Speedometer Only Work When I Punch the Dash

[Gebo]

In my '98 LS400, I often have to hit the dash to make the speedometer read. Is there a company that redoes those for Lexus?

 

[skyactiv]

Fix it yourself and don't be scared to try.

 

[Gebo]

Thanks! Already watched it. He said he didn't know if it would fix just the speedometer problem. His procedure was for the fixing of
3 simultaneous problems.

 

[Dinoburner]

Used to have a black and white tv like that, one smart whack on the top and good to go.

 

[Nick1994]

I think it's a 90's Lexus thing. My brother's 96' ES300 did it. We took the cluster out and couldn't find the source, might need a rebuild.

 

[Trav]

In my '98 LS400, I often have to hit the dash to make the speedometer read. Is there a company that redoes those for Lexus?

https://lexusinstrumentclusterrepair.com/

 

[Gebo]

Trav, Thank you!

he’s on vacation til mid September.

 

[Gebo]

I may have found a guy in Tampa. $175 plus shipping. He talked with me about 15 minutes and said be careful how often I whack it.

 

[raburn2906]

On a positive note, you can work on your jab and right hook without ever going to the gym.

 

[Gebo]

This is more of a WWE wrestling beech slap

 

[Duffyjr]

My 89 Sierra does this sometimes, seems to only do it when it's hot and humid. As long as tapping the top of dash gets it to work I"m not going to mess with it.

 

[Trav]

He talked with me about 15 minutes and said be careful how often I whack it.

 

[nthach]

Capacitors would be my bet. There’s a huge thread on ClubLexus about that. Those and the CCFL backlights and needles on Lexus gauge clusters are known to go out.

If you feel confident soldering on a PCB(these are electrolytic aluminum can hole-mount caps), it’s not a terrible job but care needs to be taken to use the right caps(low-ESR, high temp Japanese parts preferred) and not to rip a solder pad from a trace or via. You need a good soldering station(Hakko 404, the cheap Aoyue 469 works too), soldering braid, sucker, rosin flux and LEADED(preferably Kester 33) solder. A steady hand and a magnifier helps too.

 

[edyvw]

Yep, had same issue on 1988 BMW E30. Sold it that way. Told the guy he needs to do "hard reset from time to time."

 

[97prizm]

My 97 Chevy Cavalier had the same problem but only below freezing. It was some weird circuit board and wiring issue.