8.0

pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$400
Average Mileage:
73,950 miles
Total Complaints:
65 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. not sure (56 reports)
  2. change dashboard gauge (2 reports)
  3. pull out 4th fuse from the top on left side which is a10 amp (2 reports)
  4. remove neg. battery cable wait 30 sec then replace (2 reports)
  5. buy a another car (1 reports)
  6. purchase new stepper motor (1 reports)
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« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #45

Aug 052011

Cavalier

  • Automatic transmission
  • 26,000 miles

I helped my granddaughter get a 2005 cavalier with only 26000 miles on it. It was owned by a friend of mine who seldom went anywhere. She told us the gas gauge was not working but everything else was fine. I know she was truthful. My granddaughter got this car and was making payments on it three months before she got her license. Finally the big day came and she drove her car to work. The second day she drove it, the speedometer and the temp gauges quit working. Due to her inexperience, her mom was afraid to let her drive it the third day so she took her to work. My granddaughter is crushed. She now has no money left and no car to drive. After reading the complaints, I am crushed. Shame on Chevrolet! I am so glad I purchased a new foreign car last year. It was the first time I had not bought a Chevrolet. No wonder everyone is leaving the cheaply made American cars.

- Hannah S., Shallotte, NC, US

problem #44

May 102010

Cavalier 2.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 65,000 miles

For a year now I have slowly been losing my gauges in my 2005 Chevy Cavalier. First it was the speedometer stopped working. Then the gas gauge needle kept jumping over into the temp gauge interlocking and causing neither to work properly. Now neither work at all. At least for approx 6 months I had the tachometer to kind-of judge my speed by. Now that has gone out completely also. My odometer will jump back and forth from the mileage to ERROR with all dash warning lights going off and on at random. Changing fuses only fixes the odometer dash warning lights temporarily. They still jump back and forth to ERROR. Now I cant even get my car to pass SMOG test due to FUNCTIONAL CHECK FAIL. Emission Test passed. WHY WONT CHEVY OWN UP AND DO A RECALL AND TAKE CARE OF THIS PROBLEM !!! I feel that not knowing the speed of your vehicle is a danger in itself.

- wicked_em, Rialto, CA, US

problem #43

Feb 062010

Cavalier

  • Automatic transmission
  • 50,500 miles

Seeing that we all are having same gauge issues with this vehicle we should all write letters to Chevy demanding a recall and that they fix this. I could not figure out what the hell was wrong with my car. I am so glad I did not try to get this fixed and pay for nothing. I will surely try some of the suggestions posted. Someone also told me that they got their computer reset and that helped, not sure after reading all these post if I even want to try that. Think I will just deal with this issue until I dump the car on the next dealership.

- cabanissoh, Cleveland, OH, US

problem #42

May 152009

Cavalier 2.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 121,325 miles

MY INSTRUMENT GAUGES HAVE GONE HAYWIRE, DON'T KNOW WHAT SPEED I'M GOING OR HOW MUCH GAS IN THE VEHICLE, AND FROM WHAT I'M READING FIXING IT WITH A NEW GAGE WOULD ONLY HELP TEMPORARILY.CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY GM HAS NOT RECALLED THIS VEHICLE WITH ALL THE COMPLAINTS. SOMEONE NEEDS TO START A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT.

- Judy H., Paynesville, WV, US

problem #41

Oct 102010

Cavalier

  • Automatic transmission
  • 30,000 miles

The temp gauge is faulty - it runs into the speedometer and stops the speedometer at 10 miles an hour. Dealership says they have never heard of any problems with the gauges. they want to replace the whole instrument panel for upwards of $700. I have found that when engine is cold and the gauge is up, if I turn the ignition on/off quickly I can drop the reading on the gauge. This takes 2-3 times to drop gauge.I need a real SOLUTION BEFORE MY IGNITION GOES!!!

- Steve B., Erie, PA, US

problem #40

Oct 112008

Cavalier

  • Automatic transmission
  • 65,000 miles

The gas gauge was first to go in 2005. I bought this car almost brand new, it had 25000 miles on it. 3 years went by and I learned to just fill up once a week or keep an eye on the trip odometer. Then all of the sudden in the middle of driving from New York to Alabama, the speedometer stopped! For a while if I turned off the engine and toggled the starter a little the gauges would reset and would stay fine. It would only happen on long drives. Now, ALL of the gauges are broken, the windshield wipers act like they're having seizures, and even if I manually reset the gauges, they are stuck within a mile. GM NEEDS to issue a recall before somebody gets killed! This is a common problem among Cavaliers... for the love of GOD DO NOT BUY this model!!

- Katie B., Rochester, NY, US

problem #39

Feb 012011

Cavalier 2.2L

  • Manual transmission
  • 80,000 miles

My husband went to the fuses after seeing the complaint and solution of another person who put his complaint in Auto Beef. Upon pulling some of the fuses the wires inside weren't broke but the ends that plug in were burnt in every one.

After changing ALL of the fuses since they all had burnt ends, the rpm and speedometer gauges work off and on and I am still not sure they work properly. The temperature and gas gauges seem to be working fine. We have not taken the car to a dealer to have the instrument panel replaced since reading the complaints, it didn't seem to help anyone else for very long. I don't want to be ripped off so I am with anyone else who decides to comlain to Chevrolet or whoever it takes to get this problem solved.

- nansel, Crescent Valley, NV, US

problem #38

Oct 202010

Cavalier LS

  • Automatic transmission
  • 19,234 miles

all my gauges are pointing to the right off the scale , no code an be found when teted

- Janet L., Dayton, OH, US

problem #37

Sep 092009

Cavalier 2.5L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 75,000 miles

Temperature speedometer gauges on my 2005 cavalier goes haywire. Temperature gauge moves to the red position. The mechanic says the car is NOT overheating. I have the thermostat,temperature sensor,coolant flush, and cooling fan relay. The cooling fan relay has been replaced numerous times.The cooling fan motor was just replaced this week. After all the parts, the gauges are still going haywire. The temperature gauge got stuck with the speedometer and I couldn't tell how fast I was going. One time the speedometer read 50 when I was stopped at a stop sign. Another time the speedometer read over 110 while driving under normal driving conditions. Still another time it read 80 while parked. I think GM should have all these cavaliers recalled to correct the problem starting with 2003-2011. They should do more testing for these problems before selling more cavaliers. They should also reimburse all their customers who has done any repairs on these cars for this problem. I would NOT advise anyone looking for a new vehicle to buy any Chevrolet cavaliers.

- Joyce P., McHenry, IL, US

problem #36

Mar 172010

Cavalier 2.5L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 75,000 miles

This problem has been a reoccurring problem for quite some time. It seems to be worse in the winter weather. When the temp gauge doesn't drop back down, I will just disconnect the neg. battery cable wait 30 sec and their reattach the cable. This re sets the computer. The same thing when the speedometer acts up. With the speedometer you can sometimes shut the car off. put it in park start the car backup then drive in reverse and the problem is corrected. Hope this info will help some of your problems.

- treece, Osceola, IN, US

problem #35

Dec 152010

Cavalier LX 2.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 130,000 miles

Temp gauge going up up up, sometimes back down. Car not overheating. Took to Mechanic, did a flush and fill and stated nothing else wrong with cooling system. Going to just do monthly maintenance/supervision and just live with it. Guess will guess on speed when temp needle blocks speedometer.

Never buy GM cars, will stick to Japanese. Gov't can keep GM, sell their crap to the Venezuelans.

- Frank G., Chicago, IL, US

problem #34

Dec 032010

Cavalier LX

  • Automatic transmission
  • 61,000 miles

my odometer, gas gauge and speedometer quit working. the gas gauge stays on empty, which i have learned to live with. i fill up about every six days to make sure i don't run out of gas. the odometer was the first to quit, but i can live with that. i do regular maintenance on the car. the worst is the speedometer. going too slow can be as potentially as dangerous as going too fast. not to mention the cost of a possible speeding ticket. i can't believe there isn't a recall on this as many problems as have been reported. this will be may last of many chevy's that i have bought over the years.

- Judy S., Georgetown, IN, US

problem #33

Aug 192009

Cavalier LS 2.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 29,980 miles

speedometer haywire need steeper motor called hayes Chevrolet in baldwin ga. they cant sell me the part to fix it. another fine gm product. had to buy a tom tom to use as a speedometer or pay gm dealer about 500 dollars to fix their faulty system that they design

- randallpayne, Clarkesville, GA, US

problem #32

Dec 012010

Cavalier LS 2.2

  • Automatic transmission
  • 93,000 miles

We haven't even had this 2005 Cavalier LS a year and we noticed a couple months after we bought it that the odometer was not showing up correctly, didn't really think too much of it. Now the speedometer gauge gets stuck at 100 mph and lately the gauges are just going haywire and the car is jerking, running like crap, not to mention the cruise works when it wants to. I would think this is a safety issue since you kinda need to know how fast your going, especially in this western NY Blizzard weather. All these complaints and nothing's being done, doesn't seem right.. come on someone man up and do the recall.

- Mike M., Frewsburg, NY, US

problem #31

Nov 122010

Cavalier Z24 2.2

  • Automatic transmission
  • 105,633 miles

Faulty fuel and temp gauges, the fuel gauge will randomly read well over or under the amount of fuel in the car. At some points it will read almost 2 tanks by pushing the needle into the temp gauge.

Temp gauge reads under operating temp all the time and will shoot up to overheating once in awhile.

- itotalit, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

problem #30

Oct 082010

Cavalier LS 2.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 53,000 miles

First of all there were problems when I purchased the car brand new. Now the gauges. I loved my first cavalier but the new one really sucks. The gauges are going out now. When I shut off the car the temp gauge stays at 195 and when I drive it goes beyond 290. This is nuts. I took it in and they want $500 to fix it and I am told it isn't covered under the extended warranty. Go figure. I will never purchase another Chevy. We have always owned Chevy's, however, with the experience that I have had with this one I know their quality has gone to hell.

- cyfry, Fremont, NE, US

problem #29

Oct 012010

Cavalier 2.0L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 123,000 miles

the cluster step motors for the gauges are bad. have to take the speedometer dash cluster out and replace the old bad cluster step motors out ( C 5.168--C15.168 ) and replace them with new ones(X25.168) .my gauge was the temp gauge it went all the way into the speedometer 10mpr.and got hung on the speedometer needle. years 2003,2004,2005,2006 gm just issed a tech notice never did issue a recall.on the list of cars,trucks suv listed at http://gm-stepper-motors.weebly.com.

i ordered 1 step motor for 2.95 plus shipping 9.95 total 12.90 .

- mickey4965, Hazard, KY, US

problem #28

Nov 202009

Cavalier 2.2L 4 cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 55,000 miles

The fuel gauge on my dad's cav is not registering anything at all. It is all the way at the bottom past the blocking post. Im honestly surprised that the speedometer gauge hasn't been effected yet. The check gauges light comes on constantly. The low coolant light comes on all the time but upon checking the coolant levels, hoses and bottle and all of that, nothing appears to be wrong.

When he got this car I was excited because it has a sporty look to it, and at first had amazing throttle response. Now it is the biggest piece of crap i have ever seen. I thought it was isolated to me but now the more research I do, I find that its a problem with a lot more people. When will chevy realize that they need to suck it up, do a recall and keep their customers safe. I can honestly say, after this whole cav problem I will never buy a GM.

- Brendon F., Layton, UT, US

problem #27

Dec 012009

Cavalier

  • Automatic transmission
  • 160,000 miles

Speedometer gone haywire,

Temp gauge shows car is running hot but isn't

RPM's acting funny.

Windows go up and down slow...already had them looked at. Problem electrical.

Cruise Control kicks in on its own

- Christy R., San Antonio, TX, US

problem #26

Aug 252008

Cavalier Sport 2.2L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 95,000 miles

Since I have had my 2005 Chevy Cavalier I absolutely love it, except for the problem with the gauges and the air conditioning. I have spent well over 2500.00 on fixing these problems with this car. Now the cooling fan has gone and not to mention that the cable that switches the car from drive to park broke last week. I bought this car thinking that I was getting something reliable and have got nothing but a reliable headache that come about every two weeks or it seems. I guess the next thin to do is sell it to someone else.

- Sarah A., Miami Gardens, FL, US

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