Center console button lights sometimes work at night

[ringtone]

As I mentioned above, sometimes my center console lights are on and sometimes the lights are off at night. It makes for finding the buttons a bit hard. I have a 2004 LS430. When the lights are working, the dimmer knob on the left side of the steering wheel does dim all those lights. I am talking about the lights around the console screen, the radio, and the a/c. Here are my observations. There is a light sensor somewhere that changes whether the screen is in day or night mode. Day mode has black lettering on a white background for the screen. Night mode has white lettering on a black background. I have noticed a connection with the lights not working and the screen going into Day mode when it is clearly nighttime. Any ideas?

[Lexus Owners Club]

definitely sounds like a loose connection.

You could try tapping/lightly banging areas of the dashboard or switchgear until it lights up then at least you'll know the rough area it may have a loose connection

[ringtone]

I tried banging around. I could not get the lights to flicker on demand. How would I get behind the screen to check connections?

[ringtone]

Could the problem be in the dimmer knob?

[Lexus Owners Club]

it could well be....maybe worth removing it to see if you could bridge across the connectors to get the dash lights permanently illuminated on full power.

If so, then measuring across the terminals of the resistor would confirm whether the switch is at fault

[ringtone]

I removed the dimmer knob and light. I think there is a problem with this module. The number looks like 394-0c3n. I can not find it online.

[ringtone]

I found the part number 84119-50230. This little parts costs $180 at Lexus. Other places have it for less, but can not get it. I hope this fixes my issue.

[Lexus Owners Club]

Can you take the unit apart...if so, maybe only needs cleaning or a joint soldering

[ringtone]

There is a day/night sensor on the dash. Look for a plastic dome. It became unreliable. All I had to do was replace it. I found the part on ebay. The change took some time because I had to remove the center console from the buttom up. I even had to pull out the nav screen. Even then I still had trouble due to the amount of stuff there. I used a snake to get the wires up to the hole by the defroster.

[ringtone]

I am still having an issue with the day/night capability. At night the car thinks it is daytime as far as the nav screen is concerned. I find that kicking the fusebox by the driver fixes the problem. Any idea what kicking the fusebox does? Is there a particular fuse or relay in the box that works the day/night circuitry?