly

[Bigred81]

I’m finally getting some time to fix fix some random stuff on my suburban. It’s a 1999 k1500, 5.7 liter, 4WD with just under 250,000 miles. It runs flawlessly. No aftermarket electronics. For three of four years the volt gauge on the dash has always read very low. I’ve checked battery voltage countless times. It’s never been below 12v. Question. Does the stock volt meter get a reading from a specific area? Cables are good and solid with no corrosion. Grounds too. The picture shown is actually a decent reading it’s usually in the red. Is it just the motor for the needle in the cluster?

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[kennythewelder]

I’m finally getting some time to fix fix some random stuff on my suburban. It’s a 1999 k1500, 5.7 liter, 4WD with just under 250,000 miles. It runs flawlessly. No aftermarket electronics. For three of four years the volt gauge on the dash has always read very low. I’ve checked battery voltage countless times. It’s never been below 12v. Question. Does the stock volt meter get a reading from a specific area? Cables are good and solid with no corrosion. Grounds too. The picture shown is actually a decent reading it’s usually in the red. Is it just the motor for the needle in the cluster?

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Could be the steeper motor. Also could be the needle is off. What the highest it reads at say 2500 RPMs with no extra electronics on including headlights? If the needle is just reading low, you can pill it off with a plastic fork and reposition it to read correctly. At night with the headlights on, the Ac running, my electric fans running, stereo going with my 800 watt amp, mine will dip about that low, but as soon as I take off and the RPMs come up, it will be around 12 to 14 volts.

 

[Frank Enstein]

Carefully cleaning the connector between the cluster and the wiring harness did wonders for my truck. You can read voltage at the harness connector behind the cluster vs. what you read at the battery to determine if it's a connection or the gauge itself.

 

[Bigred81]

Thanks guys. Took both of what you said to add in to trouble shooting. The voltage shown is basically highest I see and with all electronics and as much possible drag on electrical system I can it goes about three marks down. I’m leaning towards the stepper motor being crap. Or dirty connector, which I never though about. I replaced the stepper motor for voltage gauge and was surprised how easy I was to do.

 

[DonYukon]

Litteraly ran into the same concern the other day with my 98 . I have a digital one in my center console that reads the correct one