So I decided to change my LEDs in my gauge cluster today... needless to say, I failed terribly. the two LEDs that light up the RPM gauge worked, but the rest just shorted out or something. so now I have dark spots, blue spots, red spots, and orange spots all over my gauge cluster.. fml. If anyone has any suggestions as to what may have went wrong, please let me know before I order a new cluster from Toyota tomorrow..
Fail....
- Thread starter gc_harvey
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babyboi2284
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The LEDs work with each other. If one has a cold joint or burnt out then it will mess with the others. When I did mine I checked it after EVERY led was soldered in (plugged it back in the truck) It was a pain but worth it. Get a volt meter and check each one. Put it on an led that you didn't change out and whatever that one reads then make sure the others give the same reading.
In the how to it said that the notch on the LEDs have to be the same direction as the stock LEDs...but I had to put mine in the opposite direction (ex. if the stocker notch was in the upper right corner I had to put the new one in the bottom left corner)
In the how to it said that the notch on the LEDs have to be the same direction as the stock LEDs...but I had to put mine in the opposite direction (ex. if the stocker notch was in the upper right corner I had to put the new one in the bottom left corner)
rich017
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You also have to make sure that the LED's are in the right way. Meaning current can only flow through them one way so if any are hooked up backwards, they will not light up. Light Emitting Diode (LED). A diode will only let current flow through it one way.
I done this mod to my Cobalt when I had it and it worked out good.. If one was in the wrong way (negative on positive side or vise versa) it wouldn't light up, but the others still would. I tried taking the lights off on this one and turning them a separate way, and I tried putting one on at a time and plugging it back in the truck, but still no luck. Is it possible that I fried something in it?
rich017
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Depends how the circuit board is. The one on your cobalt could have been a parallel circuit. The one on our trucks sounds like it's a series.
Just make sure that they are all the right way, soldered in good.
x20Runner05
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I would listen to other guys as far as the info on how to get it done right as i have not done the led gauge lights. According to alldata.com the cluster is about $300. I use that for all my side jobs for parts n price info.
Unfortunately, I checked made sure they were all soldered in good and they still didn't work. I had a problem with getting the lights soldered in and not melting the LED though. The tacho lights worked the whole time, but the speedo lights are where the problems started. The actual backing light worked on the speedo for a while, but the needle lights wouldn't work no matter how I done it. I spent 4 hours just soldering the LEDs in different ways, so I think that I may have just over-heated the circuit board and melted something.. could that be the case?
well that sux.. I hope I didn't.
I broke the clear plastic cover that goes over it and I couldn't get just that one piece according to the Toyota parts person, so I had to go ahead and get the whole gauge cluster. I hope I can fix what I messed up and then combine the good parts and have a nice, good looking cluster
I got a new, smaller soldering gun too. :top:
I really don't know.. the old one was a real cheap one, so probably not much. The new one is miniature, so it can't be much. lol. it's literally about the size of a pencil (the new one)
