Digital Speedometer readout lowest bar does not show

[yachtlife]

For some reason the lowest bar of the digital speedometer readout doesn't show.

Anyone have fix, yet to see this specific issue addressed but perhaps have overlooked something.

[KevinH1990]

Originally Posted by yachtlife

For some reason the lowest bar of the digital speedometer readout doesn't show.

Anyone have fix, yet to see this specific issue addressed but perhaps have overlooked something.

Which model year of car do you have? Boxsters had two different speedometers. The early ones had speedometers with LCD's and the later cars had LED's. The failure mode is probably different for each type.

[yachtlife]

1997 base

lcd display

[KevinH1990]

Please post a picture of your display showing the problem. That may help someone with more knowledge than me to confirm my theory which I discuss in the following paragraphs.

I suspect that your problem is that the LCD in your display has failed. The display is about 26-years old and electronic parts don't last forever. Replacement LCD's are available. Here's an example: https://store.minitools.com/en/sepdispkit-46a-b-c-kit-of-lcd-displays-for-porsche-911-boxster-instrument-clusters-miles-version.html I have not personally used this product. You might want to search other Porsche forums to see whether you can find someone who can speak from experience.

If you don't want to attempt to replace the LCD yourself, you may be able to find a local electronics repair service to do it for you. Other options include contacting nationally-known speedometer shops such as Palo Alto Speedometer or swapping your LCDs for the LCDs from a used cluster. (You can't just swap in a used cluster without programming it.)

When I installed my 996 gauges, I used the LCD's from my Boxster cluster to replace the damaged LCDs in the 996 cluster. You can read about that here: Carrera Gauge Swap

Good luck and please post an update when you fix your problem.

[yachtlife]

the bottom bar of the 0 is lighter and in certain light conditions hard to see or impossible to see

lcd i believe, it reminds me of an early calculator when you cant see the bottom bar of the digital 8 or other number with a full bottom bar

[yachtlife]

better shots showing the bars missing

[particlewave]

It could be something on the back of the display. Check that first.

If not, get yourself one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Stripe-Screen-Ribbon-Repair/dp/B07H781LMQ

Open the cluster and zap the ribbon cable on the circuit board side with it.
Once the tip is fully heated, firmly press the silicone heat press tip onto the bonded portion of the cable. Press with about 10-15 pounds of force for a count of 10 seconds. Repeat across the entire width of the bonded portion as the tip likely won't be long enough to do it all in one pass.

After that, replace your bulb.

If that doesn't work, you either didn't do it right, or the display needs replaced.


See here:
Replacing Bad Gauge Cluster LCD (pre 2000)

[KevinH1990]

I think you can rely on Particlewave's guidance. I've used information from his posts on several occasions. It has always been on target.

I'm glad he's still contributing.

[yachtlife]

ty ty, good to know a direction to approach the issue