New Gauge Problem

[Fleethammer]

Some time ago I did a full LED swap in my 05 V8 including the gauge cluster. After a while one of the LEDs near the gas gauge stopped working. I finally got around to replacing it (the LED now works BTW) and now I have an interesting problem- the gas gauge has gone crazy! Check the video out-



There were no problems before other than the LED going out. The gas gauge seems to have a mind of it's own and makes up where it wants to end and where it wants to return to. I have done gauge swaps before and correctly mark the locations of the needles before I remove them and I absolutely removed/re-installed the needles correctly.

Any ideas on this one???

 

[wnelax04sr5]

[MENTION=63211]emelianenkov[/MENTION] ?

 

[CookieRoe]

2 problems.

1) apparently the needle isn't sitting right. You mentioned it is installed correctly.
2) after turning the ACC on twice, the needle goes to different locations. Weird.

both problems could stem from a bad stepper motor (motor that moves the needle). check out linky:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/179530-instrument-cluster-help.html

Could be the answer???

 

[emelianenkov]

Alrighty! Here's my thoughts:

1. You could have pressed the needle down too far, causing it to bind on the gauge face. When you turn the key, do you hear any scraping as the needle moves?

2. Needle is misaligned. I'd recommend reseating the needle at the E position as it would normally sit, but don't push down too hard on it.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any further questions or issues! I'd be glad to take a look at em for you. See if we can't figure it out for ya.

 

[Fleethammer]

Thanks for the replies everyone! At this time I've resigned myself to the stepper motor that moves the gas gauge needle. emelianenkov, I initially thought perhaps it was binding but I've since reset the needle numerous times, pressing it in to various depths but to no avail. I tried to zero the gauges out by cycling the key after removing the needles but that didn't help either. What's interesting is that the movement of the needle is not smooth in either direction no matter where I set it to. Seems that the motor is struggling at times. I'll take my gauges apart and get the numbers off the stepper motor and reach out to the seller in the suggested thread and report back after I replace it!

 

[riceandpho]

I would try the zero point calibration, there's a procedure you have to do, it was related to some cluster thread I posted.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

It looks almost like the polarity on the stepper motor is somehow reversed? The entire sweep in the video is backwards from what it should be.

Is it possible you connected a circuit backwards when you went to install the new LED?

 

[tjhaf2007]

I had the same issue with my 03 dash. my temp gauge stopped working after i changed my lights to a different color a few times too many. some of the ic's on the board are sensitive and i came to the conclusion that i messed one of the ic's up or something. i never was able to figure out which one, i just used it as an excuse to get a gauge pod, one side for trans temp and the other for coolant temp.

 

[Fleethammer]

Well it wasn't the stepper motor. I replaced it and the guage is still malfunctioning. Probably an uber sensitive component on the board got fried from the heat of the solder iron. Oh well, time for a new set of gauges

 

[BlackWorksInc]

There's no chance you somehow soldered something backwards?

 

[Fleethammer]

I checked the LED that I replaced and the polarity is correct. That's the only thing I touched besides the stepper motor which came be soldered in backwards due to the pin layout. It's just odd that the gas gauge would bad after replacing an LED, which is why I suspect another tiny component on the circuit board went bad from the heat of the solder iron.

There's no chance you somehow soldered something backwards?

 

[BlackWorksInc]

That sucks

 

[riceandpho]

have you try to do the zero point calibration for the cluster yet?