The dash ***'y in my 2000 Jimmy 2DR is heat warped and cracked. It is out of the car while I am doing a heater core replacement. This is the ideal time to replace the dash assembly as a whole. I have a line on a 1999 4DR Blazer dash. I read that both dash's are the same. My question is, will the wiring harness's interchange or will I have to swap out the harnesses too? What else am I missing?


And correct me if the 1999 Blazer dash will not fit at all.

 

Instrument panel uses the same part number from 1998 through 2005, 2WD or 4WD doesn't matter. Wire harnesses may have changed slightly over the years, so you might have to transfer some stuff over. For example: If one has manual HVAC, and the other has Automatic Climate Control, you'll need to swap some stuff.

 

I just swapped mine out today (had to replace that stupid electronic part that controls heat/cold). Donor was a 2001 2 door/non zr2/4x4 and went into a 1998 4 door/4x4. Only stuff I needed to change was some of the trim pieces only because mine were nicer and the adapters for the aftermarket head unit. (Both had same style heater controls). I ended up with donor-dash assembly with passenger side air bag/wiring&vacuum harnesses/lower dash part with e-brake release/4x4 switch (mine had a burnt out light for 4hi) and original cluster/front cluster trim/speaker grills/defroster grill/fuse cover/glove box/black underside trims/heater controls/radio/wiper switch/switches that sense if front doors are open.

Edit: I do remember having to switch wiring harnesses though when I did a dash swap in the uncles/shop truck 97 s10 2wd pickup and the donor was from a 4x4 4 door blazer (also a 1997)

 

Thanks guys. I picked up the dash last night. Got to checking the differences, There were a few: 1) the auto headlight sensor on my 2000 Jimmy is in the RH speaker grill, on the '99 Blazer it is in the defroster vent. Not a big deal. 2) The '99 had auto temp control, so there is a sensor in the dash vents that mine doesn't have. Again, no biggie. 3) there were 4 screws securing the dash under the defroster vent on my Jimmy, The Blazer had only 2. But the holes are there, so good there. 4) The pass side bulkhead connector on the '99 was missing at least 1 pin that mine has. I didn't bother trying to determine what it was for. Decided to just swap out the harness. I'm in the middle of that now.


Why is it that both vehicles had courtesy light switches for the passenger door, but neither had any wiring to go to it? I find it strange that they would have installed the switch.

 

Harnesses are swapped. I found another rather strange difference. The passenger side airbag connectors are different. The '99 Blazer airbag does not fit the 2000 Jimmy harness. Fortunately, the pins inside the connector are the same, So I changed housings and all is better. I was worried for a bit because the connector has a shorting device that shorts the airbag wires when disconnected to prevent static from accidentally blowing the charge.

Just be forewarned if you try this at home.



Nunya, You didn't run into this?

 

I decided that there must have been a change in the airbag in 2000 that was an improvement. Maybe safer, maybe. Certainly not just a cost reduction. It may also be that there may be some incompatibility with the deployment computer and I might end up with a fault. Not certain, but possible. In light of that, I swapped out the airbags so now I have the 2000 airbag and dash harness in the '99 dash which will go into my 200 Jimmy.

 

That's odd, like I said I only switched stuff due to cosmetic conditions and it was a grab bag mix. Now I did take the steering column and gauge cluster out of the donor 01 blazer and put it in my cousins 99 Sonoma (2wd 5 speed 4 cylinder). Cluster swapped 0 problems (even really close to the same mileage-within a couple hundred. Wanted the tachometer) but the column had to have almost everything changed over. But now the Sonoma has tilt...

 

Complete! I changed out the dash unit as an assembly. Had to swap the passenger airbag and harness as mentioned. I might have gotten away with using the '99 harness but there were some differences so I took the safe way out and swapped them while I was there. Wouldn't want to do this a 2nd time just for that.

While I was in there I put in a new multifunction switch as the cruise didn't work (yes I tested the switch first). Still didn't after installation. I traced it to the brake switch. I removed it and instead of replacing it, I opened it up and cleaned the contacts from filth and out. As a side benefit, the TCC now works much better too. It was occasionally hunting lock-unlock-lock. Sometimes it worked just fine.

I also replaced the heat damaged and broken sun visors. I had to do some fishing to find the wiring connectors. The '99 parts car had the 2nd visor system that required my center retainer to be changed too.

Slowly, with the help from this board, this little Jimmy is coming together.