I've PM'd O. L. T. about this and emailed another guy about this but they haven't responded and time is an issue for me atm.

I'm looking at a used sc400, When I test drove it, the gauges were completely blacked out I know the mileage lit up, and I think the gear position but speedo/tach/fuel/temp were out, both needles and backlighting. The owner claimed they sometimes work. I spent last night and a little bit this morning searching the forums and it seems as though the most logical explaination is that capacitors on one of the circuit board is bad.

I need to know how easily and cheaply this can be fixed, it affects whether I would want the car or not.

Apparently the whole cluster is about $1000 to replace.

Some people have said you can fix it by just replacing the capacitors, like taking it to a TV repair place. Would they be able to easily tell from markings what new capacitors to buy to replace old ones?
How much should this cost? Any other things to know?

Thanks for any help.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hreadid=119753


If you own a Soarer, yes.


In your PM you already said you had been to Lextech.



Again, do you own an authentic JDM Soarer? If not, you can stop looking at the instructions to fix the digital Soarer dash. U.S. SC's simply burn the components completely out. No repair, replacement only.

Good Luck.

PS- a hundred bucks in repairs making the decision for you to buy an SC400 or not, means it might not be the right car for you.

 

It is a SC400 not a soarer.

I went to lextech, and it has pricing for fancy needles and replacement bulbs for different things, but I didn't know if it was the bulbs/LEDs or what that was the problem.

I spent hours searching this forum last night and people talked about the capacitors in reference to US SCs and LS400s so that is where that idea came from. So is it the LEDs and the backlighting that is burned out, or something electrical/circuit related that needs to replaced?

The PS- If the cluster costs $1000+labor to replace, I don't see how that could not effect me buying a $8500 car. What I'm trying to find out is if I have an alternative and how much that alternative would cost.

edit: Ok I read PM now...
So would I need the "Standard backlight replacement- $19.95" and choose one of the needle sets, and ship the whole cluster to you?

And edit again: I was just browsing the forum on your store and you replied to someone with similar situation:
http://lextech.org/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=86&
"as long as the screen isn't black during the daytime and is readable, it's just the lights burnt out. simply go into the store and pick what you like "
This was the case here I couldn't really see anything on the gauges, just the mileage lit up. So does that mean this is something you can fix or not?

 

What O.L.T. is trying to say is:

The lexus SC is called a Soarer in japan- the jap spec car comes with a digital guage cluster

And this would only cost 1000 to repair if you did not use your resources wisely. A used cluster is not a hard thing to come by, and can be reset with your correct mileage at your local dealer. Thus, a $200 fix.

 

Your link to Lextech is for a climate control question, however you are talking about mileage, so you are asking about a speedo unit instead?

 

Ya The problem is with the speedo/tach other gauges. Entire thing was dark, the backlighting for gauges and needles too, only the mileage stuff at bottom lit up. I had someone offer a used cluster, so If i go for this car I'll probally do that. I also found a different car locally just today that I'm waiting to see about.

thanks for the help/explaination.