Random Dim Mileage Reading on Q45
Random Dim Mileage Reading on Q45
Once in a while, the trip odometer dims out especially on the left side of the reader. If I'm not making myself clear, it's the orange read-out located at the lower left hand side corner of '90-'93 instrument panels (lower right corner for '94-'96) that displays mileage or warnings. Anyway this read-out is about an inch in length that displays A & B trip odometer readings. Once in a while, the first half-inch from the left dims out and I can barely read the numbers...except for the later digits in a 4 digit string (meaning seeing only "1.1" clearly from a "201.1" mileage display). This goes on for days or months until it returns to normal brightness. Last week, that whole display went out completely for the first time ever for what seemed like a week. Then all a sudden, it came back to life and now it's displaying the full orange text without any problems. What gives? Is the car haunted?
There are two little bulbs that illuminate the LED and the contacts often corrode slightly. The bad news is you have to remove the instrument cluster to deal with the problem. A careful search will find discussion here on the details for doing that. I just shined up the contacts on mine, some people prefer to replace the bulbs to avoid ever going in there again.