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Hello guys, I have done a whole lot of research over the last few days on this and maybe I didn’t do enough. I couldn’t find a nice conclusive fix for the issues for the first fen LS dash issues. A lot of people talk about the 93-94 cap fixes. In case you are like me, looking to fix your dash, pre 93, it is different. I am going to do this in order to try to help others save time. I am going to get to testing the components, especially Caps on my dash, one by one in order to find the causes of the following problems:
No backlight
Tach needle out
tach not working
speedo not displaying right speed
odometer not working
if you have any solutions for this, and can save me a bunch of work and time, please let me know and it will be in one place for others to find too. Thank you.
first of all: shoutout to CELSIOR, thank you. Below is my approach to solve the remaining issues
So the below photos show what my dash looks like. Both tach and Speedo are past zero.
Question: If I put my own stopper so they sit at zero, does that calibrate them to start at zero? I don’t know if the needle drivers (think that they) know their absolute position or if it’s relative to where ever their starting position is. If the latter, installing stoppers may work. (Also, it seems like my tach is working, it just rests at negative 1k so it sits around zero while driving.
Current path forward: have been doing research on capacitor testing in-circuit. I hear that Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) meters can do this. If so, I will try testing each individual capacitor and replacing each bad one and testing to try to correlate capacitors with specific functions. Kind of the guess and check method of attacking this but I will see if I can find and (lord help me) understand a wiring/circuit diagram for the dash that would allow me to navigate the circuitry and test more efficiently (eDuCAtEd guess and check).
first of all: shoutout to CELSIOR, thank you. Below is my approach to solve the remaining issues
So the below photos show what my dash looks like. Both tach and Speedo are past zero.
Question: If I put my own stopper so they sit at zero, does that calibrate them to start at zero? I don’t know if the needle drivers (think that they) know their absolute position or if it’s relative to where ever their starting position is. If the latter, installing stoppers may work. (Also, it seems like my tach is working, it just rests at negative 1k so it sits around zero while driving.
Happy to help. Yep, looks like both your tach and speedometer needles need to have the fix done in the posts I've shared.
From what I understand, the motors do know what their absolute position and starting position are, but the issue here is that each needle has slipped off of the motor shaft that drives it. Adding stoppers at 0 (like what other cars have) should help in reducing stress on the motor that the needle causes when its hanging, but you have to fix/re-adhere the needles to their motors first and ensure that it is reading properly before adding the stoppers at 0; however, I don't know if it is something I would recommend, because there's not much to adhere them to other than the gauge face itself.
Also good to note - fingerprints will show on the gauge cluster face, so I recommend wearing gloves after removing it. Worst case, you can clean it with a very soft cloth and a tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol. The lens is also acrylic and can crack, so care needs to be taken when separating the tabs.
Happy to help. Yep, looks like both your tach and speedometer needles need to have the fix done in the posts I've shared.
From what I understand, the motors do know what their absolute position and starting position are, but the issue here is that each needle has slipped off of the motor shaft that drives it. Adding stoppers at 0 (like what other cars have) should help in reducing stress on the motor that the needle causes when its hanging, but you have to fix/re-adhere the needles to their motors first and ensure that it is reading properly before adding the stoppers at 0; however, I don't know if it is something I would recommend, because there's not much to adhere them to other than the gauge face itself.
Also good to note - fingerprints will show on the gauge cluster face, so I recommend wearing gloves after removing it. Worst case, you can clean it with a very soft cloth and a tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol. The lens is also acrylic and can crack, so care needs to be taken when separating the tabs.
Roger that. Thank you. Gonna work on getting the thing to light up. If I can make that happen first, I will work on calibration. Also, if/when I get that far? Where and how do I lubricate the steppers?
also, enjoy this photo of the UCF10 I just bought with less than 100k on it for $2900
Beautiful car - great deal for only $2900. So now you have 2? I wish tire shops would rotate the wheels correctly (left wheels on left side and right wheels on right side. Not crisscrossed)
For lubricating the motors, I have not done this. If the motor moves fine, I wouldn't mess with them personally. They did not look easily serviceable when I disassembled my cluster.
Nice car, hope the rest is in good condition. This is pretty much what I'm looking to buy, good mileage at a good price. And the most important factor; from Florida, or somewhere down south, with NO rust.
Originally Posted by CELSI0R
I wish tire shops would rotate the wheels correctly (left wheels on left side and right wheels on right side. Not crisscrossed)
Totally agree, I can't stand it seeing those rims on the wrong sides.
Hey y’all, loving my baby Lexus more and more as I drive it. Picked up some door lock actuators and a dash from a 91 LS. The dash is in great condition and works great minus a sticky tach and the fact that it flickers occasionally. Now, I am going to dig into the old dash to try to figure why I have the issues I have with that cluster. Standby for updates.
P.S. anybody recommend doing the LCD screen for the A/C at home (with intermediate soldering skills) or get an expert?
03-15-21, 09:09 PM
90 91 92 Cluster lights out.
(left wheels on left side and right wheels on right side. Not crisscrossed)
