I banged the plastic trim piece with no luck last Friday. I will try again tonight. My SC400 is a 1995 with 87K miles on it. Could it be that the dash lights are just needing to be replaced? My red needles are as bright as ever, thank goodness because I have heard how expensive that job is!

 

hehehe..simple stuff! just whack it! LOL im gonna give it a try with my 92 ES300 becuase im having the same problems with the gauge cluster back light and the needles. i'll let u folks know if it workd on my car to.

 

Hey CLers....

I'm doing the GB from Lextech but I'm having trouble removing the cluster...

I have the link that shows how to remove it for the GS, but my '94 ES has a different dimmer housing panel - it goes all around the plastic and I'm afraid of breaking something......

I gotta get this out today so please please please help!.




EDIT

Nevermind...found the "key" to opening the little trap doors on the top to reveal the 2 screws

 

LLS provides instructions for the Sc, similar to the ES for future reference.

http://lextech.org/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=67&

Hopefully they will be helpful to someone

 

lol... funny thread but yeah, it actually works.

 

Holy ****, it really does work. I was skeptical at first, but read a few positive results and did it and it worked on first whack. Now just gotta figure out my A/C cluster lights

 

I am leery of banging on dashes and such.

I fixed the stereo this way long ago. The stereo worked great after that, but the crisp snap of the dash cracking open sounded harsh.

Having a cracked dash was bad enough, but I swear sometimes the dash spoke in the middle of the night, mocking and taunting me for my foolishness...

 

After doing this whack repair, my dash spoke to me and said, "Thank's, I needed that"!

 

Oops! I replaced the led backlighting thanks to the Lexucan thread. I went with the blue led bulbs, it looks great... but my speedometer and tachometer needles are not moving. This was not a problem before I took the cluster out and replaced the bulbs for the instrument panel, I didn't touch the needles. After this problem occurred I made sure that the wiring harnesses were on tight and I'm not sure where to look next. Both the gas and temperature needles are working. I have a 1993 es330

 

I know this is an old thread, but it is a common recurring problem with the clusters on these cars.... the back lighting is done through incandescent bulb which make contact with the printed ckt on the back of the cluster (behind the circuit board)....the contacts are copper,,,, a thin film of corrosion forms on the ckt traces... and this results in a shaky connection between the little fingers on the light socket and the printed circuit. the long term fix it to :

remove the cluter
remove the pcb
take a picture of the locations of the bulbs,
there are different colors , sizes.. etc
remove the bulb holders
using a pencil eraser burnish the contacts on the printed ckt and the bulbs (tech talk for rubbing the eraser over the surface
clean the copper with ethyl alchohal (hi proof liquor) grain, or vodky, not flavored
reassemble everything referring to the pics...
you should be good to go... if this does not work then I find a closed fist to the top of dash close to area that is dark.....works for me

 

^^Theres only so much you can do. My front turn signals need that every few months

 

Searched and searched but could not find it. Link? Really need to fix the lighted needles thx.

 

Copper, a solution to your needles goin out? How about refurbished..http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/taninauto1/library/

 

Wow, now that's a bizarre coincidence!! I searched the internet and found YOU from other links...
I bought a refurb from you, and installed it the day I received it!

The unit is bright and clear, cost of the refurb is less than what the needles themselves cost, and there's a 5 year warranty!
This is an unsolicited endorsement. Tanin Auto's refurb units are the best way to cure all the gauge lighting problems.

A word of warning re the "whacking" method:
When I went to remove the trim ring, one of the fastener wells was broken off and broken in pieces.
I did mange to repair and reinforce it with plastic epoxy.

 

I got a 95 es, and the lights were out by the tach, 1/2 the speedo, the gas gauge and the temp. I hit it a few times and it came back. now I have to do something about the red lights on the speedo and tach. Thanks guys...