2007 Instrument Cluster Repair
December 2nd, 2020, 1:32 PM
#161
Well they are obviously blue, LOL. They are about 480nm wavelengh. 120 degree dispersion. King Bright brand. You can find them from a number of sources. Also BTW you have to figure out how to replace the needles in the right spot so that the gauges stay calibrated. I use test gear and a harness to connect and power up the board on my bench so that they are always calibrated.
Last edited by Draxarian; December 2nd, 2020 at 1:34 PM.
December 2nd, 2020, 2:34 PM
#162
CF Beginner
Well they are obviously blue, LOL. They are about 480nm wavelengh. 120 degree dispersion. King Bright brand. You can find them from a number of sources. Also BTW you have to figure out how to replace the needles in the right spot so that the gauges stay calibrated. I use test gear and a harness to connect and power up the board on my bench so that they are always calibrated.
December 2nd, 2020, 3:28 PM
#163
The wavelength is how color is determined. It's more than RGB etc. The 120 degree dispersion is the angle spread of the light. Think of like a maglight flashlight. You can have a pointed spot bean or a wider dispersed beam covering a larger area. If you get LEDs with narrower dispersion, say less than 100 deg. You could end up with hot sposts instead of a nice uniformly backlit display. Making more sense? A bench tester is more than a harness and a power supply. Plus you have to know what connects to what pin. Which have voltage and which do not. got your PM but I am slammed today and way from my parts bin.
December 3rd, 2020, 2:20 AM
#164
CF Beginner
The wavelength is how color is determined. It's more than RGB etc. The 120 degree dispersion is the angle spread of the light. Think of like a maglight flashlight. You can have a pointed spot bean or a wider dispersed beam covering a larger area. If you get LEDs with narrower dispersion, say less than 100 deg. You could end up with hot sposts instead of a nice uniformly backlit display. Making more sense? A bench tester is more than a harness and a power supply. Plus you have to know what connects to what pin. Which have voltage and which do not. got your PM but I am slammed today and way from my parts bin.
December 8th, 2020, 4:35 PM
#165
Well guys, I just developed the infamous 2007 Instrument Cluster darkness. No odometer or any info, and very dim PRD. I'm guessing what everyone is posting here is going to have to happen. My dealership that I called for the replacement, $687.00 That's a no from me dawg. Local shops still wanting $120-250 to repair the board, and that is radicicols. Going to pull the cluster, and see myself what all it looks like behind there so I can tell the shop I decide to send it too what exactly is wrong with it.
BTW I have 2 questions;
1. Besides the LL2705 MOSFET, what other transistors can you use?
2. What bulbs are you using to get such beautiful dashboards?
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Time to go pull it out.
BTW I have 2 questions;
1. Besides the LL2705 MOSFET, what other transistors can you use?
2. What bulbs are you using to get such beautiful dashboards?
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Time to go pull it out.
December 16th, 2020, 6:07 PM
#167
CF Beginner
Nice man! By fixing do you just do the MOSFET replacement, or add LED's or do you do other services too? Do you have a shop you repair them at or are the clusters shipped to a residential address? That's a solid price for the MOSFET replacement.
December 18th, 2020, 12:42 PM
#168
CF Beginner
All right guys, I'm here with an update. Before even pulling the cluster I obviously had questions. One thing I can tell you is that these people who are doing it for $100, $200, or $300 do not want to give you answers. Plus on top of that they tend to get pretty rude when you're just asking simple questions such as how many LEDs do I need, or what kind of LEDs did you use.
Now trust me I understand that they make this money because it's their job and they repaired these daily but that is what they do, they do the repair which takes an incredible amount of skill that not everybody has.
Long story too short I joined this form to PM one member and ask a simple question of, what LEDs do you use for the cluster. Now I have not gotten permission from him to mention his name but he was the only one who actually helped. I had 7, yes seven other people tell me that I am going to screw it up if I don't hey the 150 to $200 if I don't get it professionally done. And trust me that was one of the nicer replies. Like most of us something so simple bothers us and we want to get it fixed, but when the price tag of a little tiny screen that sits below your speedometer cost as much as an entire tune up on a vehicle then I'm going to do my best to get it done.
I'm officially starting to work on it today and I enlisted one of my friends who phones and electronic store shop to help me. I hope everything goes well and I'm hoping that I can show other people who view this thread that you do not have to pay $200 or $300 just to get a couple of $0.50 parts soldered to your cluster. With it being such a common problem I feel like I want to go a completely different route than what everyone else is doing.
Now this is just me and it's the kind of person I am but obviously these people who charge what they do make good money at it so if everything goes according to plan and works out, then I would like to plug my buddy who is helping me because he is going to be a big part of this repair. And trust me, when I came to him and told him the story of what happens to these boards and everything he was absolutely appalled and said he had never done anything close to this.
Wish me luck guys, thank you.
Now trust me I understand that they make this money because it's their job and they repaired these daily but that is what they do, they do the repair which takes an incredible amount of skill that not everybody has.
Long story too short I joined this form to PM one member and ask a simple question of, what LEDs do you use for the cluster. Now I have not gotten permission from him to mention his name but he was the only one who actually helped. I had 7, yes seven other people tell me that I am going to screw it up if I don't hey the 150 to $200 if I don't get it professionally done. And trust me that was one of the nicer replies. Like most of us something so simple bothers us and we want to get it fixed, but when the price tag of a little tiny screen that sits below your speedometer cost as much as an entire tune up on a vehicle then I'm going to do my best to get it done.
I'm officially starting to work on it today and I enlisted one of my friends who phones and electronic store shop to help me. I hope everything goes well and I'm hoping that I can show other people who view this thread that you do not have to pay $200 or $300 just to get a couple of $0.50 parts soldered to your cluster. With it being such a common problem I feel like I want to go a completely different route than what everyone else is doing.
Now this is just me and it's the kind of person I am but obviously these people who charge what they do make good money at it so if everything goes according to plan and works out, then I would like to plug my buddy who is helping me because he is going to be a big part of this repair. And trust me, when I came to him and told him the story of what happens to these boards and everything he was absolutely appalled and said he had never done anything close to this.
Wish me luck guys, thank you.
December 18th, 2020, 10:14 PM
#169
To all.
I am the one that responded to his questions and sought to help. I will help anyone that wants to DIY. However I draw the line at doing all the work for them. I won't post all the dialogue with him. Though I am tempted given the way he was tried to besmerch those of us that actually have done the work to figure it all out, given there are no schematics publicly available for board level repair and have spent the time to actually create schematics for the clusters and the signal tracing for all pins on the header. Again, something that isn't really widely available. Those of us that actually fix clusters affordably are not against helping others. Rather experience has shown how many destroy their clusters trying to save a few bucks. The Cluster is a complex computer. The PRNDL and DIC displays are driven by very small parts that are very delicate. We simply don't want to see people cause themselves more expense than needed.
I gave him the following.
A very fair quote for repair. Prior to that I answered numerous questions.
I told him that often it isn't the FET, that there are a dozen other failures that will kill the displays. Mine wasn't the fet even tho reading here I was sure. Only to find it to not be blown.
I gave him the wavelengh of the LED's I used.
I gave him the dispersion angle.
I gave him the name of the MFGR.
I gave him the MFGR part number.
To which he wanted me to telling specifcally what to buy and from whom, tell him the specific number of LEDs.
I advised him of the need to have experience with soldering small surface mount components.
I suggested a quality iron for rework to minimize board damage.
I gave advise to practice removal and resoldering before working on his cluster.
I offered to fix the displays for $75 plus return shipping.
To which he expected me to fix the cluster, do an LED swap, swap the bezel and Include return shipping in that price and do this all within a single day during the 10 days prior to Christmas when there are others whose clusters are already in house. I hope all that have cluster repair issues and are seeking to do it DIY have a merry Christmas, and understand that we aren't here to profit, but to help others, but when it comes to wanting others to do all the work for you for free, that is where we draw the line. Cluster work is complex because it is a computer device with many things that can be done by an inexperienced DIY that can destroy the cluster. I have 4 clusters in house right now that were all damaged by well meaning people trying to DIY. Those clusters are now several hundred dollars due to self inflicted damages caused by not knowing what to do and having experience in surface mount rework.. One is going to require a replacement and reprogramming of the cluster to restore a working cluster in their vehicle. Their inexperience blew up their Processor, trashed 2 doz traces/pads, burned 4 of the motors.
If you want to do your repair, practice soldering and component removal on a scrap board before trying your cluster.
I am the one that responded to his questions and sought to help. I will help anyone that wants to DIY. However I draw the line at doing all the work for them. I won't post all the dialogue with him. Though I am tempted given the way he was tried to besmerch those of us that actually have done the work to figure it all out, given there are no schematics publicly available for board level repair and have spent the time to actually create schematics for the clusters and the signal tracing for all pins on the header. Again, something that isn't really widely available. Those of us that actually fix clusters affordably are not against helping others. Rather experience has shown how many destroy their clusters trying to save a few bucks. The Cluster is a complex computer. The PRNDL and DIC displays are driven by very small parts that are very delicate. We simply don't want to see people cause themselves more expense than needed.
I gave him the following.
A very fair quote for repair. Prior to that I answered numerous questions.
I told him that often it isn't the FET, that there are a dozen other failures that will kill the displays. Mine wasn't the fet even tho reading here I was sure. Only to find it to not be blown.
I gave him the wavelengh of the LED's I used.
I gave him the dispersion angle.
I gave him the name of the MFGR.
I gave him the MFGR part number.
To which he wanted me to telling specifcally what to buy and from whom, tell him the specific number of LEDs.
I advised him of the need to have experience with soldering small surface mount components.
I suggested a quality iron for rework to minimize board damage.
I gave advise to practice removal and resoldering before working on his cluster.
I offered to fix the displays for $75 plus return shipping.
To which he expected me to fix the cluster, do an LED swap, swap the bezel and Include return shipping in that price and do this all within a single day during the 10 days prior to Christmas when there are others whose clusters are already in house. I hope all that have cluster repair issues and are seeking to do it DIY have a merry Christmas, and understand that we aren't here to profit, but to help others, but when it comes to wanting others to do all the work for you for free, that is where we draw the line. Cluster work is complex because it is a computer device with many things that can be done by an inexperienced DIY that can destroy the cluster. I have 4 clusters in house right now that were all damaged by well meaning people trying to DIY. Those clusters are now several hundred dollars due to self inflicted damages caused by not knowing what to do and having experience in surface mount rework.. One is going to require a replacement and reprogramming of the cluster to restore a working cluster in their vehicle. Their inexperience blew up their Processor, trashed 2 doz traces/pads, burned 4 of the motors.
If you want to do your repair, practice soldering and component removal on a scrap board before trying your cluster.
Last edited by Draxarian; December 18th, 2020 at 10:29 PM.
The following users liked this post:
in2pro (December 19th, 2020)
December 19th, 2020, 2:45 AM
#170
CF Beginner
To all.
I am the one that responded to his questions and sought to help. I will help anyone that wants to DIY. However I draw the line at doing all the work for them. I won't post all the dialogue with him. Though I am tempted given the way he was tried to besmerch those of us that actually have done the work to figure it all out, given there are no schematics publicly available for board level repair and have spent the time to actually create schematics for the clusters and the signal tracing for all pins on the header. Again, something that isn't really widely available. Those of us that actually fix clusters affordably are not against helping others. Rather experience has shown how many destroy their clusters trying to save a few bucks. The Cluster is a complex computer. The PRNDL and DIC displays are driven by very small parts that are very delicate. We simply don't want to see people cause themselves more expense than needed.
I gave him the following.
A very fair quote for repair. Prior to that I answered numerous questions.
I told him that often it isn't the FET, that there are a dozen other failures that will kill the displays. Mine wasn't the fet even tho reading here I was sure. Only to find it to not be blown.
I gave him the wavelengh of the LED's I used.
I gave him the dispersion angle.
I gave him the name of the MFGR.
I gave him the MFGR part number.
To which he wanted me to telling specifcally what to buy and from whom, tell him the specific number of LEDs.
I advised him of the need to have experience with soldering small surface mount components.
I suggested a quality iron for rework to minimize board damage.
I gave advise to practice removal and resoldering before working on his cluster.
I offered to fix the displays for $75 plus return shipping.
To which he expected me to fix the cluster, do an LED swap, swap the bezel and Include return shipping in that price and do this all within a single day during the 10 days prior to Christmas when there are others whose clusters are already in house. I hope all that have cluster repair issues and are seeking to do it DIY have a merry Christmas, and understand that we aren't here to profit, but to help others, but when it comes to wanting others to do all the work for you for free, that is where we draw the line. Cluster work is complex because it is a computer device with many things that can be done by an inexperienced DIY that can destroy the cluster. I have 4 clusters in house right now that were all damaged by well meaning people trying to DIY. Those clusters are now several hundred dollars due to self inflicted damages caused by not knowing what to do and having experience in surface mount rework.. One is going to require a replacement and reprogramming of the cluster to restore a working cluster in their vehicle. Their inexperience blew up their Processor, trashed 2 doz traces/pads, burned 4 of the motors.
If you want to do your repair, practice soldering and component removal on a scrap board before trying your cluster.
I am the one that responded to his questions and sought to help. I will help anyone that wants to DIY. However I draw the line at doing all the work for them. I won't post all the dialogue with him. Though I am tempted given the way he was tried to besmerch those of us that actually have done the work to figure it all out, given there are no schematics publicly available for board level repair and have spent the time to actually create schematics for the clusters and the signal tracing for all pins on the header. Again, something that isn't really widely available. Those of us that actually fix clusters affordably are not against helping others. Rather experience has shown how many destroy their clusters trying to save a few bucks. The Cluster is a complex computer. The PRNDL and DIC displays are driven by very small parts that are very delicate. We simply don't want to see people cause themselves more expense than needed.
I gave him the following.
A very fair quote for repair. Prior to that I answered numerous questions.
I told him that often it isn't the FET, that there are a dozen other failures that will kill the displays. Mine wasn't the fet even tho reading here I was sure. Only to find it to not be blown.
I gave him the wavelengh of the LED's I used.
I gave him the dispersion angle.
I gave him the name of the MFGR.
I gave him the MFGR part number.
To which he wanted me to telling specifcally what to buy and from whom, tell him the specific number of LEDs.
I advised him of the need to have experience with soldering small surface mount components.
I suggested a quality iron for rework to minimize board damage.
I gave advise to practice removal and resoldering before working on his cluster.
I offered to fix the displays for $75 plus return shipping.
To which he expected me to fix the cluster, do an LED swap, swap the bezel and Include return shipping in that price and do this all within a single day during the 10 days prior to Christmas when there are others whose clusters are already in house. I hope all that have cluster repair issues and are seeking to do it DIY have a merry Christmas, and understand that we aren't here to profit, but to help others, but when it comes to wanting others to do all the work for you for free, that is where we draw the line. Cluster work is complex because it is a computer device with many things that can be done by an inexperienced DIY that can destroy the cluster. I have 4 clusters in house right now that were all damaged by well meaning people trying to DIY. Those clusters are now several hundred dollars due to self inflicted damages caused by not knowing what to do and having experience in surface mount rework.. One is going to require a replacement and reprogramming of the cluster to restore a working cluster in their vehicle. Their inexperience blew up their Processor, trashed 2 doz traces/pads, burned 4 of the motors.
If you want to do your repair, practice soldering and component removal on a scrap board before trying your cluster.
1. Kingbright 3528 (I still dont know what this is BTW - I know its a brand, then I'm guessing the color? If you google that and go to Mouser, the biggest website to sell small electronics, you get this right here. with the first LED being yellow when I complimented his nice dark blue dashboard LOL. With a website with over 50 million part numbers I knew that wasn't a part number. When I asked, I got hit with pricing of labor, pricing of shipping, and turn around time. None of which can be changed apparently.
2. Your prices, although I didn't really ask.
3. Your turn around time, although I asked if you did overnight shipping and you kept laughing at me ???
I did learn 4 things I guess, it's that 3 of the 4 people I contacted for help, either tell you their prices and if you ask a "stupid question" then you get laughed at. I mean I asked about overnight shipping, and instead of saying "Its going to be extremely expensive" or "I can do that If you email me the shipping label" but no, I just got laughed at. $75 is a fair price, I guess. You have experience and it only takes 3-5 days after you ship. So if you send it via FedEx or UPS Overnight Critical, then you'll only be without a whole instrument cluster for 6 days. I mean 6 whole days though.
I'm taking a different approach, me and a guy who works at a electronic store are trying this out on our own. I'm tired of people quoting me hundreds of dollars, and if your not ready to buy within a day they laugh at you and don't care, kind of like the guy who just replied saying he did so much for me. Which is weird because he "all for" DIY people. Strange.
I want to show everyone who has this extremely common problem, that you don't have to be treated like ****, or wait 6 days minimum or 8-12 days if you do ground to get your cluster back, and certainty not pay money and then get it from the same guy who speaks up and shares his experience. Simple logic, and I guarantee you he would've been a much nicer guy have I paid him a couple hundred dollars, but too bad, this is who he is.
I can screw this up completely, destroy the whole cluster where it never works again, but I refuse to be treated like **** then the user comes and acts like such a good man to telling me a word and 4 numbers. That's unacceptable. I'd still rather do it myself because at least I didn't get treated like **** while doing it.
PM me for full conversation, its the internet and he typed it so its all free to access. Here's a tiny screenshot of where he thinks I was being rude. Enjoy.
Spoiler
So yeah, after that I didn't reply because I was busy typing this and within the next 15 minutes I receive this.
Spoiler
