wolver1ne

I have encountered cluster problems with my 91 LS 400, but only my Tach. seems to activate when it wants to.
But my real problem is also a circut board problem and hope maybe some of you can help solve this puzzle as efective /efficiently as possible for I have little expences for this solution...

My climat control,cig. lighter,side view mirrors,radio, rear defroster, and door light(or dome light as you might call it), Just quit for no reason one day. I,ve had it diagnost and was told "Lighter assembly faulty and blowing fuses,this has burned out the climate control, blower motor,and the A/C amplifier. Replacement of these parts along with new ashtray/lighter assembly is needed for repair...."

Sense when does the cigarette lighter need a circut board, and why is it connected to all those highly circetted componants???

Any Ideas anyone?

Thanx...
wolver1ne516@yahoo.com

Lexozz

I haven't read this entire thread, but just last night I noticed that when I turned the instrument lights off on the dash the radio came on in AM, WTF I hope I'm not having electrical problems. Did this strange thning happen to anyone else? Someone pls give me some feedback..Thanks!!!

BruceF

I have a 94 LS400 and the dash exibited "the problem" it is so infamous for. I was quoted $814 for the dash assembly from Lexus of Seattle complete with the correct miles loaded in the dash. This was without installation labor, so we are really talking $1000 here. After reading the threads here I realized that without a true fix for the basic design problem I would be paying big $$$ for eventually the same problem. Lexus has not fixed the problem and after almost 10 years in service those of you that think there will be some kind of forced recall on this problematic dash are a little out of touch.

I located an auction on eBay for an engineering design fix for this dash, not just a repair job but a real fix (not to mention a proper calibration of your fuel gauge which is often way off calibration). I sent my dash to Jim Walker in Fresno, CA (mentioned elsewhere in these threads) and two days later my dash was back in the car working great for $225 including express shipping.. I now have a dash that will not be prone to the initial design flaw (not a put-down, just a fact) and I can go on to other things in my life! The dash is pretty easy to get out of the car ( about 30 min.) and Jim is very good about sending exact instructions for removal and shipping. Don't even think about taking your boards to a TV repair shop. This is not a "cold solder joint" issue as I have heard others suggest.

I would recommend Jim's services to anyone with a 93/94 LS400 that exhibits the cold weather, flickering dash syndrome. You can find his service on eBay.

In the words of that great Nike slogan....JUST DO IT!

I hope this is helpful to those of you with this problem...next...the weak ($120 ea) gas shocks under the hood!

lexusseller

I would like to praise Jim Walker for the wonderful job he did on my cluster. I had the slow moving fuel guage problem that seems fairly common on the LS400. Jim got it working perfectly along with a preemptive repair of the cluster lighting to head off future problems. No hassle, No fuss. It can't get any better than that.

Richie Collins
Carbuffs Inc.

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

WOW, seems like Jim is doing a good job for everyone. I first saw this thread and thought "maybe i can do the same thing over here as i'm doing in the SC forum" and then i saw how Jim has helped everyone. That's great you have an LS specialist onboard. Good job for JIM

Now, can anyone tell me if the LS has always had cathode lighting for backlight, or was it recently converted as early as 98?

Edit: nevermind, it has always had cathodes.

rajah996

Hey guys, I am having some problems with my instrument cluster too.
I posted it in another thread, but didnt get any help. I am having a problem
related to the brake lights. It shows the light saying a brake light is dead.
I changed them all, but the light is still there. Here is where the problem is
though. When I press the brakes, my whole instrument cluster looses
illumination, only to return when I release the brake pedal. Also the reverse
"R" light lights up as if it is a brake light. Any ideas on what this could be?
This is also causing my transmission to shift into neutral when brakes are
applied. Any help would be appreciated since my local lexus dealer, (1 1/2
hours away) cant get me in until next tuesday or so.

-R

LamSV

Hello There,

Add me to this "flickering instrumentation lights" Lexus club!!!!!!

My car is a 1994 LS400. As reported many times in ClubLexus, my front
instrumentation console also does not light up immediately when I start my car
in the morning. It only lights up after about 15 minutes of driving. This is getting bad. Last winter, I had this problem when outside morning temperatures were 40F-60F. Right now in Houston, our morning summer temperatures are 60F-80F. Yet I am also hit with this nuisance.

Yes - I like to know my options:-

1. Repair the boards? Yes I know - ask Jim Walker to repair them. I think this is fairly well documented here. Also Jim's reputation is solid and he has numerous fan mail.

2. Buy new boards and keep the old boards as spares? I like to explore this DIY option too. I am not having much success "PMing" some members on this forum.

So I am getting a little desperate. It is a real nuisance (besides being dangerous) driving with a "blank" console. I really appreciate some ideas from anyone - where I can buy these replacement boards.

Thanks

LamSV (Houston, TX)

burghard

Hi, LamSV!

I bought the OEM replacement boards for my 94 LS from Carson Toyota 800.549.2929 in October 2002 just before Jim Walker came up with the repair. In fact I shipped my defective board to him so that he could work on a solution. I paid $610 which included the programming of my actual mileage (I think that is about 25% discount from list price). The part number is: 83247-5A050-RP and its called the "power source unit" in the repair manual. They were not willing to sell the boards to me without the programming, meaning 0 mileage.

Installation is relatively easy. If you need help let me know and I can give you some information.

Today, I would get the repair from Jim Walker. Its much less expensive and it works.

Burghard

350z

I had my guage cluster fixed by Mikado Engineering in San Francisco for $250. I'm not sure if the fix is guaranteed though.

panos

Only the speedometer operates intermittently for me. Yesterday, it kicked in after two minutes of driving and after that was working fine after multiple stops.

Today I clocked 30 miles, city and freeway and it never came on.

Is there a different remedy for the speedo? The odometer counter works without interruption and the rest of the cluster is fine.

One more thing, the "tail lamp out" light is on but all tail lamps are working.

Thanks!

ukamath

BTW Guys,

I had the same flickering problem / not working on cold days with my dash. I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I decided to fix it myself.

Turns out the problem was a .02 cent capacitor that was bad and although it was surface mount was very easy to fix. You can replace it with a through hole cap available @ rat shack. Talking to other people that fix this they said that there were multiple components but mine turned out just to be one. I tested it down to -20 and it worked just fine. I have a temperature chamber I use to do enviro testing for my business.

The hardest part was figuring out how to turn it on outside the car, which turns out is very simple if you have a 12v adaptor(3A or greater) or battery.

Once you turn it on you can use a can of canned air or freezer spray to identify the component that is bad. When I cooled the capacitor that was bad the display went off.

If I had to do it again I bet I could do it in less than an hour (including removing and putting it back into the car).

I had the speedo going at 160 also(on the bench), wow miles add up pretty quick! I took a picture to scare the wife!.

Pics and Instructions coming soon on my website probably in a week or two when I get time to write it up. You can email me privately if you want to fix yours immediately.

Apparently there is also a fuel guage problem in the cold, mine does not have this problem but when it does I'll put the fix up for this too.

LamSV

Hello ukamath,

Which electrolytic capacitor (EC) did you actually replaced? What is the Cxxx no.? I am very fascinated with your idea of using a freezer spray gun - never thought of this!!! I may experiment using the opposite principle - using a hair dryer to heat up a particular EC to see which one is faulty!!!

What is the year of your LS400?

On my 1994 LS400 Instrument Cluster PSU (power supply unit), I have identified the following electrolytic capacitors. They are big enough to see and hopefully swap out.

Capacitors On the Large PSU Board:

1) C105 820uf, 25v
2) C106 220uf, 25v
3) C107 820uf, 25v
4) C116 10uf, 50v
5) C117 220uf, 25v
6) C127 470uf, 25v
7) C131 100uf, 50v
8) C132 270uf, 25v
9) C133 180uf, 10V

Capacitors On the Small PSU Board:

1) C201 470uf, 25v
2) C205 180uf, 10v
3) C206 470uf, 10v

You mentioned buying ECs from Radio Shack. I ordered mine ($20 with shipping and spares) from Newark (www.newark.com) and chose the low impedance, high frequency and high temperature (105 degC) specifications. I was not certain that hobby shop type ECs would withstand the extreme weather fluctuations that my car would go through over the years.

Appreciate your answer.

Thanks

LamSV

ukamath

Hi,

I have a 93 LS 400

The part that went bad was a 10uf 16v EC cap. Its on the processor or smaller PCB. Reference Des is C212

You have listed a bunch of capacitors but none of them are surface mount ones, this one is surface mount in a silver can and it is on the top left side of the board. next to IC206.

I was so excited I found the problem that I took the part of some old circuit boards I had laying around. You will need an extended temp cap or it'll probably go bad again in 1-2 years. The part is available at radio shack but your right its probably better getting it from somewhere else like newark or digikey.

I thought about replacing all of the caps but I'll just wait and see if I have problems in the future. This cap is very critical because it controls the frequency drive of the inverter which feeds the tubes. When the value goes beyond spec, the part the cap is connected to stops oscillating and the inverters stop working.

-Uday

LamSV

Hello ukamath,

Yes - I did see this silver EC (C212) on the small PSU board when I opened up the Instrument Cluster 3 weeks ago. I ignored it probably because it was surface mounted - since I did not want to mess around with surface mount components.

I am very excited about your discovery - since I have not actually replaced any ECs (Newark has not delivered yet). I may want to zoom in on C212 first. Again thanks ukamath, I may just add C212 into my purchase order.

How did you replaced C212 (surface mount) with through holes? Are you willing to write up a simple procedure so that all ClubLexus members (inlcuding myself) will benefit from your experience?

I like DIY myself. Any guidance is appreciated.

Thanks

LamSV

ukamath

Hi,

I was going to write up a procedure of the whole thing with pictures and put it on my website I just have to find some time to do it.

I'll post a picture of what I did. I did use a through whole cap, what I did was lay it down and soldered the leads to the surface mount pads. I'd post a picture right now but I can't get the pictures of my camera I have a bad usb cable. I'm buying a new cable this afternoon so I will post a picture tonight.

Although the cap is surface mount its not hard to remove, nothing to be scared about.