Boxster S Instrument Panel Problem--LED Blew Up

[KentV]

I've never seen anything like this. The orange LED lights for my oil gauge in the instrument cluster are no longer visible and appear to have exploded. What I see is a blotch of orange that I can best describe as a maple leaf design on the lens of instrument cluster. It's as if the lights sprayed out under pressure and have applied themselves to my cover lens for the speedometer, clock, etc. It appears that, maybe, the inside of the lens has diode substance all over it.

 

Has anyone heard of this occurrence? Tell me it's common?

 

I have 87,000 miles on my Boxster and it's been an amazing, incredible vehicle.

 

Thanks for any help.

[JFP in PA]

I've never seen anything like this. The orange LED lights for my oil gauge in the instrument cluster are no longer visible and appear to have exploded. What I see is a blotch of orange that I can best describe as a maple leaf design on the lens of instrument cluster. It's as if the lights sprayed out under pressure and have applied themselves to my cover lens for the speedometer, clock, etc. It appears that, maybe, the inside of the lens has diode substance all over it.

 

Has anyone heard of this occurrence? Tell me it's common?

 

I have 87,000 miles on my Boxster and it's been an amazing, incredible vehicle.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Unfortunately, these displays are well known for doing this, and as Porsche does not supply just the display, many are forced to buy a replacement instrument cluster.  On possibility is ModuleMaster (http://modulemaster.com/rebuilds/) who specialize in rebuilding these displays.  Good luck, this is never a fun project.

[KevinH90]

What is the model year of your car?

[KentV]

What is the model year of your car?

It's a 2000.

[KevinH90]

I had the same problem with mine.  The display is actually an LCD (liquid crystal display).  The later cars did have LEDs.

 

I did quite a bit of research on the topic when I was installing a 996 gauge cluster in my 2000 Boxster.  You can read about it here:  http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/43017-carrera-gauge-swap.html

 

Here's a post on LCD repair: http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/60005-gauge-cluster-lcd-repair.html

 

As you can see from my post, removing and re-soldering the ribbon that holds the lcd in place is a skilled job, but it looks like it can be done.  The problem you will face is, as JFP points out, that the repair parts are not available.  If I was in your position I would attempt to find another damaged cluster.  Find one with a a good oil gague lcd and maybe one of the shop mentioned in the cluster repair thread can fix it.  

 

There is a guy on the 986 forum that is parting out a lot of Boxsters and Carreras. http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-parts-sale-wanted/52469-parting-out-whole-lot-boxsters.html  He may have a cluster that you could use.  You can re-program them with the data from your cluster.  You can find  the instructions for programming here: http://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-and-boxster-s-986-forum/915925-programming-a-996-cluster-to-work-in-a-986-a.html

 

Good luck.

Edited March 20, 2016 by KevinH90

[KevinH90]

It looks like replacement LCD's are now available: http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/60992-fyi-new-replacement-lcds-now-available.html