Amanda Robinson

I would appreciate hearing if anyone else has had this happen and whether the company gave you satisfaction. My '94 ES300 has 165,000 miles. My instrument panel lights are going out (including speedometer & tach needles). Lights on AC and audio panels also going. Dealer says all three involve sealed systems and they can't go in and just replace bulbs. Must replace entire unit. They want $1100 for the instrument panel. I appealed to Customer Satisfaction and got $400 off the price, but this still doesn't seem right. ( AC and radio light repair would require new AC @$2300 and new radio @ $500). Appears poor design for which company should be liable. They discontinued using sealed units after '94 according to service rep at dealership. Customer Satisfaction reps think I should expect such problems with a car this old with so much mileage.

Sooner

i aggree with them they are waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy to nice giving you 400.00 off.they dont have to do squat.be thankful they offered anything

PERRYinLA

Amanda, if you use the "search" function you 'll find several posts out there already of adventurous members that disassembled their instrument panels themselves, and replaced the bulbs at minimal cost. It is not the easiest thing to do, soldering small bulbs into circuit boards, so not everyone is up to the task (including Lexus dealers!).

If you can't or don't want to replace them yourself, your only hope is to find someone adept at soldering, and hope their labor charge is a significant savings over replacement.

One final tip- some members have found that slamming the panels with your fist or open palm sometimes jolts the loose bulb connections into lighting again, but be careful- it may be just as likely that you could loosen the connections of lit bulbs as well.

Amanda Robinson

Perry, I appreciate your taking the time to give me such a detailed response. (Sooner, thank you as well altho, of course, I don't like your answer). Unfortunately, I don't solder nor do I know a solderer (?), but I like the other possible solution. Excuse me gentlemen, I'm off to the garage to punch my car in the dash. It may not help the lights, but I think I'll feel better. Amanda

PERRYinLA

Yeah well hope that punching was therapeutic for you!

Your other options are to search eBay often for "Lexus ES* Panel", since once a month or so someone is parting out a car.

And visit http://www.taprecycling.com/ and register to get an email every time a wrecked ES300 arrives.

And, the following firm will fix instrument panels:

Mikado Eng. Phone - (650) 615-9966
1435-C Huntington Ave
S. San Francisco, CA 94080

As you can see from thread
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...858#post346858

...they quoted a price of $275 including shipping to fix the entire gauge cluster (all needles & all bulbs behind the cluster) of a SC400. If they receive a cluster in the morning they will fix it and ship it back the same day.

Amanda Robinson

So far, whacking it hasn't helped. Thanks for the additional information. I know a whole lot more now than I did. This forum is great.

LexFather

Ms Robinson.

Hey, I live in Atlanta, I see your in GA. I'll see if I can help, thanks.

GSquicksilver

bullsh_t, i just changed a 93 GS300 instrument panel lights. 8 bulbs, 10 bucks each at the dealer.

GA400

Welcome Amanda,

I hope your dash punching went well. I usually resort to begging and pleading with promises of details and synthetic fluids all around.
A previous post recommended Mikado. If you do a search on their name here in Club Lexus you will see they come highly recommended for reasonable prices and spectacular service. A good local independent Lex mechanic that I use is Ozzi's in Roswell 770-552-5280. He saves me about a 1/2 to 2/3 off Nalley's prices and he is a heck of a nice guy too.


GA400

Rro

The bulbs in the back of the ES 300 (92) are twist out/in. What's this sodering bull people are serving you? The biggest problem is removing the bezel around the instrument panel. Ever so gently or it will crack or the snaps will break off. I don't know what the bulbs cost but, I picked up a hand full at the local junkyard from Lexus and Camrys. Now if I can just remove the bezel.

Amanda Robinson

Thanks all. Perry, a smack of the heel of the right palm has relit my AC panel. And, GA400, Ozzi's got a brand new fan. He replaced the tach and speedo needles and all the bulbs in my instrument panel for $472.27. The dealer had wanted $700 (negotiated down from $1100). I'm happy and I really appreciate all the help from you folks. Amanda

GA400

Glad to hear it, Amanda! With someone like him around, I can afford to do all the preventive maintenance I think is prudent (way beyond the manual recommendations) , and keep my lovely Lex running forever.

GA400