I replaced my rotors yesterday on my '99 and now my speedometer does not work. The odometer however still works. I did not touch anything else except to remove the calipers and rotors.

After the test drive I disonnected the battery for about an hour hoping it will reset something but still no luck.

Any ideas? Pls help.

 

That happened to me once, and I considered taking it to the dealer, much to the chagrin of paying $500 or so for repairs. However, I just kept driving the car and the spedometer suddenly started working again, often while driving. This was my dad's LS400, which he seldom used, but now that I have it and use it more frequently than he did, the problem resolved itself. Maybe a mechanism within the speedometer gummed up due to lack of use?

 

Just a coincidence, the speedo is known for sticky needles. There's a thread for it in the FAQ at the top of page.

 

even more often, the cause of the speedo working intermittently is actually failing ECU capacitors

 

cowboy, wish you were here, I'd let you fix my wifes 99, I hit the dash for her and it picks up and works for a few days....

 

Hah, I always have to hit my dash to get the needles to work. If the car sits for more then an hour they stick. Only in the summer when it's humid though. I'm just too lazy to take it apart and fix them. One little tap and they're fine.

 

My dad's 93 has the sticking speedo and tach problem also, as well as inoperative temp gage (already replaced the gage sensor). If you smack the top of the dash then the two start working. I pulled the cluster out this week to fix the problem, thinking it was easy to access the resting point of the needles and clean out the grease or whatever that accumulates there and causes it to stick. But the 93 did not match the tutorial on the lexls web site... did all that work and no improvement...other than I know how to remove and install the cluster now.

 

I know that, intuitively, when we slap our dash, it seems logical that because this often works, we feel that the problem is then obviously a mechanical "sticking needle" problem.

But if it is, then why after replacing the ECU caps, does the problem go away entirely or 98% for so many folks, such as myself and many others who have done the ECU repair?

The ECU does have a huge amount of control of the operation of both the tach and the speedo, they are both elecronic, yet old school mechanical/analog in appearance, perhaps that is what is tricking our brains.

This is not to say that there is not some mechanical sticking happening, but I think our brains underestimate the importance of the capacitors in both the cluster and the ECU, even though world renowned engineer Yamae, who holds more than 100 patents, keeps trying to tell us this importance! He must be tearing his hair out over in Japan, sort of like that guy down in Australia that figured out that most all ulcers and gastritis were caused by a simple bacteria and the rest of the world looked at him for 20 years as if he was crazy, then he won the Nobel Prize!

 

Oh crap!! I read just the first page of the "all-my-crazy-lexus-issues-solved-ecu-leaking-capacitor" thread and I got 2 of the symptoms -- the speedo issue and the blinking of the defrost switch (only blinked for about 5 secs and back to normal). This is the first time experiencing these issues.

So on my lunch break today, I went to get some grub and 2 mins into my drive the speedo just all of a sudden started working and no other problems. At least I know whats causing the issue.

Appreciate the help.

 

Actually 9/10 times the sticky tach/speedo is caused by a minor mechanical issue in the cluster itself. Best fix i've found is to have a small pin installed for the needle to rest on. A vendor here (TaninAuto i think) does the repair for cheap iirc.

Don't recall anyone with a verified case of slapstick dash being cured by ecu caps....

 

Pure is absolutely correct. The problem is entirely in the cluster. There are many companies that fix these - a local Kansas City company charges around $400 to fix a speedometer in a a 98-00 LS cluster.

My local Lexus dealer and the indie Lexus repair shop I use often sends 98-00 LS400 clusters to a company in California for repair but for a higher price. Here is a company in Florida that fixes tachs and speedometers in 98-00 LS400 clusters: http://www.dna@speedometers.com/lex.htm This forum apparently has a bone to pick with the Florida company and blocks the display of its URL - remove the @ to use the URL.

 

ummm....no

it might be in the cluster

the sticking speedometer (as well as sticking tachometer) issue is sometimes a mechanical issue and sometimes an ECU issue, for example, my own car's speedo sticking was fixed with new ECU caps, as well as many others I have fixed for folks, but I realize that these can get gummed up as well, so saying that "The problem is entirely in the cluster" is an educated guess at best.

Yamae gave a technical explanation on how a faulty ECU can cause intermittent speedo and/or tach operation, search here on the forum for it! - The simplified answer is that the ECU controls the operation of the tach and speedo, so when the capacitors go bad, that is one of many things that can get fouled up, please refer to the list of symptoms in post #1 of my well known thread on the ECU capacitor issue.

The fact that the OP's car has the flashing defog light, would not be explained by a mechanical sticking, but it is another symptom of ECU caps failing. - I am not saying it is definitely ECU caps, and you should not be saying it is definitely a sticking needle. Too many unknowns for any of us to say definitively, on a symptom that can have multiple causes.

 

congrats, you are the 10%.

 

My 98 LS SpeedO needle would stick. I would slap and then it would work fine for a couple of days. Then one day I slapped and it now only goes to about 20mph. What could this be? Is it an electronic or mechanical repair?

 

Check the odometer. Is it working OK? If so, the cluster is getting good signal and only the speedometer is not functioning well.

The speedometer has the drive circuit which is consisting of many electronics parts. Those parts drive the needle motor. Unfortunately, the needle tends to stick when hot after aged. A slapping is mostly effective to escape from that situation but too much slapping may damage other part. For an example, the soldering crack may occur. Sometimes a ceramic resonator used in the circuit is partly damaged.

Anyway all you need to do first is to check the odometer incrementing properly while the speedometer is not working well. The odometer is not mechanical and this helps you to judge.