Clock/Oil Gauge LED in Instrument Cluster went dark -- thoughts on how to fix?
 

Hi all.

Pretty new to 986s (though I have a couple other Porsches: longhood 911, 924S, 944(s), 928).

My brother bought me a blue/tan 90K mile 2000 2.7 with a dual bearing IMS (replaced with a ceramic from LN along with clutch before he gave it to me).

I was trying to figure out what happened to the clock the other day -- I thought it rendered below the digital speed -- when I realized that in fact the entire LED in the right-hand most instrument cluster had gone dark.

is this a problem anyone else has seen?

Are there any fixes?

Or do I need to track down a replacement cluster?

If so, how hard is it to remove/replace the cluster?

You may just have a burned out bulb. If you go to the Pelican Parts How To Section there are instructions on how to remove the dash cluster and replace a bulb.
IIRC it just a couple of screws to remove.

Are all of the little screens backlit?

My experience is that an LED, even when not backlit, will still render messages in daylight (this is what the odometer on my Land Rover D2 does: shows mileage in dalylight, is dark at night).

That said, these 986 LED screens -- even the ones that work -- are pitch black when the power is off.

Does anyone out there have insight on the actual operation/mode(s) of the LEDs in the cluster?

Yes, all the LCD Screens are backlight.
Read the "How To" Article on the Pelican Parts site.
Its under "Electrical,Headlights, and Gauges".
Its titled "Instrument Cluster-Tachometer Bulb Replacement".
The article contains complete instructions.
Figures/Photos #15 and 20 show the bulbs for the LCD Screens.

Thanks, then I guess I'll start by pulling the cluster and replacing the bulb(s) and see if that works.

Are these the bulbs I need?

Pelican has a black base instrument cluster bulb and a beige one.

From the "How To" it looks like the three (3) LED bulbs are beige, the individual indicator/idiot lights are black.

Can anyone confirm?

Update.**** Fixed.

It was the the incandescent bulb backlighting the clock/oil level LED gauge.

Followed a Pelican tech article and a youtube video to remove the instrument cluster in 5 minutes.

Got "bayonet" style bulbs from Pelican, cleaned everything up (30 minutes), then reversed the process.

Perhaps the easiest fix I have ever done on a Porsche.

Awesome! Thanks for posting the solution! :dance::cheers:

When that happened to me, I just went ahead and replaced ALL the bulbs. My thinking is that if one burns out.....the rest could follow soon.....LOL