Getting ready to send my cluster out to them from your recommendation.
2004 Land Cruiser Gauge Cluster FIXED! How-To (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter dchilds
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
I’d put a momentary hold on that… my cluster literally started going haywire again last week and am working through it with this company now… I’ll post let the thread know how it ends up getting resolved as soon as it gets figured out.
Good to see this thread is still alive. I just imported my Land Cruiser 100 to the US after living with it in the Middle East for a few years. Now I have a workshop I'm tired of living with these gauges, plus they have gotten worse.
I've never had oil pressure.
Then my sub tank fuel gauge went.
And now primary fuel tank (same fuel gauge but the reading) and voltage guage have failed.
Before I start playing with stepper motors and the cluster, is there a way to test that they are getting signal from the sensors? I'm not fully convinced its fully the cluster at fault as I used to have the primary fuel guage work and when I clicked it to the sub tank it would drop to 0, meaning the stepper worked there. Now that both are dead I'm not sure if its the stepper or the other sender has gone. Either way it would be nice to diagnose a bit before tearing things apart and swapping expensive parts. Thoughts?
Thanks all!
I've never had oil pressure.
Then my sub tank fuel gauge went.
And now primary fuel tank (same fuel gauge but the reading) and voltage guage have failed.
Before I start playing with stepper motors and the cluster, is there a way to test that they are getting signal from the sensors? I'm not fully convinced its fully the cluster at fault as I used to have the primary fuel guage work and when I clicked it to the sub tank it would drop to 0, meaning the stepper worked there. Now that both are dead I'm not sure if its the stepper or the other sender has gone. Either way it would be nice to diagnose a bit before tearing things apart and swapping expensive parts. Thoughts?
Thanks all!
Hi,
The fuel gauge issue is most likely a different issue. There was a recall on the clusters - on one my clusters the sub tank readings failed - on another the main tank. I have never seen a fix for this - maybe one of repair specialists have a solution.
Dan
Yeah thinking it's potentially the sender in both are acting up by chance for the fuel gauge. I filled the tanks the other day and now instead of it showing empty its off the charts full. Likely not a dead stepper as it moves, but a weird signal coming in. Not sure about oil pressure and voltage though. I found a pinout diagram for the fuel and oil pressure gauges so thinking I should get something to stick in the pin and measure the voltages coming into the cluster. Haven't seen how the voltage gauge signal comes in though.
I just replaced the oil/water temp gauge section and on re-installing am getting no tightening of the 2 screws that hold the connectors in place. I was able to get hands behind them and make sure they were seated correctly.
Not sure the issue, seems odd they would either not reach or be stripped (I'm super careful with threads).
Not sure the issue, seems odd they would either not reach or be stripped (I'm super careful with threads).
I believe the 2 screws you are talking about never come to a hard stop. They just get kind of snug and then they "cam" over.
Mine spin like there's no engagement at all.
I think I figured this out...
There is an over-tightening design here so you can't over torque the bolt pulling the connectors together (which would probably split them).
I took the whole thing apart several more times - seems that the screw has limited threads so when you first get engagement it pulls the connector until it seats and then the threads run past the embedded nut and just spin.
You can feel this and watch the connector seat. There's also this red spring shaped feature that gets compressed once the connector seats letting you know it's fully seated. At this point the screw should spin.
Further evidence of this - with the connector fully seated, one side would not unplug AND the screw was just spinning. I pulled on the connector and got it to move a tiny bit, then the screw engaged and backed out with some feeling of engagement followed by spinning out again. Then the connector would come all the way off.
Glad to be done with this, time for the next mod and then back out in the wild.
I took a stab at repairing my own LX470 oil pressure gauge and learned a lot. Almost damaged the copper spring assembly and had to sit and manually bend it back into shape. Same issue as others have said, plastic gear around the magnet has become loose and spins freely inside magnet so magnet isn't turning gear and gauge. Gauge would sometimes come to life in the right conditions, guessing when thermal expansion allowed the plastic and magnet to be snug with eachother.
I had a huge problem lining up the gears inside the stepper motor. After unsucessfully lining them up and trying to snap the bottom cover over the top without desoldering i finally de-soldered the entire motor, and built the gear assembly in the top cap after pulling the metal posts out and nesting them with gears in the top cover. As i lower the bottom cover over the gear assembly everything lines up well. Unfortunantly during the first 15 attempts of snapping it together the other way (leaving the small gear in the bottom and lowering it over the top) i could not get it to turn with the same resistance and it did not have a stop bump. The little gear teeth also got slightly misshapen from being mis-meshed and snapped together.
I have purchased another 6s stepper motor and intend to swap the internals to mine, but the same issue remains. How in the world do i line the gears up and get the stop to function correctly. This photo from FlyingDreaming is all i have to go off of, and it's somewhat confusing when compared to the real thing.
I can deduce how he's lined it up assuming the black dots are the hole and square are the square spots, but i can't figure out what the third black mark with an arrow pointing to it is for. My gear is the same as his, and has one small hole on one side and a small plastic rectangle peg that sticks out on the other side slightly offset more than 180 deg from the round hole. The photo shows a square and a black spot next to it, unsure what these are. Is the plastic peg the stop? Does it stop against the inside of the bottom cover? I re-built mine so many times this way and could not get the stop to engage, it would spin 360.
I drew a diagram and would really appreciate it if someone else with experience was able to tell me if my interpretation of how it's lined up is correct. Or if you know where to find the knowledge send me that direction!
I had a huge problem lining up the gears inside the stepper motor. After unsucessfully lining them up and trying to snap the bottom cover over the top without desoldering i finally de-soldered the entire motor, and built the gear assembly in the top cap after pulling the metal posts out and nesting them with gears in the top cover. As i lower the bottom cover over the gear assembly everything lines up well. Unfortunantly during the first 15 attempts of snapping it together the other way (leaving the small gear in the bottom and lowering it over the top) i could not get it to turn with the same resistance and it did not have a stop bump. The little gear teeth also got slightly misshapen from being mis-meshed and snapped together.
I have purchased another 6s stepper motor and intend to swap the internals to mine, but the same issue remains. How in the world do i line the gears up and get the stop to function correctly. This photo from FlyingDreaming is all i have to go off of, and it's somewhat confusing when compared to the real thing.
I can deduce how he's lined it up assuming the black dots are the hole and square are the square spots, but i can't figure out what the third black mark with an arrow pointing to it is for. My gear is the same as his, and has one small hole on one side and a small plastic rectangle peg that sticks out on the other side slightly offset more than 180 deg from the round hole. The photo shows a square and a black spot next to it, unsure what these are. Is the plastic peg the stop? Does it stop against the inside of the bottom cover? I re-built mine so many times this way and could not get the stop to engage, it would spin 360.
I drew a diagram and would really appreciate it if someone else with experience was able to tell me if my interpretation of how it's lined up is correct. Or if you know where to find the knowledge send me that direction!
Hey Guys, my new 6s stepper motor arrived and i dove right into fixing the gauge.
Using what i learned the first time around it was very simple to repair, i opened up the new 6s and removed the gears and windings, and then re-built the lexus motor with the new gears and winding. With very careful assembly i got all 3 gears lined up and engaged before snapping the bottom cover back over all three. In hindsight i realize now i actually lined up my gears incorrectly, i reversed the alignment of the big gear, having the hole on the outside and nub on the inside. Made no difference, probably impacts the spring rate of the needle by adding an extra half turn to the lower fixed coil.
Quick rundown:
1. De-solder stepper motor completely and pop it open exposing internal gears.
2. Repair broken smaller gear with glue (let it dry thoroughly!) or parts from another stepper motor
3. Using top cover with spring assembly sitting flat on something, assemble 3 gears with winding.
4. Carefully lower the bottom cover down over the top making sure the pins line up in the center of the gears
5. Confirm it rotates with the same resistance, and stops correctly turning it both directions
I made a quick youtube video of how i lined up the gears and snapped them together using the old parts and 6s top instead of the lexus top, but the job is the same in the video, just a little easier because the top sits flat. I also included a few photos of how i lined up the gears.
*In the video i have the long shaft/large gear flipped so i can lay the cover flat on the table, and i mix up top from bottom a bunch*
Cant believe i was debating sending my cluster to Tanin! Stepper was $28 on eBay! Now to figure out what they do to increase the brightness of the lights. New lights soldered into the board, or maybe the caps are drifting out of spec causing them to dim? Doubt it with the age, my Marantz sounded fine with 50 year old caps before recapping it.
Using what i learned the first time around it was very simple to repair, i opened up the new 6s and removed the gears and windings, and then re-built the lexus motor with the new gears and winding. With very careful assembly i got all 3 gears lined up and engaged before snapping the bottom cover back over all three. In hindsight i realize now i actually lined up my gears incorrectly, i reversed the alignment of the big gear, having the hole on the outside and nub on the inside. Made no difference, probably impacts the spring rate of the needle by adding an extra half turn to the lower fixed coil.
Quick rundown:
1. De-solder stepper motor completely and pop it open exposing internal gears.
2. Repair broken smaller gear with glue (let it dry thoroughly!) or parts from another stepper motor
3. Using top cover with spring assembly sitting flat on something, assemble 3 gears with winding.
4. Carefully lower the bottom cover down over the top making sure the pins line up in the center of the gears
5. Confirm it rotates with the same resistance, and stops correctly turning it both directions
I made a quick youtube video of how i lined up the gears and snapped them together using the old parts and 6s top instead of the lexus top, but the job is the same in the video, just a little easier because the top sits flat. I also included a few photos of how i lined up the gears.
*In the video i have the long shaft/large gear flipped so i can lay the cover flat on the table, and i mix up top from bottom a bunch*
Cant believe i was debating sending my cluster to Tanin! Stepper was $28 on eBay! Now to figure out what they do to increase the brightness of the lights. New lights soldered into the board, or maybe the caps are drifting out of spec causing them to dim? Doubt it with the age, my Marantz sounded fine with 50 year old caps before recapping it.
Last edited:
Hello sent you an DM as well. I am wondering if your cluster is still operable and if you would still recommend this shop. I gotta get my cluster repaired.
Thanks
Well I didn't want to take any chances so today I shipped my cluster to Tanin in Wisconsin. I will report back when I receive it.
Thanks
imperium
SILVER Star
Giving the DIY repair a shot because I can't justify $500+ to rebuild it when the stepper motor replacement is not difficult.
My oil pressure gauge went out a few months ago, but then randomly started working again shortly after. A few days ago it went out again, and the fuel gauge went out tonight. Is there a common denominator to these going out at similar times? Seems like a crazy coincidence.
My oil pressure gauge went out a few months ago, but then randomly started working again shortly after. A few days ago it went out again, and the fuel gauge went out tonight. Is there a common denominator to these going out at similar times? Seems like a crazy coincidence.
For LC100, the stepper motor can be easily sourced at very reasonable price, even with 150% tariffs. However, it's another story for LX470.
I have gone through the stepper motor swap when trying to find the root cause. Unfortunately, it seems like the issue is not with the stepper motor but the circuit board, at least for my LX470. Some of my "dead" meter does come back "live" randomly. Sometime it's accurate but sometime it could be like 20 mph offset.
Even I still love my LX470, but I couldn't stop asking myself if LX470/LC100 was a high quality vehicle, especially comparing to others, like my same age but 40% higher mileage 04 MDX.
For now, I just try my best to live with it...
I have gone through the stepper motor swap when trying to find the root cause. Unfortunately, it seems like the issue is not with the stepper motor but the circuit board, at least for my LX470. Some of my "dead" meter does come back "live" randomly. Sometime it's accurate but sometime it could be like 20 mph offset.
Even I still love my LX470, but I couldn't stop asking myself if LX470/LC100 was a high quality vehicle, especially comparing to others, like my same age but 40% higher mileage 04 MDX.
For now, I just try my best to live with it...
I own an 05 LC, and a 5 speed 06 Corolla which I've dailied for 16+ years.
The Corolla is without a doubt the more all around reliable vehicle. It's actually not even close.
On my LC the speakers were blown (had to refoam them). My tach gauge is wonky (just like others in this thread). I've fixed multiple water leaks, AC condenser gasket, and just had to order the 3rd brake light after finding water in the trunk. The door locks don't work in the heat/sun. My 6 CD changer broke and eventually caused a parasitic draw on the battery. Antenna broke. Both my tilt and telescopic steering wheel motors went out. Driver's door weatherstrip was howling and needed replacement. That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more. (All of these are fairly common issues seen on this forum).
My Corolla just hasn't had any annoying issues like this - and it MSRP'd 4x cheaper than a 100 series. Everything on the Corolla just works, continuously. And it's powertrain is just as solid.
imperium
SILVER Star
+1 on the sentiment. My steering wheel tilt and telescoping motors are out, sunroof is broken, gauges dying, factory nav and backup camera failed, and have other weird electrical issues. My dad's 2000 LR Disco II has had a window motor go out and that's about it in terms of electrical, and honestly about the same in terms of mechanical issues compared to my LC.
Just have to take these problems one at a time. Hoping to get the dash working this week and will be replacing the steering wheel motors next week. I've given up on nav and backup camera.
I noticed something about my gauge cluster (oil pressure gauge), today it works and I noticed that when i park the car. turn off the engine but leave it in the ignition ON when I go to start up the car again, the oil pressure gauge continues to work. Only when I turn the car off and pull the key out and go to start it up again, the oil pressure gauge become non responsive. I really have to make an appointment with the gauge guy and just have it fixed.
It's nice to see all the gauges working every once in a while
It's nice to see all the gauges working every once in a while
