On our way home from our vacation we were driving what we thought was 65mph in a 60mph but it just felt like we were maybe doing 40mph tops...so my husband pulled over and stopped and the speedometer went down to 20mph....we weren't sure if it was just having a glitch and would be fine after we started driving again...well we realized when it was close to 120mph and we were going maybe 65-70mph there was a problem so we pulled over to a gas station and when my husband turned the car off and back on I noticed the gauge dropped so after about 6 times of turning the car off and on the gauge went back to 0 and we continued on our way and haven't had any problems since...but after seeing all these other post I have a feeling that won't be the last time it gives us problems.

My temperature gauge overextended clockwise past the maximum temp thresh hold until the needle was pointing directly right (toward psgr).

The tip of the needle, being stuck in that position, physically blocked the speedometer needle from going any higher than 10 mph. Eventually the speedometer just failed, the temperature gauge still continued to not work, and approximately 1 month after that the gas gauge failed as well (that needle is all over the place). The only gauge in the cluster that is working is the tachometer. My car has low mileage and has been taken excellent care of- this defect that occurred and as I have read, has occurred with many 2004 Chevy Cavaliers, should be a priority and good customer service, for GM to do a recall for this problem-it is also now a danger for me to drive any distance. Very upset and I will be contacting GM about a recall.

Update from Mar 3, 2011: Temperature gauge, speedometer stuck and windshield wiper on passenger side quit working and then the drivers side quit working. My car has less than 20,000 miles and been very well taken care of. I have never owned a vehicle that has had these problems and with the low mileage, this should not even be a issue. GM is in neglect by not issuing a recall on these problems. I have read countless complaints of the same problems with 2004 Chevy Cavaliers.

I have a 2004 Chevy Cavalier and the Tachometer, Speedometer and Temperature Gauges all have gone haywire. I bought an extended warranty with the vehicle, but of course the dealer told me that the problem is not covered under warranty. What is the sense in buying a warranty if you can't use it. $2000 down the drain! Now I have to spend another 400-500 dollars on a gauge cluster. How many middle class working americans have that kind of money to pull out of their pocket? I am so sick of GM vehicles and will not buy another one. I will buy a Honda or Ford before I buy another GM product. I agree with everyone else here that GM needs to recall these vehicles and fix the problem for us. Sincerely,

One less GM customer in this world!

My girlfriend and I have the same year 2004 cavalier. Mine is a 4 door, hers is a 2. I was actually leaving of friend of mines home when the gas, odometer, every gauge wnet hay- wire. I treid doing different things like turning the engine off and letting it sit.Well that worked for about 15 minutes or so. When i finally had enough and called my dealership and was innfromed there was not a recall. Shortly after that my girlfriend mentioned that she was having the same problem Now I never turn my heater, aircondtioner on as that seems to start it. Plus I try not to go so far at night as when I have my night lights on they are very dim and the panel lights up again. And i also got pulled over by a state trooper telling me my license plate light was out.. So the next MORNING I started the car and the light was working. I am really shocked that Chevy has not done anything about this.

The Tachometer went out on my Wife's 04 cavalier a year ago and I never bothered with it because she never used the gauge. However this week the speedometer went out and now we have a real problem. I took it to a shop and they said the entire instrument cluster is bad. After resetting the thing the Tachometer is still broken the Speedometer works half the time and now the gas gauge registers 1/4 over full. Called the Chevy dealership and its gonna cost $550 to replace the instrument cluster. This is unbelievable they already have recalls on most of their other instrument panels for the trucks and SUV's.

My gas gauge hasn't worked properly for a year. Now the temperature gauge in my car is going crazy. The dial started going past the normal mark. But it did not overheat and there was no steam coming from the engine. I took it to the shop ready to have the radiator replaced. I was lucky I had an honest mechanic. He told me he pressure tested it and drove it but could not find any leaks. He also said, "I don't see any reason for me to take your money today. Keep an eye on it for a couple of weeks, if theres any more problems bring it back."

I have more than one problem but it started with the gas gauge. One day I filled up my tank and I noticed that the indicator pointer went way past the full mark. It interfered with the temperature gauge working properly. Very infrequently it would seem to work correctly at all. I know about how many miles I can go on a tank of gas, so every time I fill up I set the trip mileage dial back to zero. That lets me know when I need to put in gas. I've read a lot of complaints about the gauges on this model. Chevy needs to do a recall. I want to buy American, but I may re-think that on my next vehicle.

I see from the other complaints that I am not alone. At first my speedometer started acting funny. saying i was going 20 when i ws going 40 or read 110 when iwas going 60. And if is cold outside it just froze altogether. Then my temperature gauge went out the needle just sits straight down. Now yesterday my gas gauge reads I have an extemely full tank.The needle is so far to the right that it is in the temperature gauge. Why would this not be a recall?? Is there some way to make chevy fix this problem? I am a single mom and can not afford a $700 car repair.

My wife reported this issue to me after she had been driving the car for a while with no speedometer. The Odometer seems to work just fine. I took the entire dash apart in about 15 minutes and pulled the original cluster. As it turns out it is connected to vehicle by a single wiring harness and functions only as a readout device. If you go to a dealer the service department will tell you they have to replace it because of the odometer. The truth is that the repair it is no different than changing a broken radio. The vehicle mileage is stored in the cars computer and reported through the gauge cluster. You could plug 50 different gauge clusters in and the mileage would read exactly the same, the only difference between them would be whether or not the needles actually work. GM needs to recall these gauge clusters or make them more available. It is illegal to drive without a speedometer, there are ways to work around the fuel gauge. Let's face it these cars aren't Cadillac but you would expect something as basic as the speedometer to work properly. My suggestion is to find one on ebay or at a junk yard and replace it yourself, it is really not that difficult it is like changing a light bulb.