cduluk

The whole “process” took about a day from start to finish, although it took days of planning and a lot of experimentation to figure out what to do. It was TOTALLY worth it though :D

But before I closed the cluster up, I decided I would add some white SMT’s to the needles, since I like my needles really bright! The needles for the power meter and speedometer are illuminated by four white 2-chip SMT’s. I found the + and – and added one more white SMT (from my donor Rx330 cluster) in parallel with one of the SMT’s to give more light in the 0 positions. So I the put the cluster back together. And here’s the final product!!! When I enter or leave the car, the rings illuminate by themselves. When I turn the car on, the needles then illuminate. And then a few seconds later, the rest of the gauges illuminate.

I let the paint air-dry for 20mins or so, then proceeded to remove the masking tape to reveal the finished product. But it didn’t come out “perfect”… Some sections of the tape removed a little too much blue, so I had to touch-up a few spots. And after 15 minutes of touch-up, it came out pretty good!! If you look closely at the 2010 Rx450h cluster, you’ll notice there’s a section of the power meter that is green. On the Rx400h, there’s no green section. There’s just a small section between the blue “braking position” and “power” position that’s white. I wasn’t sure if these sections mean the same thing, but I figured what the heck, I want my power meter to have green too. So on the reverse of the cluster faceplate I added a small piece of clear tape and dyed it with green permanent marker to add the green effect. I did the same with red marker over the “WARNING” area of the temp gauge to make the red a deeper shade.

So I figured I just had to re-paint them blue, and add the paint in the areas the factory white lacked. It may seem like an easy and simple process, but this was the HARDEST part of making this gauge cluster modification possible. It was very time consuming and tedious to get the tape cut and aligned perfectly to make sure the paint wouldn’t bleed or go somewhere I didn’t want it to go. It would be so much easier if I had an Rx330 or Rx350 whose cluster rings don’t illuminate the areas between the speedometer tic marks. I tried cutting thin strips of masking tape to outline the white areas, but found the edges of the masking tape (even with cutting smooth with a razor blade) to be too rough. So I decided to use clear gift-wrapping tape. It’s very thin which allows for a very straight edge. So I outlined the edges where I wanted to paint with the clear tape, and cut very thin strips of the clear tape to cover the tic marks, and used regular masking tape to cover the places of the gauge I didn’t want painted. I installed the clear ring with the bezel onto the cover to see where the blue paint “should” be, and cut the tape to size with a razor. I wanted to make sure it came out perfect. <_< I bought a little bottle of Krylon’s Short Cut’s “ocean blue” (which is the perfect shade to reflect the most blue light) and used my airbrush to shoot the cluster face.

So I decided to replace the white SMT’s with 5mm standard type LED’s. They are MUCH more intense than SMT’s because of the dome-type head, and run on exactly the same amount of current and voltage. <_< The only drawback is that they are MUCH taller, about 2.5x taller. So the legs of the rings were now too long. And I wasn’t sure if cutting a good centimeter from the legs would affect the optics at all… But I gave it a try. I bought ANOTHER used cluster from an Rx330 (which uses similar rings) from Russia (gotta love ebay!!) for about $60 shipped to experiment with. :D I shaved off about 1cm from each leg, sanded and buffed, and lit-up the LED’s. They looked PERFECT! No difference after shortening the legs whatsoever. :D So I did the same to the Rx400h cluster rings. I put the cluster back together, and fired everything up. The rings for the power meter and fuel and temp gauges were OK, but the center speedometer ring still needed some work. With no outside ambient light, the blue reflects off of the white between the integer marks just fine, but during the day or in direct sunlight, the blue is washed out by the white paint. This was a definite No-No. <_< So this became a new problem. How could I get the white spaces between the tic marks to be blue, so that if sunlight were to shine on it, it would only add blue instead of washing it out with white? And how could I get the lines to be PERFECTLY straight and evenly colored? At first I thought I could go over the white paint with blue permanent marker. So I tried it… But I couldn’t get the whole spaces evenly shaded without seeing the felt strokes, and also the color was too dark to reflect much blue light. And also, I’ve noticed that the white areas don’t even line up with the clear plastic rings. It’s not like the ring is positioned wrong, it’s just that the white areas aren’t shaped properly- there’s a tiny sliver of space on the left and right of the gauges that seem to be missing the white paint causing for less reflection in those areas:

The rings are made from small pieces of clear lexan plastic between the black bezel and the gauge face. And for the speedometer ring, the spaces between the integer markings are painted white to reflect the light from the rings forward. And on the main circuit board, are several white 3.2 x 2.0mm surface mount LED’s to illuminate the rings. So I purchased 8 (that’s how many illuminate the rings) 3.2 x 2.0mm BLUE SMT’s as direct replacements. I bought several different types because I wasn’t sure which would be the brightest. When they came in, I replaced the white SMT’s with the blue ones, but neither of them were bright enough for my satisfaction. The oem white SMT’s were being fed 3.2v and ~20mA of current- neither enough to produce enough light from a blue SMT… :(

Hey guys, :D As some of you may already know, I’ve been working on a few “personalized” projects for my Rx400h, most of which cosmetic. One of my most recent projects dealt with the modification of the gauge cluster needles, making them illuminate from the actual “center” which gave them some extra length and appeal. But still, I felt the cluster was lacking that extra “hybrid-ness” to set it apart from the rest of the Rx series model. <_< The Rx400h is the “hybrid” version of the Rx350, and there are some cosmetic differences. For 2008, the hybrid Rx was given a “blue” accented emblem and blue accented “400h” in the rear. It’s even more apparent that the theme of “blue” is special to the hybrid vehicles while looking at the 2010 Rx450h and HS250h hybrid sedan. In the 2010 hybrid Lexus’, the theme of blue is seen in a lot of places. Similar blue accented badges complete the exterior appeal, but more importantly the color blue shows up in the interior as well. :) The 2010 Rx450h gauge cluster is accented with a nice shade of blue- although I find the placing a bit…odd. The 2010 Hs250h uses blue accent lighting beneath the “mouse” like device on the console, and also uses blue light in the gauge cluster, accenting the integer marks of the dials. But it’s not just the new Lexus hybrid cars that use blue lighting in the cluster, it’s common in many Infiniti and Acura clusters too, it’s very appealing! B) Here’s the cluster from a newer Acura RDX. But the Rx400h cluster is absent of any blue accents. Here is the factory 400h cluster. I sat and thought about how I could add blue accents to the Rx400h cluster, and one night it came to me! :D The factory Rx400h cluster has a set of white “rings” that surround each gauge. It’s illuminated separately from the rest of the cluster, and comes on when the doors are opened and for a few seconds after the car is turned off. It’s also found in the Rx330 and Rx350 models, but to a smaller extent. The speedometer “ring” for the Rx400h is a little thicker, and illuminates the spaces between the integer markings for the speedometer. It’s also seen on the 06 Toyota Highlander Hybrid as well. Here are the rings on the Rx400h cluster. When you get into the car, these rings light up, leaving the rest of the gauges blank. And when you turn the car off, the same thing. So I’d call these “accents” !! :D So why couldn’t a turn these rings “blue”? It seemed like an easy job and thought it would look nice too. So I started the project. <_<

Well i took the car to Lexus today to fix the problem <_< I printed out the TSB packet from lemon and on the back of the last page i wrote down the issues for the tech in case it could help. :D When i first went in, the service rep i spoke to said that the TPMS code "check system" could mean a LOT of things, anywhere from the ecu not being able to find the sensors, to a wire being unpluged, to someone steeling the sensors out of my tires. So that made me feel better :) About an hour later, the car was fixed! The rep told me that the factory/winter set of sensors weren't programmed. They just programmed them to position 2 (position 1, aka "main" being the summer set) and everything's A-OK now. I've been driving it all day, and the error code hasn't come back :) So back in July when i had them program my summer set, i guess the factory set got deleted or something. I just hope that when i install my summer set again, and press the button to MAIN, i don't get the same problem... <_< But they didn't charge me anything, and i got a free car wash :D which i desperately needed... did a good job too! so i am happy! But while the car was being fixed i walked around the showroom for a while to look at the new models. I was sitting in a new GS when one of the salesmen came over to me and told me to get out of the car! Apparently i'm too "young".... He said unless i'm 21 i can't sit in the showroom cars??? But after i told him who i was and listed the numerous family members who have Lexus' he said it was "OK" but to "make it quick"... jeesh the nerve of some people! So i guess all is well for now... lol <_< Thanks for all your help guys!

OOOH!!! That's AWESOME info... I'm gonna print it out and take it to the dealer now lol :D Thanks!

So i tried to reset the system using the button under the dash, with the original cluster in- but it didn't work :( I really can't for the life of me understand what's going on... This summer i took the car to Lexus to have them program my summer set of tires. At that time, i had the original cluster installed and the summer tires on- everything was A-OK. Here's a chart of the tire/cluster combo. MONTH......CLUSTER...........................TIRES June..........factory..............................winter July...........factory..............................added summer set, got the error code, had lexus program them, no error code August.......factory..............................summer Sept..........factory..............................summer Oct............factory..............................summer Nov...........switched to spare cluster....summer (no codes or problems) Dec...........spare...............................switched to winter set (still no codes or problems) Jan............factory.............................winter (now getting error code) So this is the first time that the factory cluster has been installed since i switched back over to the winter set of tires. So i moved my summer set of tires near the car tonight. Still got the error code!! I'm going to take the car to Lexus tomorrow to have them check it out... I don't know why i'm getting an error code now (never got it from June till Oct) but i'm sure they'll find the problem whatever it is. I'm thinking the cluster doesn't hold any tpms memory because when i installed the spare cluster in Nov, i didn't get any errors- even though neither of my tire sets had been programmed when the spare was installed. My guess is that i did something when playing with the reset button. But i'll find out tomorrow <_<

Hey guys. Today while driving, i got the red "!" and "TPMS light" ON, with the LCD reading "check system". This is different from the "low tire" readout which comes on when the tires are actually at low pressure. The error i am getting is something else according to the manual. It states if i get this code, to go to the dealer. That doesn't help me! Here's what i think happened... I've been working on a couple gauge cluster projects, so i've been switching between my factory cluster and a spare. For the past 3 weeks or so, i've had the spare cluster in. Everything has been working fine. Then the other day for some reason, i thought the "TPMS SET" button under the steering column was the "AFS OFF" button, and i pressed it and it didn't turn ON or OFF the AFS (duhh...) so i kept pressing it and holding it down and everything, because at that time i really thought it was the AFS button and i thought it could be broken... Then i realized it was the wrong button :o But everything seemed to be OK... Well, it's been a few days, and today i switched back to my factory cluster. After 20mins of driving, the TPMS light came on in the dash and read "check system". I thought it had something to do with me switching the clusters, so i switched to my spare again. After 20mins of driving, i didn't get the error code! So i switched back to my factory cluster again. After 20mins, the error lights came back on... I tried unplugging the car's battery for a half hour, but no such luck. After 20mins of driving, my factory cluster still reads the error code. So what the heck could be wrong?? I didn't do anything to the clusters that involve and electrical, so i don't think i damaged anything. When i accidentally played around with the TPMS SET button the other day, i had the spare cluster in. And i didn't get any error codes. But when i plugged in my factory cluster today, i get the error lights. What do you think could be wrong? Is there something else i can try to reset the factory cluster? Do you think the TPMS memory and ecu is in the cluster? Thanks :D

It's good you found the remote from the other key, pretty sure you need it to register any new ones. The reason that the key (the one you found) won't open or start the car, is because when you register a new one, the oldest key that had been programmed will no longer work. This is because only 4 keys can be programmed at one time. The previous owner must have had a total of 4 keys made. 3 must be lost... and the one you found must have been the first master key. So when you went to make this one (which would have been an impossible 5th one) the first remote you found de-activated and transfered its power to the new one. <_< I'd swap the chip in the non-working remote with the chip in the working remote. If you take apart the black back of the remote itself, you'll notice a little 4mm x 10mm gray chip which can be slid out. So you'll have the working chip in the working remote. The chip is what allows the key to start the car. The remote is what locks and unlocks the doors. The non-working remote and chip need to be programmed. Once de-activated, it can be re-programmed just like normal. Hope that helps :)

you can try car-part.com

Yeah, they can pretty much do anything. The Toyota engines are the same as the Lexus engines, so they've seen everything before...

Oh my GOD i missed this post too... Mercury as a more reliable car than Lexus??? FORD!!??? Ford Explorer good in the snow??!! NAVIGATOR??? lol These are FAR from the best snow-handling SUV's out there... Maybe Subaru here...? The only foreign cars out there that can go over 200k miles are AMERICAN cars like FORDS!!!???? Are you for real? lol

are you kidding me??? Honda more of a performance car??? SUBARU more of a performance car?? Lexus almost as reliable as a Cadillac???? I don't know which comment makes less sense... :o

That's totally possible <_< and a good place you could try is ebay.com or: http://www.car-part.com/ You can search for any used car part from local junkyards using your zip. It's pretty cool! There are endless things you can do to your headlights to make them stand out. Take a look on hidplanet.com and you'll be amazed! B)

I like what you've done Esscee400 B) I love the mirror tint (reminds me of my old rx300's), i love the HID's with yellow fogs (i love that combination) and i love the condition it's in! If i had to get an SC that's exactly how mine would look like too <_< I'm 20yrs old and it's true, you will hear people putting the Lexus down, but it's just because they're jealous!

There's a guy on the forum who seems to know a lot about the lexus nav units, you might wanna try asking him. His username is dcfish.

thanks man ill try that tomorrow also do u think its a good idea to upgrade my fog light to hid with a hid kit. if i can do i need a relay harness, and how many watts 35w or 55w? Hmm, i guess it's safe to add an HID kit to the fogs. Usually i would say no since the fog reflectors aren't designed for an HID bulb and would cause glare, but the fog lights are so low that the glare wouldn't bother other drivers. In my experience with Lexus lights and HID conversion, you don't need a harness. The oem halogen lights can allow for the current needed to run a 35w ballast and 35w HID bulb. Not sure about 50 or 55w though, that might be a stretch. It's sort of overkill IMO anyways <_< I'd suggest buying a set of DENSO ballasts to run the fog HID bulbs too, so they match the factory low's. Different ballasts work differently and you might be able to see the difference. And for the bulbs, you can buy the 6000k philips bulbs re-based in the halogen light size so they'll fit right in the fog housings <_<

Nope - Just the shifter panel. Guess you're right, a loose bulb.......Now if I could only figure out how to get to it! Pry up the wood shifter surround piece with a philips screwdriver, then you'll be able to find it. There's only one bulb i think...

I don't wanna drive 7 months a year with loud tires just for a few snow days... I'll go for a "better" compromise but not a total sacrifice...

Well it's been snowing here the past few days and i've had more experience with the 400h in snow. Only new thing i've noticed is that the 400h doesn't STOP or TURN with even the smallest amount of snow on the ground. Now THIS is a tire issue. The oem Michelin tires have such tiny slits in them, that the snow just builds up in there, practically making the tires bald in snow. The Bridgestone dueler alenza's i had on my old Rx300 didn't create this issue. <_< Next winter i think i'll be investing in some Alenza's for my winter set. i'll put these Michelin tires on my summer set (since my present summer set aren't the best either) and buy a new set of alenza's for the winter.

You want a more user friendly nav so you'd go with a BMW 7???? :o The BMW nav units are the complete OPPOSITE from user friendly. <_<

Thanks Rx400h! It's good to know, as my next set of tires will probably be the Alenza's. I had the Alenza's on my Rx300 and i loved them. <_<