nine3es

iTrader: (3)

does any one know the LED info for the radio and climate control. i have read every thread in the search with no direct answers, just a lot more questions...

PolishJoe

Can you recommend a good soldering iron with a small enough tip for precise work like this? I have one with a very fine tip but after looking at how small the LED is, I'm not sure it's small enough.

BTW, great write up and very good info! I'm looking forward to fixing my cluster.

edit: Lexucan, do you think this magnifier will work ok for this job? http://www.amazon.com/Grip-Help-Hand...=3NL6P067MDY4C

PFB

Mine is a 2001, so I don't have the problem, but I'm just curious. Does Lexus sell replacement needles for the 2nd Gen Es300s? If so, how much?

Phil

PolishJoe

I thought I read somewhere they do not sell the needles, and you would have to buy an entire new cluster which is very expensive.

Lexucan

From what I can tell, that magnifier should work fine. It will allow you to keep both hands free to work on the needles and the light will be helpful too.

Any soldering iron should do as long as the tip is fine enough. I used an industrial soldering station with interchangeable tips. The tip I used is this one:

http://media.digikey.com/photos/Coop...Photos/ETU.jpg

The pic should give you an idea of the shape and taper of the tip I used.



That is correct. Lexus does not sell the needles separately from the cluster and the cluster is several hundred dollars!

PolishJoe

Ok, just finished this up today. Good news and band news. First the good news is, it looks great (also replaced the backlighting with LED's). The bad news is only the tach seems to be reading properly. The temp gauge reads a tad higher. The fuel gauge was at 3/4 full - now it shows all the way full. The speedometer was first stuck and bouncing all over the place, now it's stuck at 20mph. There isn't anything hanging behind the needle - I already checked that.

I marked all the needles before taking them off and put them back on in the same place. It seems like the balance of the needles was thrown off. When I first pushed the speedo needle back on after the fix it floated up to 25 mph.

I spent a couple hours doing the fix and everything went pretty good with the soldering. But after getting it all back together it was frustrating to have everything reading wrong. I'll have to take it back apart another day and maybe try and readjust the needles and figure out why the speedo is stuck and not moving.

The base of the speedo needle also cracked in half while removing it. I super glued it back together but now I'm wondering if that is part of the problem. While re-installing the needle it's possible it re-cracked while pushing down.

If the base of the needle is not snug enough on the pin it sits on, is it possible that the pin is just spinning freely inside the needle? That could explain it being stuck. If super gluing didn't hold it together the first time, I'm guessing it won't work again.

Lexucan

It can take a bit of fiddling to get the needles to read accurately after the fix. Removing the needles and readjusting their position usually does the trick.
With regard to your speedo needle, it does sound like perhaps your super glue repair has failed. I would suggest using some fast curing 5-minute epoxy instead. Super glue does not provide the strongest, longest lasting bond for materials/parts that may undergo a bit of stress or movement. You might also want to check the four screws in behind the speedometer gauge to be sure that they are snug to the circuit board *but not TOO tight*.

PolishJoe

If the speedo needle re-cracked I'll give the epoxy a try.

I'm pretty sure I got everything behind the board nice and snug without going crazy. I'll have to do this another day as I don't feel like messing with it anymore after spending so much time on it today.

When I get it all sorted out I'll put some before and after pics up.

PolishJoe

Ok, couldn't wait so went out first thing this morning and took it all apart. Epoxyed the speedo needle base and let it cure for a few hours.

I think I have the fuel gauge and temp gauge set correctly now.

But on the speedo needle, when I press it on it wanders up to around 20 mph and sits there. It seems to be out of balance. Is there any way to adjust this?

Lexucan

Hmmm...it's sounding like you perhaps have too much weight now at the base end of the speedo needle which is causing the tip to rise too much. The extra weight is probably in the form of too much solder attached to the positive and/or negative contacts on the needle. Using too much solder is a common problem if you haven't done much soldering before. I would try removing the needle again and then *carefully* heat one of the contacts with a hot soldering iron and try to shake off any excess solder while the contact is hot. Do this with both contacts on either side of the white center post. You can always apply a bit more solder to make good connections, should it be necessary after you've inspected the area with your magnifying lens.
Another alternative would be to ADD a tiny bit of solder to the tip end of the needle (along the resistor lead that is closest to the tip) to counter-balance the weight at the base end. But that could be tricky without unintentionally detaching the tiny surface-mount LED from the resistor lead. I'm sure you'll want to avoid that from happening.
A third alternative, but one that does mean partially starting over, is to readjust the position of the resistor/s inside the needle so the body is a bit closer to the tip end of the needle, thereby shifting the weight a little more in that direction.
But for now, the easiest method and probably the one that will work best for you is to remove a bit of weight (in the form of solder) from the base end of the needle. Just be cautious not to heat the contacts too much and melt the plastic portion of the needle...and...watch out for hot solder splatters...they hurt! lol

EDIT: just thought of something else. It may be the addition of the super glue and the epoxy that you used to repair your needle that caused too much weight at the base end of the needle. if you want to experiment with adding some weight to the tip end by a means other than using solder, try something like a tiny bit of chewing gum or plasticine inside the tip end of the needle and see if it makes a positive difference in the balance. That method would at least prove one way or the other whether or not the counter-balance method will work without having to deal with heating the contacts and/or adding solder at the tip end.

PolishJoe

The soldering isn't an issue. There is hardly any on holding the connections together. The issue is throwing off the weight of the needles ever so slightly. Now you're left with gauges that don't weigh or read correctly.

It was worth a try I guess and it does look pretty but what good is it if the gauges are inaccurate.

If I could go back I would have just left them alone. They were hard to read but at least they were accurate. I read others on here having the same balance issues with the needles but gambled anyhow doing the repair.

Now I'm left with a cluster that is basically junk. Called the dealer and they want about $1000 for a new one.

If anyone is thinking about doing this mod, please be forewarned that it may not turn out how you expected it to. I'm not saying everyone will but it seems I'm not the only one having problems with this DIY fix.

Lexucan

Well before you trash this DIY too badly, remember that your car is close to two decades old and yet with nearly 51,000 views so far, there have been MANY 2ES owners who have followed the write-up with very good results. I've tried to respond in a timely manner to all your questions and concerns and I'm sorry that you are disappointed with the outcome. Perhaps you might be able to find a used cluster for a low price at a local wrecking yard whereby you could switch your needles back to some burnt out stock ones if that better suits you.

ikant

Completed mine today. And after I fully reinstalled the Cluster I was VERY pleased, UNTIL...I drove down the road and the speedometer wasn't moving--LOL!!! After some uninstalling, troubleshooting and reinstalling...and uninstalling again...and again. I finally noticed the smallest thing; a single screw on the board was NOT fully secured. After [snuggly] tightening, reinstalled and drove down the road, the speedometer needle was active (and ACCURATE--validated with GPS.)

Excellent thread here guys, love it!!!

ikant

Completed mine today. And after I fully reinstalled the Cluster I was VERY pleased, UNTIL...I drove down the road and the speedometer wasn't moving--LOL!!! After some uninstalling, troubleshooting and reinstalling...and uninstalling again...and again. I finally noticed the smallest thing; a single screw on the board was NOT fully secured. After [snuggly] tightening, reinstalled and drove down the road, the speedometer needle was active (and ACCURATE--validated with GPS.)

Excellent thread here guys, love it!!!

Lexucan

Glad it worked for you. And yes, that step of making sure all the gauge screws are snuggly tightened is an important one!