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My Gauge cluster has an issue where the gauge cluster’s weak light will cover all the instrument clusters but about 90% of the time the blue instrument clusters will not work. This is the original si gauge in the car.
When the instrument clusters lights actually work i can hear an electric whining noise going on with it. Sometimes the instrument lights will flicker rapidly and the electric noise follows with it but the gauge light still never goes out. It is really troublesome at night and I would be thankful for some insight on the issue, heres a few pics when it works and does not.
I'm not familiar with this specific gauge and it's back-lighting but I had an issue with my eg a couple of months back where the back-light in my cluster would flicker sometimes. At first I thought the dimmer was having issues with the led strips I installed in the cluster, because it would go away when I played with the dimmer ****, but eventually it got really bad and wouldn't go away. When I removed my dimmer switch and checked the circuit board, the one capacitor on it had leaked and completely corroded one of the legs on the cap. I replaced the capacitor, cleaned the board, and checked all solder joints and it has been working great since then. If you get a multimeter that can check capacitance you can remove any caps from your dimmer board and see if they hold the correct capacitance. Sometimes caps look fine but are still bad. You could also have a cracked solder joint behind your cluster. The flickering makes me think dimmer though.
I'm not familiar with this specific gauge and it's back-lighting but I had an issue with my eg a couple of months back where the back-light in my cluster would flicker sometimes. At first I thought the dimmer was having issues with the led strips I installed in the cluster, because it would go away when I played with the dimmer ****, but eventually it got really bad and wouldn't go away. When I removed my dimmer switch and checked the circuit board, the one capacitor on it had leaked and completely corroded one of the legs on the cap. I replaced the capacitor, cleaned the board, and checked all solder joints and it has been working great since then. If you get a multimeter that can check capacitance you can remove any caps from your dimmer board and see if they hold the correct capacitance. Sometimes caps look fine but are still bad. You could also have a cracked solder joint behind your cluster. The flickering makes me think dimmer though.
So the dimmer board is in the gauge cluster and Id have to remove the gauge cluster and check the gauge board?
The gauge dimmer is the roller switch that has a light bulb icon above it. Should be located under the driver side A/C vent, on the left side of your steering column. If you pop it out and remove the circuit board out of the housing, you can expect it for obvious damage or desolder any capacitors on it and check if they hold the proper capacitance they're rated for. You can also try swapping the dimmer for a known good one if you aren't comfortable with trying to repair the one you have.
Malfunctioning Gauge Lights
