On the 93 LS I just bought the temperature needle is not sitting correctly. I was wondering if the needle pushes on, and pulls off, of a rod or whatever. (like the hands of a clock) My needle works but it's sitting at a total different position. When cold it sits at about the 8 o'clock position and after it warms up it's just to the right of 6 o'clock position. Just wondering if I can adjust it back to the normal position and if so how much work is involved. Or, I still have my 94 for parts if I need to change the whole thing but I don't want my 85K mile car to say 220K.

 

i would change the temp sensor that the needle is based on; i believe it's on the upper intake somewhere. don't mess with the cluster just yet!

check out what tanin auto stated in post #12 here:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...uge-issue.html

also the ECU capacitors are not a far fetched idea but i would do the simple things first before diving into the ECU.

 

Thanks, I'll try TaninAuto's suggestion when I get under the hood to do the tune up. That's the sensor right next to the ECT sensor, which I'm changing also. But just to be clear; the needle is moving the correct amount, it just starts in a different position. The previous owner did have problems back in 2011 with no lights on the dash and the dealer fixed that. I have no idea how long it's been this way. And I also have the airbag light on. So I'm gonna need to do the "wire dance" to see if that goes away. It'd be nice if it's just a bad sensor cuz it's only $10 and easy to change.

 

Of course try the simple stuff first but it sounds broken to me. The needle is a part of an assembly which slides into the cluster.

I was cruising on the highway one day and the temp gauge in my '94 went from normal position to broken. I purchased a used cluster and swapped out the temp gauge and has worked ever since. You can use the good gauge from your other car without having to replace the whole thing. It is time consuming to disassemble the instrument clusters but well worth it.

 

Awesome thanks, good to know. I also have the gauge cluster from my old 93 in storage (has 189K on it) plus I'll have this one from the 94 so I can at least experiment on one incase I break it removing it.
Is the temp gauge soldered in? My eyesight isn't anywhere near as good as it used to be.

 

No, the temp gauge almost slides into the cluster like a puzzle piece(hard to explain with text). You will have to remove screws and electrical connectors, nothing fancy.
Like you said, disassemble the old cluster first and get the temp gauge out so you are more comfortable working on the new one.

 

Thaaaank you, exactly what I was hoping. I'll take the cluster out the 94 tomorrow instead of going to the storage this weekend. thanks again

 

You're welcome. Here is a picture of the donor cluster with the temp guage removed. You will have to access it from the back of the cluster. Be careful with the needles, they are extremely sensitive.

 

Just a quick progress update, a sad update. I got the gauge cluster from my parts car out and took it apart and finally, after all those screws, I got the temp gauge removed. The one in my good car must be broken cuz there's no way the needle should go into the 8 o'clock position, it shouldn't go past the 5 o'clock spot. There's 2 stops located way up under the needle which stop it at C and H. So, here's the sad update; As I had everything laid out on my table, I get up for some coffee, I turn around and my cat was on the table. She got scared and ran, screws flying everywhere and she knocked the gauge to the floor which snapped the needle off and broke the plastic case for the gauge itself. (Yes, she's still alive ) Now I'm just gonna switch the whole cluster with the one I have with 189K. I'll know what the difference is and I don't plan on ever selling this anyway. Plus the other one has a sticker saying it was rebuilt in '04.

 

That is unfortunate. The 1st gen temp guages used to be available at the dealer, but not for cheap. It would be more cost effective to swap the whole cluster like you plan.

Personally the incorrect mileage would drive me nuts, especially with a less than 100k mile UCF10 like yours

 

I usually keep it on one of the trip odometers anyway, mainly cuz I like seeing the 1/10th of a mile.
I thought of another question. While I had the cluster opened (way more screws then I was expecting) I did notice the odometer numbers comes out with a couple screws and a plug. Is the memory for the mileage located in the odometer or on the circuit board somewhere. Can it be as easy as just changing the odometer over to the good cluster? If so I'd rather do that. The 20 minutes of work would be worth it to have a rebuilt cluster with my mileage.

 

I was wondering if that is possible. I dont have experience with that but maybe someone who does can chime in. Its either stored on the odometer or cluster. It wouldnt hurt to try since you can always test the cluster out of the car with 12v power.