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Instrument Gauge Lighting


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I think one of the bulbs in my 2000 GS300 speedomoter cluster burned out :cries: . One day the light wasnt very bright, and it is considerably dimmer than the other two clusters on each side. Has anyone ever had to have these changed before? I am trying to find out what I am getting myself into before I dig my own hole. I would like to do it myself but I need some help first.

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First off, the main cluster illumination is cold cathode fluorescent (1998+). There are no bulbs involved for the main lighting, just for each individual indicator. Of course, the gear position indicators are LED.

There are two CCF assemblies, left and right the provide the main lighting for all three gauges.

Sidenote: I have noticed (on my 1998 and others) the center speedometer illumination seems to be less bright (approx. 10% I.M.H.O.) than the left or right side. I am not sure if this is by design or just something that happens to this particular cluster.

post-4610-1109661765_thumb.jpg

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what color are the gauges? green, white or blue?

They are what are called cold cathode tubes, which look like mini long and thin light bulbs. I would take out the cluter and open up the gauge cluster in the rear. check and see if they are reachable. contact your dealer to see if you can purchase any of them anywhere, or if you need a new cluster.

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They are white stock guages. So let me get this right, since there are no bulbs, if the cold cathode fluorescent lighting system went bad wouldnt the left or the right side of the gauges be dimmer too. I mean since there are two parts of the CCF that illuminate the whole dash gauges if the center cluster, where the speedometer is, went bad (or got dimmer) wouldnt that affect one of the other sides as well. Since the center cluster gets its light from the left and right CCF? Maybe I have confused my self. I hope that this makes since.

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I didn't know that the 2 outside gauge cathodes lit the inner speedo.. I would think they all had their own...who knows. I have never heard of a cathode tube in the gs models burning out so i'm not imiliar wth the setup. I would contact the dealer for more info. but one of them is deffinetly out.

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I'll post a new topic to see if anyone else knows how many, and where the cathode tubes are in the gs clusters ;) . The title of this topic is not directly towards the 99+ gs models so not many people might have been caught on to the new problem.. ;)

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I'll post a new topic to see if anyone else knows how many, and where the cathode tubes are in the gs clusters ;) . The title of this topic is not directly towards the 99+ gs models so not many people might have been caught on to the new problem.. ;)

If you had paid attention to the previous post in this thread you would have clearly seen I posted the diagram of the CCF assemblies, of which there are two. You are correct, you are not familiar with this cluster. Furthuremore, you cannot simply "open up the gauge cluster in the rear." It is a bit more complicated than that. This is not your typical cluster, and it has a very specific procedure for dissassembly.

Deadmilenko, you are right about having just two CCFs illuminating three gauges. This is the reason I believe that the center gauge may be a bit dimmer; as it is lit 50% from each side. I would think you would see a difference in either one or both outside gauges if you had a problem with the CCF light source. If you can post a picture of the problem as you see it, perhaps we can speculate more accurately on the cause.

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I will take a picture of them at night tonight. Maybe it is just my eyes, because the RPM gauge and the Fuel/Temp gauges on either side of the Speedo dont seem to be dimmer at all.

As you can see in the pic, the speedo is lite-up but it just seems that it was quite abit brighter before. So I am sorry if I gave the wrong impression about the CCF being burned out. If there is only two CCF's on either side of the speedo gauge then maybe there is no problem at all.

GuyTelefunken said "Sidenote: I have noticed (on my 1998 and others) the center speedometer illumination seems to be less bright (approx. 10% I.M.H.O.) than the left or right side. I am not sure if this is by design or just something that happens to this particular cluster."

Edited by deadmilenko
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Well, when you brighten up the picture to about "normal" brightness, they look about the same as mine. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see what others have to say.

Here's a comparison photo of yours vs. mine. The difference in brightness looks about the same.

post-4610-1109744668_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 year later...
  • 8 months later...
First off, the main cluster illumination is cold cathode fluorescent (1998+). There are no bulbs involved for the main lighting, just for each individual indicator. Of course, the gear position indicators are LED.

There are two CCF assemblies, left and right the provide the main lighting for all three gauges.

Sidenote: I have noticed (on my 1998 and others) the center speedometer illumination seems to be less bright (approx. 10% I.M.H.O.) than the left or right side. I am not sure if this is by design or just something that happens to this particular cluster.

can t seem to downlaod any of the attachments, keep getting error message. Whats up w that? ty

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  • 2 weeks later...
Can anyone list the proper procedure for dis-assembling the guage cluster?

I just had the same problem with my 1999 GS300. All of a sudden the instrument lights became dimmer while driving. I now have to turn them up to full brightness to get a pale illumination. The illumination is equal on the right and on the left with the center speedometer slightly dimmer. I would like to know whats up. :blushing:

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  • 1 month later...
Can anyone list the proper procedure for dis-assembling the guage cluster?

I just had the same problem with my 1999 GS300. All of a sudden the instrument lights became dimmer while driving. I now have to turn them up to full brightness to get a pale illumination. The illumination is equal on the right and on the left with the center speedometer slightly dimmer. I would like to know whats up.:blushing:

There is a sensor for the omintron dash, you will have to locate that and find out the test procedure. There was originally a plan to do a color change to the 2GS dashes and lot's of pics were taken and posted here: http://lextech.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1

....but the problem is that the omnitron dash does not play well with aftermarket cathodes and ballasts. :( So..... no dice it has to stay stock. Sorry!

Hopefully you just need that sensor replaced and not some cathode work. Good luck on that!

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