Seems this is a common issue and I have seen multiple threads but no actual solution to the problem. The symptoms are as follows:

• Upon starting the vehicle, occasionally the speedometer does not function and does not move away from the 0 mark.
• If it fails it will stay stuck to 0 for the entire journey.
• It MAY be OK next time the car is started and in that case it is OK for the entire journey and will not fail.
• When the fault occurs the odometer and tachometer continue to work.
• Whilst this is an older car it has very low mileage (around 100000 miles).

From what I've read these symptoms point to a problem with the gauge rather than a sensor. Anyone able to point me in the right direction?

I should mention that I'm in Australia and that technically speaking, it is a Prado but virtually the same car as a GX470. My reasons for joining this forum is that the popular forum in Australia (Pradopoint) is not maintained. So cheers from Downunder!

 

I can't say I've ever heard of a GX470 speedo failure in all my years on the forums.

Do you have access to TechStream? You could watch for a speed signal via computer readout when the gauge dies to confirm if it's a speedo gauge or a sensor/wiring issue that way.

 

That the odometer & tach continue to work tells me the cluster is getting the data over the network. I think the stepper motor driving the speedometer has gone bad.

I know there are people who fix Ford and GM gauge clusters but I don't know if anyone does Toyota/Lexus clusters (probably break way less often..)

Chip H.

 

Cheers. No access to TechStream but even if I did it is an intermittent problem so I'd have to 'get lucky' to be monitoring it when the problem occurred.

The question has been asked a number of times on this forum but without a definitive answer. They all sound fairly similar. What is really interesting is that they all happen to be 2004 models.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...-04-gx470.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...t-working.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...t-working.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...eedo-help.html

 

Cheers. I may need to find someone who fixes them here. If it is a stepper motor probably not something I can easily source. If it were a lesser component such as capacitor, or a known problem with a loose connector or bad ground on the gauge (happened in my Subaru), I could probably deal with it.

A clue is that the once started (if it starts), the gauge always sits at 0 until the ignition is cycled. That leads me to suspect it is not stepper motor but some kind of initialisation problem. An intermittent earth could explain it.

 

Could it be this component? Not such a hard one to fix.
Only issue is that in my case it is just the 1 symptom, not all 3 that he describes.

 

I'm not surprised to see another example of failed ceramic resonators.
https://forum.microchip.com/s/topic/...d4jEAC/t380260