2003 Chevy Cavalier dash lights flicker....

[Dennis Peacock]

My son has a nice 2003 Cavalier that is his first car. He noticed last night on the way home from work that his dash light were "flickering". Not going on and off but dimming and going back to normal brightness....pulsing I guess I would call it. His headlights don't do it and his interior light doesn't do it. So what could be causing this behavior?

[William Adams]

Had a similar problem w/ my 1999.

Dealer said it was a faulty ground connection.

[Mike Lassiter]

My son has a nice 2003 Cavalier that is his first car. He noticed last night on the way home from work that his dash light were "flickering". Not going on and off but dimming and going back to normal brightness....pulsing I guess I would call it. His headlights don't do it and his interior light doesn't do it. So what could be causing this behavior?

Dennis I agree with William. Grounds cause all sort of strange problems. I who guess that if there are gauges in the dash you could also see them fluctuate with the lights flickering. Some common grounds often located under dash by the fusebox. You might have to pull the cluster to locate others that often are located behind it on the upper firewall. Remove all wires and clean terminals and if going against painted metal you should either have a star washer that will bite both sides and cut through the paint to base metal or sand paint away. Also check the wiring harnesses where they plug into the instrument cluster. Sometimes poor connection there cause problems. I have cured issues in the past by disconnecting wiring connectors and reconnecting them.

[Art Mann]

I agree with the comments on loose grounding. Also, on the old non electronic instrument clusters, you had a variable resistor (pot) that controlled the brightness of the cluster lamps. When you adjust the brightness with a thumb wheel or knob, you are actually adjusting that pot. Sometimes the wiper contact on the pot will get dirty and cause flickering. That is just another easy thing to check. If that is the case, spray contact cleaner will fix it right up.

[Dennis Peacock]

OK, excellent tips and pointers.!!! I'll get with my son and see what we can find out. Thank You.! Much appreciated.

[Tom Stenzel]

The Saturn Ions from around that time were notorious for having loose ground connections under the dashboard, although the Chevy they were closest to was the Cobalt.

My '97 Saturn had a problem with the dash and radio lights flickering, turned out to be a loose connection at the battery. The car started and ran OK and that threw me off. I thought it was the alternator starting to go kaput.

-Tom