Intermittent stops

[dboy]

My 2001 Tahoe has had the instrument cluster problem a few months. Sometimes a lot of warning lights, light up. I have tried to clean grounding points and resoldered instrument.

Today I suffered through a 1hour stop and later a 30min stop in rush hour traffic. The second at a red light with lines building up. No fun.

is it possible to rule out an instrument cluster fault by disconnecting it and running the car without it?
Is it safe for the car electrically. (I understand that I can’t see any warning lights, of course)

 

[OR VietVet]

A tenant of mine has a 2003 Suburban that the cluster was acting up, he did not share how, but the dealer told him $900 to fix. His son went and found a year newer cluster at a salvage yard. He installed and all was ok but the mileage was not the same. He still has his old cluster and I am trying to pry the Suburban out of his wife's hands and get that old cluster. There is a tech locally that fixes them.

 

[dboy]

Would it damage the car to start it and run it without the cluster?
I would like to find out if the culprit is the cluster,or somewhere else in the car.

 

[Sasquatch]

Running with no cluster is fine. I ran mine for a few days without one when my rebuilt unit was being shipped back to me.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Would it damage the car to start it and run it without the cluster?
I would like to find out if the culprit is the cluster,or somewhere else in the car.

No problem. Use your phone GPS for a speedo so you don't get pulled over. A ticket is the only possible damage from driving with no cluster.