Instrument Cluster

[Wolftin]

My odometer lcd display must be leaking or something because there are bright blotches on the right side of the display. I could hardly read the last digit. So I bought a used one from a 1999 boxter . But when I plugged the three harness in there was'nt any LCD display for the clock or the speedometer or the odometer. I didnt pull the neg battery could that be the problem or do you think the used cluster was bad? The old one fired right up when I put it back in. Thanks

[Tool Pants]

There have been problems with the LCD displays on the old style cluster. I bought a 'new' 996 cluster for my Boxster on ebay and as you can see from the picture it was used with 990 miles and had a defective middle LCD display in that some of the segments would not light up.

I have removed and replaced clusters w/o disconnecting the battery with no problems. Does the cluster otherwise work? Are the 3 connectors properly seated and locked? Do you see the light show when you turn on the key and do the gauges work? Sure, you could have purschase a defective cluster, I did, but it does seem strange all 3 displays do not work.

Have you checked the bulbs for the LCD display. There is a bulb behind each display, the one in the tan holder as you can see in the second picture. If a bulb is bad you cannot see the display. But this would mean that that you have 3 bad bulbs?

Check it out and report back. Jeff

[tibi]

I found that the two black clips on back of cluster - on the left & right need to be pushed as far back as possible when accessing the cluster. You need to make sure you closed them all the way when finished. They double up as the female plugin unit to make the cluster work. If this is not done cluster won't work. *See: http://boxsters.addr.com/hacks/cluster.htm