Occasionally after starting our 1999 Alero (with only 12,100 miles) the radio will not work; on more occasions the radio and power windows will not work; most often, the radio and windows won't work AND the dash board instrument panel is completely dark. In spite of all the above, the car will run! Our temporary fix is to hit the dash board with a fist (only above the the instrument pod). Any suggestions before I go to a repair shop.

 

sounds like a bad icm. in a pre 2000 gm vehichle the radio is mostly seperate, it only has a few feed wires from the pcm, but no major data sharing, that started in 2000. sorry.. i used to work trim/electrical for gm

 

hey guys if he smacks the dash, could it be a loose connection? or maybe a bad ground?

 

^ yeah but good luck finding that

 

check power at the right hand instrument panel fuse block for power windows when this happens if none replace the ignition swicth.let me know

 

check for loose harnesses, that was a problem in my 2000 ch#vy