1998 Ls400 Instrument Cluster Failure - Need To Find A Replacement Par

[Leadfoot]

Hi,

I have been having an absolute nightmare with my 1998 instrument cluster. The car worked perfect for the first three weeks of ownership then it started to misbehave.

The gauge needles (RPM, Speed, temp and fuel) would drop to zero readings after 10 minutes driving. However after stopping for 10 minutes the gauges would work again for another 10. Obviously a very slow way to get around.

Had the cluster taken out and put into a specialist instrument shop for 12 weeks(@&^*&**&^!!!!!) and they replaced ALL the capacitors and the voltage regulator, even fully resoldered the board by putting it through an oven. They gave up and I took it to another shop to fix it, and they burned the unit out completely. However since the board was given to them faulty they are not taking responsibility for fixing it.

So I need to find a replacement cluster for a 1998 to 2000 model year LS400. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable source? Is there such a thing as a specialist lexus breaker?

Any help to get my very expensive piece of driveway furniture rolling again would be great.

Cheers.

[M.IQBAL]

Hi,

I have been having an absolute nightmare with my 1998 instrument cluster. The car worked perfect for the first three weeks of ownership then it started to misbehave.

The gauge needles (RPM, Speed, temp and fuel) would drop to zero readings after 10 minutes driving. However after stopping for 10 minutes the gauges would work again for another 10. Obviously a very slow way to get around.

Had the cluster taken out and put into a specialist instrument shop for 12 weeks(@&^*&**&^!!!!!) and they replaced ALL the capacitors and the voltage regulator, even fully resoldered the board by putting it through an oven. In their efforts to fix it they burned the unit out completely. However since the board was given to them faulty they are not taking responsibility for fixing it.

So I need to find a replacement cluster for a 1998 to 2000 model year LS400. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable source? Is there such a thing as a specialist lexus breaker?

Any help to get my very expensive piece of driveway furniture rolling again would be great.

Cheers.

Hi

i would try fenand breakers in cambs - 01354 651949 - the last time i rang him for a wheel centre for my MK3 he mentioned that he was breaking a MK4 aswell.

Failing that try Madina motors in oldham 0161 205 7484/85

I would also recommend filling in a parts request on one of the website such as www.partsfinder.co.uk

If any of the above are breaking are breaking a MK4 then chances are the dash will still be available since its one of those parts which rarely goes wrong on the MK4

all the best

regards

miq

[benfur]

Hi,

I have been having an absolute nightmare with my 1998 instrument cluster. The car worked perfect for the first three weeks of ownership then it started to misbehave.

The gauge needles (RPM, Speed, temp and fuel) would drop to zero readings after 10 minutes driving. However after stopping for 10 minutes the gauges would work again for another 10. Obviously a very slow way to get around.

Had the cluster taken out and put into a specialist instrument shop for 12 weeks(@&^*&**&^!!!!!) and they replaced ALL the capacitors and the voltage regulator, even fully resoldered the board by putting it through an oven. In their efforts to fix it they burned the unit out completely. However since the board was given to them faulty they are not taking responsibility for fixing it.

So I need to find a replacement cluster for a 1998 to 2000 model year LS400. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable source? Is there such a thing as a specialist lexus breaker?

Any help to get my very expensive piece of driveway furniture rolling again would be great.

Cheers.

Hi I have the instrument cluster for a 1997 mk3 reading 47000 miles[genuine]

Am unsure if they are different from mk4?

can send you email pics of dash clockset for comparison

pm me your email if interested

BENFUR

[Leadfoot]

Thanks very much for the pointers guys, I will get busy phoning in the morning. So far I have been the only one to have this problem.....lucky me!

For the record the MK4 is very different in a number of ways. The 1998-2000 model years are interchangable and have the really big multifunction display across the bottom of the RPM and Speed Dials, and of course the 4 gear position indicators since these were the 5 speed years. Attached is the picture from the US (Left Hand drive) manual, so ours are just mirror reflections.

There are only three connectors at the back, refer photo, whereas the earlier versions had 4.

[steve2006]

I cannot believe that a "specialist" completely ruined your cluster then refused to admit liability for doing so,even if it had an intermitant fault previously they still made it worse by their ill conceived efforts to sort it.

As for the "oven" I am not sure what that process is but we cook pies and cakes in ours I assume they tried to reflow the solder in a solder bath but would imagine all the surface mounted components fell off in the process.

Have they not heard of the freezer spray and hairdryer method commonly used in the electronics trade for thermally affected faults?

It agrieves me to think there are cowboy companies that cost £1000's of damage and get away with it.

[Leadfoot]

Thanks for your support Steve, yes they did reheat the entire board just enough for the surface mount components to reflow. It continued to have the fault after that and they gave up on being able to fix it. So I took it to another repair shop, who took a week to kill it! Hopefully you will be comforted to know the shops that did this are in Auckland, New Zealand!

Perhaps I should give you all some vehicle history...its a Singapore New car that was imported into New Zealand in 2006. Apparently the heat and humidity in Singapore can play absolute havoc with the electronics in these cars (how come I always find this out AFTER I have bought the car with the problems!!). It did run fine for the first 3 weeks and I am fairly certain there was no way that the seller could have "masked" the problem.

I am reassured that the problem is rare, and as I commute between the UK and NZ every 6 weeks I should be able to find a good one from here to take in my hand luggage!

Thanks again guys.

[Haylands]

I commute between the UK and NZ every 6 weeks I should be able to find a good one from here to take in my hand luggage!

Thanks again guys.

Hi

If you can't wait for six weeks then send me a ticket and I'll bring one over for you

Pete

[steve2006]

There is a 2000 model being broken here!!!

http://tinyurl.com/4ttuoc

[Leadfoot]

There is a 2000 model being broken here!!!

http://tinyurl.com/4ttuoc

Great spotting , thanks for the heads up Steve. I did a search of eBay for LS400 but I never saw this. He has said its available.....and will phone back with a cost. Anybody have a feel for what a pod is worth?

[steve2006]

There is a 2000 model being broken here!!!

http://tinyurl.com/4ttuoc

Great spotting , thanks for the heads up Steve. I did a search of eBay for LS400 but I never saw this. He has said its available.....and will phone back with a cost. Anybody have a feel for what a pod is worth?

Well a cluster repair for the series 2 is around the £130.00 mark (on ebay) so haggle around there seeing as they don't regularly fail and he may be stuck with it