I just noticed this today. Any else ever seen this before? You can see where I rubbed at the dust accumulation to see if there was any obstruction. I'm guessing there's some bulb that failed. Time to dig into the FSM...

 

Nothing new- a lot of LED's are burning out in the clusters and in these cars in general. At least yours is not flashing. Mine sometimes flashes more than the damn disco ball at 54. For as little as I drive the car I ignore it- that and I have zero patience and even less to try soldering.

Here is a link to a YouTube video showing the cluster LED repair. It is a project not for the faint of heart:

 

Awesome, thanks, that's exactly the video I needed.

Now I just have to decide on what route to take. For posterity that may need it, here's the applicable FSM info.

 

Some have decided to just get a junkyard cluster and call it a day. The clusters are plug-and-play with the exception that the mileage (odometer) will be different. There are services that can correct the mileage, etc. However, if you have the skills- and patience- the project is very doable.

Too much hassle (for me)...

And here LED's were supposed to be long life... yeah...

Good luck!

 

Is Dan Holt on this forum perchance?

 

Yes, danholt32. However, he has not been on this forum in about 2 years, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Awesome, many thanks.

 

Its a common issue on 08-10 for this to happen shortly they will all go out and the tach will stop working.i have repaired over a thousand of these for the same issue.

 

 

Nice work. When you have the skills anything is possible.

 

That's some impressive work, Cjandura. I personally really like my '09's color scheme. Just feels like the right combination of white, blue, and red. And I had to chuckle at myself when I realized how much colour schemes matter to me when using loaner Q50s and the like. I'm making note of your work, since when I end up with something new at some point in the hopefully far distant future, I'll likely be contacting you to tailor things to my liking if the new color schemes continue to remain so sterile.

Do you use the 160-2044-1-ND or something else for the whites? Or do you have your own secret sauce you'd be remiss to divulge?

With regard to "the tach will stop working", do you mean the 08-10s have a common issue that transcends just the lighting aspect and the tach needle will literately stop moving as well? I have this on the back burner do to more pressing items on my to-do list; is that unwise?

 

Thank You for the comps.i actually have a company that makes a private line of leds for me otherwise i will use Osram only in my projects.the ones used by the oem are LG brand they later switched to osram due to the issues as well as moto volt regs for the other issues this speedometer has.yes the issue of leds extends to the operation of the gauge also due to they share the power connections so when the leds die which happen in banks of 3 leds eventually it kills off the power to the tach then the fuel/temp gauge.the same process happens on the earlier years 05-07 but is a much more involved process of repair.

 

In looking at Dan Holt's video, it seems he's only soldering on the left points? Are the other points just there for physical support or some such, not electrical conductivity? Or am I mis-seeing things?

If indeed the only solder points to worry about are the two left ones [with A being the top left solder point and B being the bottom left solder point], for a 2-PLCC like the 160-2044-1-ND (instead of the 4-PLCC used in that video), how should that be lined up, the green or the blue or either locations?

 

Hum, so purely replacing the white LEDs would be inadvisable and the moto volt regs should be replaced as well? Do you perchance offer a 'repair kit' of sorts? PM en route.