Ls 400 Dash

[spritley56]

have a ls400 gold all the dash illuminates as it should apart from half the rev counter needle can anyone explain why this is so and can i rectify it or is it just better leaving it as it is

[cruisermark]

hi

this is a common fault known to be more common on the early LS400s (upto 94) but appears to rear its ugly head on the mark 3s aswell as they get older.

There is a member here who repairs these - his name is chris vince - if you PM him he might be able to help you.

hope this helps

[Malc]

I have his phone number and email addy too if u want that. Mind you it's been a few years since I last made contact, when he sorted my dash lights on my Mk2

Malc

[Dale_V]

The plastic coating on one of the needles had cracked off, it needs repairing by painting electro conductive paint(same as you get for rear demister repairs) on the back of the needle

I had 1 needle go on mine and had it repaired by chris vince at a total cost of over £100

I had another needle go a year later and decided to investigate it myself, I found his "special trick", bought the paint for less than a fiver and did it myself

To think I paid him over £60 for the 'repair' and over £40 in postage is ridiculous, I thought us forum members should be helping each other out, not trying to hide secrets like he did for financial gain. :megaangry: :shruriken:

Infact I still have a tub of the paint left, if anyone has a dead needle and are near me in west yorkshire, ill repair the damn thing for free!

[Malc]

I found him very helpful ........ I arrived at his place, he popped the dash out in 10 mins ( or less, checking the radio code was all ok etc ) sat me down in his lounge and plied me with coffees whilst he did about an hour's soldering etc to fix the dash lights then popped it all back in the car ok.

I was happy and about £100 I think PLUS of course my journeying down to his place, fuel etc............ my paying for his technical expertise and knowhow was ok .... and btw he doesn't have a Lexus himself ( well not then anyway )

Can't fault him tbh, service with a smile ....... the alternative was a place near to me in Rochester at £200+ if I remember or Lexus stealership at @£1600 at the time.

Malc

[Dale_V]

Yeah im sure he did sit you down in the lounge and gave you coffee, so youd be out of the way and not witnessing how damn easy they are to repair! He obviously wanted to keep the monopoly on ls400 dash repairs.

I couldnt fault his service either, fast turn around and fixed dash, YES- happy days, but its just the fact of not sharing the repair procedure, that is easy/ literally anyone could to, just to benefit for future financial gain. That got my back up tbh.

Not to mention posting the dash off, knowing someone will be without their car for a few days, all for someone to rub a bit of paint on a needle. 30 mins downtime is all that is needed, that is, if knowledge is shared.

[Malc]

Dale, there is ( was ) to download a simple and free fix guide sheet available from a USA source, well there was at the time, it all looked too complex for me to personally undertake so i just went with the best value for me....... and mine was fixing the illumination generally.

Clearly not ok for your circumstances though.

Thinking aloud now, I remember we had a guy on here who broke Ls's too, a font of all good knowledge and spare parts and there didn't seem to be a problem with the guy making a living from his expertise at that time.

Malc

[Dale_V]

I found the usa source after I had the repair done, It took ALOT of digging to find that, the repair procedure is not openly available on the forums, its well hidden.

Malc, if you are happy with your repair and paying someone money for it, then thats great. some/alot of the members would really like the options available to us before hand, so we can decide from there.

If in future, members have a burnt needle and either know how easy it is to repair, AND there is a service available via Vince, and still choose him then thats fine, thats their choice. Its the hiding information which really shouldnt be hidden that gets to me.

The difference with Benfur, is that, you actually got a good deal, there were no hidden secrets and alternatives.

[steve2006]

I have a spare fully working speedometer and tachometer needle (complete units not just the needles) from a 97 series III cluster with PCB damage if anyone needs one to swop out a duff one.

This would entail cluster removal and dismantling but the needle assembly is plug and play.

[jpjsavage]

I found the usa source after I had the repair done, It took ALOT of digging to find that, the repair procedure is not openly available on the forums, its well hidden.

Malc, if you are happy with your repair and paying someone money for it, then thats great. some/alot of the members would really like the options available to us before hand, so we can decide from there.

If in future, members have a burnt needle and either know how easy it is to repair, AND there is a service available via Vince, and still choose him then thats fine, thats their choice. Its the hiding information which really shouldnt be hidden that gets to me.

The difference with Benfur, is that, you actually got a good deal, there were no hidden secrets and alternatives.

Is this the one you mention:

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/lighting/clusterneedlerepair.html

This issue was also discussed here:

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/26776-ls400-instrument-panel/

[Bluesman]

We live in an information world these days and to obtain that information costs time, time has a cost, its no different to someone inventing something, it may have taken you 100 hours (for argument sake) to come up with your invention, you then make millions of them and sell them for a £100 each. So if you have learnt a secret on how to do something that is a product for which you can charge. There may come a time when the design of something is radically changed and you then have to go through the whole learning cycle again until you have learnt a new way to do it.

You wouldnt have any objections to someone pulling your gearbox to bits and maybe just replacing a gasget costing 5p and being charged £500 for the job, well there is no difference.

We live in a comercial world and information is king and costs. Mike

[jpjsavage]

I agree with that in part. But the Internet has changed the way in which information is shared and distributed. I can mend and fix things thanks to the power of You Tube that I would have had to pay for someone else to do just 5 years ago. Forums such as this are also a massive source of knowledge and information based on a shared sense of community and enquiry.

But I agree that there is still a space for individuals to develop and sell their expertise and knowledge. Most of us straddle both worlds maintaining an uncomfortable position! For example, I write an open blog, freely accessible to the whole world, but I also have books published under contract to major publishers sold for profit (and a small commission coming back to me eventually)!

[Malc]

Jonathan........... the 2008 link you put up ................ I just know there's a much later one somewhere coz I think I may have even contributed to it at the time ......... buy hey ho, all's well that ends well and the problem seems to have been resolved ??!!??

Malc

[jpjsavage]

Jonathan........... the 2008 link you put up ................ I just know there's a much later one somewhere coz I think I may have even contributed to it at the time ......... buy hey ho, all's well that ends well and the problem seems to have been resolved ??!!??

Malc

Will have a hunt around later and see what I can find.

[Bluesman]

I agree with that in part. But the Internet has changed the way in which information is shared and distributed. I can mend and fix things thanks to the power of You Tube that I would have had to pay for someone else to do just 5 years ago. Forums such as this are also a massive source of knowledge and information based on a shared sense of community and enquiry.

But I agree that there is still a space for individuals to develop and sell their expertise and knowledge. Most of us straddle both worlds maintaining an uncomfortable position! For example, I write an open blog, freely accessible to the whole world, but I also have books published under contract to major publishers sold for profit (and a small commission coming back to me eventually)!

Having said what I did about information is king and costs I am the first in the que to offer info that is usefull and correct for free if I can especially in a club setting but I am aware that for some its their proffesion and source of income. Mike.

[cleverdick]

A while back I wrote a tutorial on this (PM me if you're interested). I too was pretty put out at being told by a member on here (whose name has already been mentioned) that it was a "trade secret". I therefore developed my own fix, which I am happy to share for free. You will see a heavily edited - and modified [by Carl] - version of my write up on lexls, but I will gladly send you the original if you wish.

You certainly do not need to pay anybody to do it.