calbsc400

No good news. The needles have different connections. Oh well. At least I now how easy it is to change it out.

I'm a idiot. You don't have to remove anything from the back of the guage. Just seperate the main body from the front (about 8 screws) and then pop off the needles.

I've done the easy part. I got the needles out of the "98". It was pretty painless. About 1 hour start to finish including cleaning up and posting this. Here's some photo's. There are 4 clips that need to be pressed in order to seperate the halfs. Two on top and two on bottom. Poping the needles off was very much like popping the arms off a clock. The only difference here is the electrical connections. I will test the resistance in the needles before tearing into my guage. Hopefully, as long as there is some continuity, the needles will illuminate. Sof far so good.

I've done the easy part. I got the needles out of the "98". It was pretty painless. About 1 hour start to finish including cleaning up and posting this. Here's some photo's. Poping the needles off was very much like popping the arms off a clock. The only difference here is the electrical connections. I will test the resistance in the needles before tearing into my guage. Hopefully, as long as there is some continuity, the needles will illuminate. Sof far so good.

I got a email from a member who was asking how to gain access to the dash buttons so they could change out some bulbs. So here's a series of pictures to show how to gain access. Remove ashtray to gain access to two screw underneath. Ashtray just pulls out with a little effort. Do not use the lid as a handle Remove this little button thing with a screwdriver. This allows you to press down inside and move the shifter knob to the nuetral position with the engine off Push the cover down on the shifter knob. This exposes two screws that you remove to take the shifter handle off. The black cover is also snaped in carefully remove and there are two screws underneath it. After you disconnect the electrical, remove the panel and the two screws undernearth carefully pull the rest of the dash cover off. At that point you will have access to everything underneath it. I didn't remove everything because I was just trying to get the posted ASAP. If I try to make it perfect it wouldn't get done.

I'm bumping this back up to see if anyone feels like commenting. I've completely lost the tach and speedometer needles and will be tackling this project soon. There's a guy in Gilroy, CA that has replacements but he's asking $280 and as long as I've already spent $100 on the "98" I might as well try to use it.

The Tach needle in my 1995 SC400 went out recently so I purchased a replacement meter online for $100. Turns out the meter I purchased is for a 1998 and the harness connectors are different between the 1995 and 1998. My question for the board is this: Can I canibalize the meter from the 1998 to fix the meter on my 1995? Thanks

I have a 1995 SC400, they sure like bulbs, not LED's. Anyone know where to get the replacements? What I have is just a change out, no soldering needed. Just need a vendor. I'm going to add a couple photos to show what I have. Sorry about the quality, my hands aren't very steady sometimes. Those white caps are just rubber and come on and off.

I think LLS may have called it. I couldn't really find anything so I purchased a control unit off E-bay ($175 w/shipping). While waiting for delivery I thought I would get everything disassembled so when I did get it I would go right in and not sit on my work bench for the next 6 mos or next car whichever came first. Anyway, while getting ready I thought I might as well pull all the wiring from the previous owners aftermarket stereo install. Well part of it ran off the cigarette lighter circuit and on that wiring run I found a short to ground. Fourtunately it must have fixed itself because the circuit breaker I installed hasn't tripped in awhile. I'll put fuses back in today to see how they hold up. The control unit is still going to get changed out. The screen is going black and I'm not sure if all the times the circuit blew it didn't damage something in the control unit. Besides, it's paid for. Biggest beef I'm having now is it takes almost 15 minutes before hot air starts blowing. Now that it's cooling off and I drive alot at night. It's a PIA. By the way, if your unit is giving you problems here's how to check the codes: While pressing the ON/AUTO button and the RECIC switch while turning the key to ON, the display will flash four times and and if you have a problem it will display a code. I am not going to post all the codes but if you respond in this forum I'll look it up for you. While in this diagnostic mode if you press the other side of the RECIRC swith for Outside air, it will run a actuator test on all the output modes and fan speeds. After I install the new control unit if I'm still having issues I will go the cabin air temperature sensor which is what I should have done first. Or, if anyone has already gone through this, let me know what their fix was.

Still isn't fixed but is working? After blowing about 10 fuses, I put in a circuit breaker, it tripped about 30 times (10 times per incident) and hasn't tripped or blown a fuse in awhile. I'll pull the circuit breaker soon and see if a fuse will hold up. I never unpluged the cigarette lighter because it's hard to do and it didn't really make sense. I used a multimeter to check continuity in the socket and it was OK. It really seems to be a bad climate control unit. I'm watching one on Ebay right now. I tried all the configurations I could think of and it was still blowing the fuses, ie: A/C off, Climate Control off, Recirc Mode On and Off. I think one of the Modes went bad, whenever it is in the Floor only position, it doesn't seem to work at all. In any of the other 3 or 4 positions the fan will come on automatically. Plus there is a quite a delay it going from Cold to Hot, ie: I park in the afternoons and it's 95 degrees out, get up at 4:30 AM and put the heater on and it may be 1/2 hour before I start getting heat. Wish me luck with the Ebay bid and product. Local junkyard is out of climate controls for the SC400

I haven't confirmed it yet but I suspect it is the cigarette lighter itself. I think it's old and weak and because of the high temperatures we've been having in Nor Cal lately the cigarette lighter circuit thinks a lighter is in there exceeding the heat range? This morning, while the temp outside is reasonably cool it is working fine. By the way, if you have a similar problem, leave the fuse cover off and use a circuit breaker while you figure it out. It will save a lot of fuse. I'll post when I have the final solution

What could be causing the climate control system to blow the cigarette lighter fuse? Sometimes it blows immediately, sometimes after a couple of days, sometimes a few hours or few minutes (I've been through a lot of fuse's!) Checked the cigarette lighter socket for coins or anything that could be causing a short in there. Found some burnt debris which I scraped out but that didn't help. Would it be worth the effort to change out the cigarette lighter before going to the repair shop? It definitely seems to do with the climate control system. If I can get the climate control off before the fuse goes it doesn't blow with just the lighter socket being used. I use it for my XM Radio and Phone battery charger. Any suggestions will be appreciated. PS Is there a write up on how to change the cigarette lighter? The fuse blow even if the climate control is off.

Just a new update on this, it may be related or not. Now the lighter fuse is blowing almost immediately upon changing it. I'm going to do a quick search but will probably take it to the shop ASAP (I don't like being in a sauna in heavy traffic) and will post up what they did.

I've tried a search of other forums but couldn't find any info. That doesn't mean anything though, I searched this forum for my own post and couldn't find it. I will be taking my care in for routine maintenance of for A/C system at the dealers and ask them when I'm there. It's going to be a couple of weeks though.

Climate Control Off - Engines Dies? Restarts no problem. Anyone else experience this and other than not turning the climate control off in traffic, is there a fix? 95 SC400

Engine light reset itself after about 100 miles with 92 octane. I reread the owners manual and you can use that under the hood port also, not just the one in the cabin.

Actually, that's NOT where you do diagnostics. That is for engine adjustments. I did find the correct port, it's near the engine hood release handle. By the way, if you don't want to pull the fuse, you can disconnect the negative battery terminal to clear the code(s) but it also remove the radio station memory, trip odemeter setting etc. etc.

I think I found it, it's on the top of the motor near where the upper radiator hose is connected. It's marked "DIAGNOSTICS" Lousy picture but that's it to the left of the oil fill cap.

My check engine light is on, probably bad gas, I think I put in low octane by accident last time so I topped off with good gas today. Checked the gas cap and will pull the EFI fuse if it doesn't clear itself in a day or so. I have the code reader for the 95 SC400 but don't have a clue. I did a search but couldn't find any info on where you hook it up. Where do you hook it up?

I'm bumping this up because it sounds exactly like what I'm dealing with. I pulled the door panel just fine but don't know what to do now. It's going to the professional tomorrow and I'll fill you in.

What about the plastic piece pictured? Whatever it is, it's on it's last legs. I'll check the manual but I don't think that's the regulator. PS Do you have a source for the regulators? and what about that mystery connector.....

Driving home today I was rolling the window down and heard a snap and now the window doesn't work. I can hear the motor running but it isn't doing what it should. I pulled the door panel and took some pictures. Hopefully you board users can tell me what I'm looking at. This first picture shows what I think is the problem. The plastic cracked and I found a few additional pieces in the door. If the photo shows, I'll add some more. These are the pieces I found. Here are some pictures of a connector that was just hanging there. Anyone know where it's supposed to be attached? I don't know why all of these are going into the same post. Hopefully it's not confusing. I've been trying to add these photos with seperate comments. Oh well, a learning curve. Bottom Line: Is this a DIY job or should it go to a professional. (Note: I did not say dealer)

Thanks for the response. I'll pull back the carpet ASAP and also do a Ebay search. Randy

Where are these struts located? I just checked my trunk and don't have a clue. My trunk stays up on level ground but if there is any slope at all it won't stay up.

From looking at the Service Manual it doesn't look all that bad, just time consuming. I would plan on whole weekend to do it just so I wouldn't be rushed. Other posts indicate that you will need to replace the intake manifold gasket and the throttle body gasket. So, if you have more time than money, a garage to do it in (I wouldn't want to do this in a parking lot) go for it. Take lots of pictures and share them with us.