Istrument Cluster LCD Burnout - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

GDietrich · 04-21-2004, 05:40 AM

Hi All,

I just purchased my first Boxster - 1998 - and I love it! I've had it for 10 days and so far the weather has been very good to me!

Anywho, I just ran into what I think will be a very costly problem.

The LCD screen that displays the speed (below the Tach) has gone dark. Although I can still read the display (if I squit REALLY hard) the back light has clearly gone out.

I called Porsche and received a quote of $1,160 to replace the entire cluster. Does anybody have any simple answers or fixes or do I have to pry open the wallet and fork over money for this small problem?

Thanks much!

Greg

Tool Pants · 04-21-2004, 07:52 AM

Replace the middle light bulb in the back of the cluster.

GDietrich · 04-21-2004, 09:31 AM

Hi Tool Pants,

Thanks for the reply. So the LCD screen is lighted by a single bulb? That sounds odd to me. Everything else in the Dash lights up - so you think it's a single bulb? Have you had this problem before? If so, that's much cheaper than 1200 bucks!

Thanks much!

Greg

Tool Pants · 04-21-2004, 10:00 AM

Each LCD display has a bulb behind it. When the bulb burns out then you cannot see the display. When you get the cluster out you will see a bunch of bulb holders. The 3 tan colored ones are for the displays.

We have replaced a few over the years. The bulb and the holder is a single part. I have never seen them at an auto parts place, so it is a Porsche dealer item but they are just a few dollars. Someone found one at a Volvo dealer of all places. I guess VDO makes their clusters as well.

Try the bulb replacement and see if that is the problem.

GDietrich · 04-21-2004, 10:58 AM

Tool Pants!

The picture and your description was all I needed to see/read! Listen to this... I called Porsche earlier this morning, described the problem, and they told me the entire cluster had to be replaced! Can you believe it!!

Thanks so much for saving me $1200. I feel I owe ya! Next time a bulb goes out in your car, let me know! It's on me!

Greg

Tool Pants · 04-21-2004, 08:35 PM

$1,200 minus the cost of the bulb if that is the problem. And if it is find another dealer. The new style cluster that started in 2001 does not have bulbs.

GDietrich · 04-26-2004, 07:36 AM

TP,

I pulled the cluster and it was clear the bulb had blown. However, I'm experiencing a new problem - the bulb blows everytime I turn the car on to test it. Any ideas?

Thanks

G

Tool Pants · 04-26-2004, 02:26 PM

This is a new one for me. All 3 bulbs plug into the same circuit board so I do not see how you can have a problem with 1 and not the other 2. But I am not good with electrical stuff.

Try another bulb but test it first with an ohm meter so you know you did not put in a bad replacement bulb.

donv · 04-27-2004, 08:50 AM

Does sound strange.

I'm no expert on the Boxster cluster wiring, but you might consider these ideas: Is the cluster out of the dash while you are testing it? Is only one bulb of the three blowing? If so, you might want to try 2 things:

1) if you have a voltmeter, check the voltage at the lamp sockets. Be careful not to short anything (just being paranoid, but you don't want to risk your $1200 cluster by shorting something else on the board). From the look of ToolPants' image of the bulb holder, there should be some easy to access surface pads on the board where the holder makes contact. They should all 3 likely read the same voltage. If not, we may need to follow up from there...

2) Sometimes car electricals have issues with "floating ground" - if the cluster is not installed in the normal position (actually, even if it is...), make sure that any ground wire or connection is properly made. This may be a screw connection to a metal part or a jumper wire if it is not integrated into the wire harness. Floating grounds can cause current to run through an alternate path to ground that is not designed to handle the load, like a bulb...