2013 Corolla instrument cluster

[The Real Bev]

It only lights up when I have the headlights on, which is annoying. Is this normal or is something broken? One of the little knobs adjusts the brightness, but only with the headlights on.

[micky]

Not the same problem but similar effect. My 2005 Toyota Solara clock cluster lights, for the clock and 2 or 3 other things, only go on at night, even though I can't see what they say during the day time unless I'm driving away from the sun. Even with the headlights on. Even worse when the top is down. I think it's a mistake in design by Toyota.

Even if I block the light sensor on the dash so that the car thinks it's night time, the headlights go on but not these lights.

I've tried rewiring the dash, but ended up with a little flashlight in the console to shine on the LCDs.

emailed also because it's an old thread.

[The Real Bev]

They clearly put all their expertise into reliability, etc. And it never occurred to them to make the driver's seat raise up a few more inches for us NORMAL people? I'm not even that short, I just want to be higher, especially with the reduced window area so prevalent in cars now!

Not necessary, usenet is sufficiently immortal!

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[micky]

They make other mistakes too. In the 2005 Solara, the fob opens the trunk but not if the engine is running. There's a lever on the floor to open it, like in 2000, but in 2000, if you were parked with the top down, or even the window open, anyone could climb over the trunk or lean in the window and open the trunk. So in 2005, they let you lock that, but then the only way to open it was to turn off the engine and use the fob. (I installed a button on the dash, but I had to root through the wires at the bottom of the left kick panel to find the one to the trunk lock.)

2 of my 3 Lebarons had only mechanical trunk releases, which could be disabled in the trunk lid, but then I had to get out and use the key. Electric trunk releases can be set to only work when the ignition is on.

The Solara is set so you can't raise or lower the top if you're going more than iirc 3 mph, so I had to find and cut that wire. OTOH, the recent Buick convertible is set so you can't go more than 30 mph. Yikes. Even I would never go over 15 or 20, or I'd sail away like a kite!

I knew you'd have the thread in your computer, but I thought it might be so far up on the page, above the top of the monitor, you wouldn't see it.

[trader_4]

Are you sure the issue is that the light isn't going on? Or is it that the light is on at a low level and you just can't see the indicators in daylight because it's so low? If that's the case, they used to use small replaceable bulbs for these, but yours is probably LED in which case you're hosed. Likely need a new display, whatever the cause.

[The Real Bev]

I used Thunderbird 38 and have it set to show threads with new messages. That seems to work better than 'new messages'.

[micky]

No, the light is not on at all. I'm 100% sure.

When the light does go on, it's plenty bright enough.

I don't think it's broken.

I looked for it anyhow last spring, but either it was too expensive or I coudln't find it.

In your honor I tried again. Here's the whole thing

$700, new, it must include everything, not just the bezel.

Here is a list of all the parts:

what they call the center panel is part 10. Part of it is part 9, which is hard to tell by the drawing, but it's the clock, and i'm 99% sure that's all 3 LCD instruments. It's the guts of the first part I listed. I took it apart that much but there were no screws beyond that point, only glue or something. is the guts alone and it's only $406 which would be a lot even if I was sure it would fix it.

I looked for used last time, but let me look again.

The trouble is that using cluster makes everything look for speedometer clusters, and saying clock only doesn't find it.

But here is one:

$95 That's just what it looks like inside.

And here, I think, is another for only $40

first picture is bad, on my monitor, but the other pictures make clear it's the one. And there was another one too.

Taking apart this part of the dash again isn't that easy either, considering that the problem is that I think mine is misdesigned, not broken. I see cars like mine every few months. I saw one yesterday or Friday. If I can remember where, I'd go back and find the owner and ask him if his works any differently/better. (It might be only a block from some place I was going to anyhow.)

If I could break into the DMV computer, I'd go see several owners.

I have a string of follow-ups I was going to finish and post when I have time.

[micky]

So a big question is, how does the clock light know it's not really dark out, when the headlights are stupid enough to be fooled when I cover the light sensor**? If covering the light sensor would work, I'd cover it all the time and that would be fine.

**A one-inch red plastic dome on the dashboard. There are actually two of them. I can't remember what the other one does and I can't find it in the wiring diagram, but I covered both of them.

The flashlight has worked well on two occasions, but I can't just glance at the instrument. It's a 5-step process.