Recap - Center instrument lights dont work in day time

[micky]

Recap - Center instrument lights don't work in day time.

We discussed this probably 2 summers ago. I remember that Trader posted.

For a 2005 Toyota Solara, with instruments above the radio and the center AC vents: outside thermometer, clock, misc (DTE, MPG, Avg MPG, iirc Avg MPH) Only lights up at night, so I can't read the gauges during most days.

I probably told you that I took the gauges out, with their lights, and tried various jumper wires to give them 12v all the time, to get them to light up. Nothing worked. I put the car back together with a couple wires** dangling inside the dash in case I came up with a brainstorm.

I found the part for sale online, used, but it's not just the price $30, but the effort to put it in and the likelihood of damaging the 15-year old vinyl dash***, so I didn't want to do that until I was sure that would help.

I went looking for a car like mine. Found one at the hospital when I went to visit a friend, but was too lazy to leave a note. Found another and did leave a note but he didn't call me. Every year there seems to be fewer cars that look like mine. Today I found one same color, same color top, at a strip mall. I wrote her a note, but I also waited 20 minutes and she came out of the grocery. Short little woman about 60 with a mask. Perhaps she robbed the cashier. But she was nice. She let me stick my head in the car on the passenger side, and then on the driver''s side. 4PM I asked her to put the headlights on. She said they were on.

IT TURNS OUT I HAVE BLACK LCDs on a grey background, and she had green LEDs on a black background. No wonder she can see her gauges. Her car was also 2 years newer than mine, the last time they made a convertible that big.

I think the part is over $200 new but only about 35 used. Once I get straight the difference in part numbers between 2005 and 2007, I'll replace the guages with their built in lights.

Clearly, I wasn't the only one to complain.

**Also in the left side of the dash board, I took out some printed circuit board, found the annoying buzzer that buzzed whenever the keys were in the ignition and the engine wasn't running. And I used pliers to crush the buzzer, until I could remove all its parts. In case I failed to notice something, and for fear I'd miss tthe buzzer, I attached wires to each end of where it would be, and let them dangle inside the dash, but I don't miss it at all. It was the most productive thing I've done to the car.

***Her dash only had one crack, although it was 16". Mine has 11 cracks, all shorter. Probably parked outside all its life. But they're not geting wider or longer. This is her 3rd Solara and was bought new, but the first two were not convertibles, and she doeesn't put the top down on this one. 2007 is the last year this model was made.

[Thomas]

And I used pliers to crush the buzzer, until I could remove all its parts. 

That's some good shit right there.

[Dean Hoffman]

Did anyone suggest blocking the sensor to make the dash think it's in perpetual darkness? This sounds like the universal fixit, duct tape, could be used.

[invalid unparseable]

The dashboard lights are related to the headlights. If you turn the headlights on, the dashboard lights will turn on at the same time.

I think his problem is that he has his headlights on "AUTO" so that the lights turn on automatically when it is dark outside. I think that's why he cannot see the dashboard light up until it's dark outside. All he has to do is  MANUALLY  turn on the headlights so the instruments in the dashboard would be lit during daylight hours.

[micky]

I tried that. Didn't work. Yes, it seems like it should have but it didn't.

[micky]

That's true of the left end of the dashboard, the speedometer etc., but not the center.

I tried all the positions of the headlight switch.

Nope.

[Clare Snyder]

From what I see, the problem is in the LCD panel which is supposed to switch to a "daylight" mode when the headlights/dashlights are off. All the other mofules work but the "center stack" or HVAC control unit doesn't as some part of tat module has failed. Replacing the module with a "known good" unit will in all likelihood solve the problem.

[micky]

I th ought about it and it's hard to believe that didn't work, even though I specifically rmemeber trying it.

But I went to try it again today, and it's so cloudy out, the dash lights were already one. When there's a sunny day, I'll try to remember to try again.

[micky]

I think you're right**. Problem is, a new unit costs over $300. A used unit costs about $30, and some say they have been connected and tested, and I believe them, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect that they tested every feature. I think it means that numbers appear in all

3 gauges, that the clock keeps time and maybe that it lights up. I don't think they test for turning the back light on and off. My current one lights up at night***. What it doesn't do is light up when the light sensor says its dark out***. Is that absurd, or what? ***Maybe I can figure out the difference between real night time, when it lights up fine, and fake night time, when I've covered the light sensor. Covering the light sensor works, mostly, in that it makes the headlight and taillights go on. About 30 seconds after I cover it. Then when I uncover it, about 30 seconds later, they go off. But the light on the 3 gauges doesn't go on either way. It remains off. (Yet yesterday, a cloudy day, the backlight went on when I turned on the car. But now it won't go on when he sensor is covered by 4 layers of a black t-shirt. Shaking my head! And at night, the 3 gauges light up fine. What is night if it's not darkness on that sensor. I'm sure the lights aren't connected to the clock because for one thing, it's a 12-hour clock. ) **I tested again today. Doing so reminded me that I did these same tests 2 summers ago. FWIW there are actually two light sensors on the dash. The left one works with the AC, so that the AC runs more strongly on a very sunny day. The right one works with the headlights, tail lights and dash lights. But when I covered them, I covered both of them. The AC is not on anyhow.

At the start of this thread I was just going to buy a second-hand unit from 2007, because the one I saw worked, but then I realized it depended on 12v to light up the LEDs even during the day and my 2005 car doesnt' have LEDs and might well not work with a 2007 gauge unit. What I need is a 2005 unit that's not broken.

If one of them has broken in a certain way, it's more likely than it would otherwise be that another is broken in the same way. I went through this with the fob receiver. On the 2000 Solara, the fob stopped working, both fobs at the same time. So it's the receiver, right? So I bought one on ebay and it didn't work any better. It was an easy part to replace so I think I bought a second one and it didn't work either. These gauges are much harder to replace, much more likely to damage the vinyl dash, and I don't want to do all that if the replacement will also be broken. Back to ***Maybe I can figure out the difference between real night time and fake night time.

[invalid unparseable]

It looks like your instrument panel lighting is controlled by the time-of-day. It was programed to light up during certain hours.

Try to change your clock to night time during the day and see if it lights up.

[micky]

....

It does seem that way.

But it's a 12-hour clock. Doesn't know day-time from night-time.

>

[Jim Joyce]

If you have access to a factory service manual (FSM), there might be a diagnostic self-test described there that will test the various sensors, just to rule them out as culprits.

Anecdote: In 2005 I bought a 2002 Toyota Highlander for $4000 less than the other

2002 Highlanders were all going for. Why so cheap, because the automatic climate control didn't work and it was going to be a $3600 repair. Manual heating and cooling was fine, so I bought it. Doing some research, I discovered the sequence for initiating the diagnostic self test of the climate control system*, which reported that the in-cabin temp sensor was either disconnected or not responding. I reached up under the dash, found the dangling wire and reconnected it to the sensor. That fixed it. *On that vehicle, with the ignition off, I needed to press and hold 3 specific buttons on the dash, turn the ignition on, then release the three buttons. The climate control system went through an extensive test of each of its functions and at the end it displayed a series of codes on the radio display. The FSM had an explanation for each of the possible codes.

Not saying you have a sensor disconnected, but maybe the diag can point you in the direction of an easy fix.