Odd thing; the backlight on my odometer seems to be fluctuating. It's intermittent, but it will go from normal, to brighter-than-normal, to dim, and back again. Some days it does not happen. Other days, it happens intermittently. Doesn't matter if headlights are on or off. None of the other dash or gauge lights seem to be affected, nor are the lights on the center stack, from what I've noticed. Just the ODO.

Is this a loose fuse? A lose chip on some board behind the dash? Something to do with the day/night sensor (wherever that is located)? Or something else.

Please advise. Thank you for your wisdom.

- Ryan

 

Mine does it as well sometimes, I have just dealt with it, not a huge deal to me...

 

On your light switch do you have a knob to alter the brightness?

If so the track could have a little corrosion, try turning the knob back and forth a few times it may resolve the issue.

 

If all the lights on the dash are flashing, then you can try running the dimmer switch up and down a few times to wipe the rheostat and that will normally fix that sort of issue. If it is only a single light that is flickering, then you are looking at a wiring issue. If it is the ODO, then you are most likely looking at a broken solder joint on the instrument cluster. If it is one of the lights, then you are looking at a potential broken wire or one of the connectors has a high resistance connection.

 

Thanks guys. I did just try the "play with the dimmer knob and see if it fixes it" solution. I'll keep an eye on it for a few days to see if the problem persists.

Thermo, where should I be looking for loose or broken solder joints? How much teardown does that require?

 

rclangelan, the teardown is going to be quite intensive. Pretty much you are going to need to pull the instrument cluster out of the car. I haven't personally done it, but normally it is quite a fair amount of stuff you need to do. I hope someone else can give you a better idea of what all is involved. As for the fix, I would start with where the plug connects to the instrument cluster and see if you spot any "black rings" in the solder. You may even need a magnifying glass to see them. If in doubt, applying a little bit more solder to the joint is not going to hurt anything (just don't bridge the solder between neighboring terminals, then, well, it can get rather ugly). The other thing is to give the circuit card a once over to see if there are any cracks in the plastic base. These will look like white hairs in the plastic. If these "hairs" run through a foil run, that will be the source of your issue. If you need to fix this, let me know. This is a bit more involved and may be beyond what some are comfortable with.