out of nowhere my speedometer, odometer, tach, gas temp gauges are not working. The ABS light is on, and the emergency brake and seat belt lights are staying on. any guesses?

 

It sounds like your Skid Control ECU went bad. It controls all those features. You can see if the fuse to it is ok before buying one. The most economical way is to buy a used one from ebay.

https://www.justanswer.com/lexus/6te...-odometer.html

 

thank you very much
any idea what I should expect to pay? best to go to the dealer?

 

after reading the link and a few others, it seems that the skid control effects the power steering, which in my case it has not

 

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Sounds like a solder joint failure. The age of your car fits the scenario. You can remove the cluster and try reheating the solder joints where the power to the cluster comes in. Or you can find a used cluster online, $100 to $300. Or you can send it to a repair shop that does these repairs and for about $150 they will fix it for you. I found a used one for the cost of shipping. Unfortunately the used unit will have a different mileage on it. It will cost $150 to get the mileage reset. Mine used one shows over 300,000 miles but when I get time I will repair the old one by re flowing the solder and put it back in showing the real mileage, less that 100,000 miles.