Barely Visable Odometer
 

I had been having gauge cluster lighting problems and after taking out the dash and following wires around and testing for everything, it turned out to be the TNS Relay, replaced it and everything's back to normal...

Except the odometer. I thought that I couldn't even see it at first, so I messed around with connectors and tried them upside down and everything. When I got it all back together, I noticed that I could barely see the odometer. It's an LED system and I was under the impression LEDs either worked or they didn't. There's a diode on the printed circuit and it seems to be working properly. Why is it so dim and how can I fix this?

I did a search and all I found was that it could be the dimmer knob... that didn't fix it, so anyone???

Richard

ahh
look to jus the right of the gauge cluster for the dimmer
thats prob ur problem, its jus a little roller switch roll it up :)

richard i have the same problem with mine. mine happened after i installed my boost guage. it's so dim it doesn't look like it's on, but you can kind of see it in the light. and it's not that the dimmer is turned down, because the rest of the guages (including the boost guage) dim and brighten with the dimmer. there's no reason for the odometer to be attached to the dimmer anyway is there? i don't believe it dims with the guages? i could be wrong, my poor fd's been sitting for months waiting for a rebuild. i forget what the interior even looks like sometimes:tear:

israel I know I know :(
The best thing you can do is treat it right when you get it back though
Do the breakin and then enjoy it.
I've had my fd since June 23d 02 and I've put on 5000 miles with at least 2k of that on highway miles!! It is my daily driver when its working though...

About the lighting problem did you see those bulbs on the back of the gauges? Maybe there is on for the mileage you need to replace?

The last line in my first post was

"I did a search and all I found was that it could be the dimmer knob... that didn't fix it, so anyone???"

The dimmer is not a part of the odometer and I have checked every bulb in the back of the dash cluster. The way it looks is that the odometer has it's own circuit board underneath the rest of the gauge cluster printed circuit. I haven't taken apart the dash yet to verify this, but I'm assuming there is a bulb in there that may have gone out. There is one screw that attaches to the printed circuit for odo (I assume is odometer) and that screw is responsible for carrying the signal underneath the rest of the gauges.

Can anyone verify the insides of the dash cluster, and specifically another circuit board for the odometer with a light bulb?

Richard

Ummm... my odometer dims right along with the rest of the dash lights. Recall that it is an LED setup, and the brightness is most likely controlled by a voltage signal from the dimmer pot output (simple sensor circuit type thingie). You might be seeing the case where the OD computer chip (right on the back of the speedo) is no longer "seeing" the voltage output from the dimmer, and is reverting to the lowest level LED output, and/or produces this when the dimmer voltage signal is low (meaning in your case gone). Betcha a solder connection has come loose that would run from the dash lights to the OD chip. But the manual doesn't give circuit board level information, so I can't say where specifically to look.

Therefore, I suck!! :)