Well last week I took out my cluster from my 93 LS400. The ends of the needles did not work. I have worked on vintage arcade game boards for several years now and was confident to tear into this. I took the board to a buddy of mine who has a 12V supply for a bench test. We figured out the wiring harnes and began to research. We found nearly every surface mounted capacitor was bad. We then powered up and same problem. We tested every single part and found that the needles were not getting power to the end of them. We saw that when they built these needles they used a conductive black paint to allow power to flow to the end of the needle. Well about half way on my needles the black paint,conductive material, was cracked on all of them. That is why we had no power there. We laid a then strip of copper,like paper, along the previous conductive material and secured it. We then powered up and WALLA!!! all works perfect!!

He said he would be willing to fix clusters. From talking to him about this issue with all of us he does not think the price would be over $180, probably under that a majority of the time.He wants the whole unit though and not just the boards. Just call him and tell him what ya got and he should be able to tell you what he can do. He can fix the boards and the NEEDLES!!!!!! He is DARN GOOD AT WHAT HE DOES!!!!His shop info is as follows:
Radio Doctors
104 E. White St
Champaign, IL 61820
217-352-3744

Ask for John!

I hope this will help all of us and save us a few bucks.

 

Why do some of these newer LS400s (such as 93-94) w/lower miles have this problem, while some older (90-92), higher mile LS400s do not? I have a 90 LS400 w/225K and all work perfectly (knock on wood ), but have heard of 93-94 LS400s, with lower miles, with instrument cluster problems. Does climate change have anything to do with it?