Greetings,
I've got a 97 Cavalier RS and have been having some issues with the instrument cluster, was hoping maybe someone could help. I've had the car about a year, put a new battery and alternator on back in March. Recently I've been having some wierd things going on with speedo and tach, as well as the gauges and indicator lights. I'm thinking it might be a loose connection/bad bround/short/ or something. Doesn't seem to affect driveability, apart from not knowing how fast I'm going.
It started out as the check gauges and low coolant light coming on, but evrything checks out okay. Then those two lights would come on, and the speedo/tach/gauges would go to either extreme or just freeze and not move. And sometimes the airbag light would come on as well. The other evening the indicator lights on the right side (high beam/DRLs and whatever else) would come on, the transmission indicator light would go out. And this morning the indicator lights would flicker rapidly.
So any idea what it could be? Is there any item in particular that power for the whole panel comes from? Most of the time if I stop and turn of the car, then get going again it clears up, but usually comes back. If the needles are stick at say 70 mph/3000 rpm, that doesn't always work. And if I'm patient enough they generally start working again. I'm just waiting to get pulled over for speeding so I can honestly say I have no idea how fast I was going! I stopped at my daughter's house this morning, when I left they were working then hit a bump and they weren't.
I can't confirm, but it really only seems to happen when the headlights are on. I travel about an hour to work each way, and lately it's dark. I went in to town earlier and while it wasn't that long a drive, the lights were off and no problems. It's a great car, i've put about 20K on it since I bought it, has just over 150K on the odometer. 3 speed auto and gets about 30 mpg which is mostly highway. Not bad at all for a car I paid $450 for (I'm the second owner). In addition to the alternator and battery, I've only had to replace a couple fuel injectors, plugs/wires and tires. I did replace the turn signal/headlight switch, the original was broken. I'd just like to have the dash working properly. If anyone could reccomend some things to check...

Have a Merry Christmas!
Chris

Check the ground wire on the battery box. That is normally the place to check for these problem.

Check the grounds at the starter, there's like 3.