1995 SC300. Sent cluster out to Tanin 3 years ago for LED bulbs and general rebuild. Now have 3000 miles since that time, 1 bulb on tach is out, it will sometimes come on for a few seconds. Forget punching dash, doesn’t work! Contacted Tanin, warranty no longer in effect, they were less than helpful. Pulled out cluster, replaced than one bulb and checked all bulbs and sockets, no obvious damage. Cluster back in. Now 3 different areas are intermittently dark, but we know bulbs are good since they will occasionally come on. Contacted Tanin, they essentially washed their hands but said I could send cluster to them, will take 2 weeks to diagnose and problem may not be fixable. But they will sell me a reconditioned cluster for $600. ( I sang the praises of Tanin Auto Electrics back then, but now would not recommend them to anyone!).
So any ideas what might be going on with that cluster! Circuit board? Bulb sockets? Pin connectors? Please respond with your thoughts….much appreciated, I have learned a ton from this forum!
I will attempt to attach a quick video of cluster. (Video file size too big, attaching still photo, take my word that the areas you see with light out will intermittently come on for a second or 2).

 

Led’s are the issue. The copper tracers are thick and last forever. Sticking random leds in will get you failures like that. The car tends to have a lot of voltage spikes. SC’s are terrible about it. A diode on the main input was part of my engineering of the cluster lighting. It absorbs voltage spikes and it’s part of what engineers do when they design something versus just sticking an LED in it and trying to make a buck.

id recommend you replace the leds and then consider doing that to avoid failure in the future. It drops the voltage 0.6 in the circuit so not noticeable. You'll need a large one to cover the current of the leds. Thats up to which leds you use so you’ll have to do the numbers.

just ebay some wide angle leds if you want easy. If you’re willing to work a little use strips and get tons of lighting inside. A volt meter will get you set on polarity. Several slots are backwards voltage so it matters which one you choose.

 

Thanks for the quick response! I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually pay attention.
My immediate plan was to go back to the original incandescent bulbs from Lexus ( if I can find them), do a really good inspection of the boards etc., and hope for the best. The diode thing you mentioned is likely beyond my capabilities and knowledge. I love this car and want to keep it going (as close to stock as possible), and have learned a ton, but it certainly comes with its frustrations!

 

While on the subject of cluster bulbs, according to this forum and also Tanin, I’m told the correct bulbs are Lexus 83119-24570 blue cap which are quite hard to find? Does anyone know if there is an equivalent that is more readily available (incandescent)? Like maybe a Sylvania etc.? A source for some fresh sockets (green) would also be quite helpful!

 

It’s in about 800 places on this forum but I’m gonna give you a freebie Sylvania, number 24. You can also search for the ice blue thread and you will get quite a lot of information. It’s also in the stickies at the top in the FAQ.

 

While I am grateful for the response, I have often noticed on this forum how people that are not sure how to navigate are often spoken to like they are pieces of ****. We come here looking for info, not to have an SC rammed up their *** by some self important ****. We are all interested in preserving these cars and share the appreciation of these cars, but I doubt any of us are mentally challenged to the point where they have to listen to and accept ******* responses from *******s. Who monitors you? Does your **** smell? Would you like to talk to me in person that way? Bring it!
And even if you know where to search and where “sticky’s” are etc., a search for instrument cluster bulbs leads to countless posts of people having wet dreams over caps that go on bulbs and endless useless pictures of different colors, when all someone might want is the mother****ing number of the ****ing replacement bulb.
So let me give YOU a pass, get a ****ing life and stop talking down to people that simply want a question answered. Or if you prefer, we can talk in person. You can talk down to me…..

 

This response pretty much sums up your attitude and interaction with our company as well. We went above and beyond to help and assist you. You asked a question and OLT answered it.

You first reached out to us in March of 2020 to rebuild the cluster. We initially offered a 10% off coupon that expired. We then graciously extended this discount to you beyond the expiration which was a $35 savings for all the services we provided.

In April 2020 you expressed disappointment with the "red" clock and odometer. We offered free same day turnaround AND shipping both ways to put the clock and odometer back to stock.

Fast forward to January 2023 and now you are having problems with the blue LED's. We shipped you a brand new set of blue LEDs to install yourself. You installed these new LED's and are having the same flickering problems. This lead us to believe there is nothing wrong with the LED's. You did not want to send the cluster back in for us to diagnose and repair.

You told us that you wanted to go back to OEM bulbs. We provided you with Lexus part numbers for these bulbs, but stated that they also might flicker since the brand new LED's are also flickering in the same positions. We don't want you to spend unnecessary money.

Since you expressed such displeasure in shipping the cluster back for a new diagnosis, we suggested purchasing a complete cluster so you would have no downtime. We even told you that we would buy your original cluster back to offset some of the costs. You were displeased with spending so much on a replacement cluster.

Now we are on this thread where you are bad mouthing our customer service and omitting facts about the free services and new LEDs we shipped to you. Every contact with you were have been professional and attempted to resolve this issue. If you cannot resolve the issue on your own you will either need to purchase another cluster to avoid any downtime or send your cluster in to figure out what is going on.

 

Good luck in the future.