I was looking to buy a '94 from a private seller, and his car has this problem. I found what sounds like a good solution on ebay. Someone says he can fix the problem for $180 plus $20 shipping. This means, of course, that you'd have to remove and then reinstall your instrument panel, or have someone else do it.
Hello vanenglish. Another board with a problem I see. I have had mine worked on by jimlwalker@sbcglobal.net. He was able to fix everything (blinking lights, faulty gas guage),
but he has not yet found what causes the speedo and tach to not function, if that is your
problem. Jim was great for me, because I had an extra cluster and different parts were
going back and forth. I'm pretty good with my hands, and I took the chance that I could take
the cluster out, and it is really not too bad. The outer ring which houses the odometers is
held in place by three screws. Put the steering wheel in the extreme low position (I turn the
key to "ON" and leave the door open so it will quit beeping) and gently pull outward on the
housing. It's a little tight, but it will come out. Disconnect the wire clusters on each side,
and the first part is done. The cluster is held by four screws. The ones you want go through
white plastic as that is the color of the housing of the cluster. The tough part is disconnecting
the three big wire bundles from the back. Not too much room, and depressing the release
button while pulling is difficult, but they will come out. I have taken mine out about ten times,
and this is the only tough part. Once again, not much wiggle room when getting this cluster
out. Can't remember whether the bottom comes out first or the top. Try each way and you
will see which way works. Good luck if you want to try it.
I had the same problem with my 1993 LS 400 and here's how I fixed it. There's an automotive electronic repair facility in Canada called Mr. Whizard. Don't laugh. I checked it out first, called the owner toll free, and in two weeks my problem was solved. The culprit is apparently bad capacitors in the circuit board, not a connection or soldering problem. TOM JEROSKY , the owner, is a knowledgeable technician and businessman and he has repaired a number of these modules for under $200, including the cost of mailing it back to you express. I had a local garage remove and replace the instrument clustrer for one hour labor cost. My total cost, about $300. Two local Lexus dealer estimates were $1500-2000. Jerosky is good and deserves your business.
Here's his e-mail whizard@mts.net
Here's his toll free phone 1 888 803 8523
Here's his address
Mr. Whizard Technical Services
5-530 Main St.
Oakbank, Manitoba
R0E 1J0
CANADA
I had my instrument cluster and a/c panel light problems repaired by Magnussen's Lexus, Fremont, CA. Lexus Customer Care picked up a substantial portion of the bill.
See my post for details:
"Instrument cluster update - good news" posted 3/7/05
I almost spent over $1000 from the dealer to repair my instument panel!! I got the quote from the dealer & went looking on the internet & found this Forum!
I just got it back today. I took the advise of one of the posts & sent it into Dash Electronics if you send it in there talk to Steve. He is awesone! (888) 909 9473 www.dashusa.com 2 of my needles were 1/4 lit when they did work & they fixed that along with the typical intermitent lighting & fuel gauge problem.
One note that I didn't see when I was weeding through the posts, Steve @ Dash told me that if a needle is partially lit for to long, it will cause the needle to go bad beyond repair . Aperently it burns through the little tube. Mine were ok luckly but if yours have been out a while you may want to get it repaired before it totally wipes it out.
Thanks for the links on removing the speedometer too. that helped alot.
Thanks again for all the help on this subject! This site rules!!
-Jim
I have a very similar problem with my 92, my lights do seem a little bit dimmer than usual in the cold....but I haven't had them not come on yet. My problem is that the speedometer simply doesn't work in the cold. When the weather is warmer it works quickly and accurately....then also with the fuel gauge, it seems to take it a while to "make up its mind" on how much fuel the car actually has when its cold outside...it will sit on empty for a while until its driven a mile or so, then it will go up to a little over half tank...then drop back to almost empty....its really strange. Once it gets down to about a quarter tank, it usually stays on empty all of the time. I just go by how many miles I clock and when the orange light comes on....I don't care so much about the fuel gauge, just the speedometer problem, I really need a fix for that! Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
I have a very similar problem with my 92, my lights do seem a little bit dimmer than usual in the cold....but I haven't had them not come on yet. My problem is that the speedometer simply doesn't work in the cold. When the weather is warmer it works quickly and accurately....then also with the fuel gauge, it seems to take it a while to "make up its mind" on how much fuel the car actually has when its cold outside...it will sit on empty for a while until its driven a mile or so, then it will go up to a little over half tank...then drop back to almost empty....its really strange. Once it gets down to about a quarter tank, it usually stays on empty all of the time. I just go by how many miles I clock and when the orange light comes on....I don't care so much about the fuel gauge, just the speedometer problem, I really need a fix for that! Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Hi elenz i'm working on the lexus dealer there is a exchange program on the cluster ask your dealer about this program... thank you!!!!
If you will go to google and type in 'Lexus instrument cluster repair', you will see a list of folks who can fix the kind of problems you are having. One I have used is jimlwalker@sbcglobal.net He is able to fix anything ex-
cept non-working speedometer and tach guages. But,
there is someone else whose name has appeared on this
forus who is also able to do that. It's all in the little trans-
sisters, I think, but they can do the job for a reasonale
fee, and they guarantee their work. And the mileage is
also not altered. Try this out.
My needles in my cluster have all burned out and I sent it to
DASHUSA 3 weeks ago to get fixed, still haven't gotten it
back yet. Dashusa hasn't answered the phone for the past
2 weeks (answer machine) and don't return calls or email.
Does anyone know if they are still in business?? I haven't
started or driven my 1993 SC400 for this time period because
it sets off codes when driven without cluster.
They have also already charged me, I hope I'm not getting screwed.
Any information on DASHUSA would be appreciated?? If they are
closed when are they going to open??
I was worried enough about loosing tach & speedo functions due to mishandling of the Cluster that I sent mine off to mrhwizard for repair.
He was honest enough to tell me that all that he did to mine was replace the 2 caps that we have long since been isolated here. I had already done the fuel gauge cap years ago, before any other problems had popped up.
Service was great & prompt & my dash works fine. I drove my car all thru the period that the dash was in Minnesota & only had to re-set the airbag light. You could by the way "jake leg" in a temporary light to the harness in the proper slot to prevent this.
Note: I do not believe that it has been clearly substantiated that handling the cluster during repairs sped up the loss of tach & speedo functions.
Mileage on my 94LS is now reads 185,300 but in truth at least 1800-2100 miles did not register due to delayed data acquisition from the bad caps pre-repair.
In the past 2-3 years, I have taken my cluster out of my
93 LS400 and even broken it down to where there was
nothing left on the basic plastic frame. I had to remove
a darkened speedo needle to replace it with one from
another cluster I had bought. I don't think any of this
affected the performance of the cluster at all. I even sent
one board or another off to jimlwalker@sbcglobal.net for
some repairs to illumination and small guage problems.
He fixed them all. The only thing Jim can't really fix is
speedo and tach needles that don't function properly. So,
I don't think handling it would mess it up, unless you
were just rough or something. By the way, my airbag
light has been on ever since I first took the cluster out.
I just ignore it, but perhaps you could tell me how to get
it to go off. Best to you. Bill
cluster is out until car warms up then flickers on
not a problem when hot outside
a/c ...temp gauge black(gone)
and whats really bad is that when the cluster is out it doesn't record milage until it comes on..........
some body, any body, every body SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!
and speedo and tac both stick until i slap the ****** out of it........
page 6 has alot of good info, and to fix the fuel gauge problem u need to change the capacitor on the main board labeled "C142" and i'm still trying to find out which capacitor is for the fuel gauge. changed C201, C205, and changed the C212 and my lights work, its just the fuel gauge and engine temp gauge isnt working.
Ebay solution
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