Hi, new here. As the title says, when the vehicle is turned off the Temp and Clock dashboard lights stay on.. not the actual temp and clock readings themselves but the light behind them, those clear after about 30 seconds.

I'm not sure what to do about this or why it is happening. I've looked up via google what the cause is which lead here and the very very few posts about this all have different answers from people with no consensus and no one saying "___this fixed it" they just vanish after making it known they have this problem.. Car drives fine otherwise. Appreciate the help in advance, picture included.

 

This has come up maybe five times in the sixteen years I've been an owner/forum member. No one EVER comes back to tell us what fixed it, or if they ever fixed it.
The problem appears to be in the instrument cluster, see the inaccurate and incomplete diagram from the service manual below. I close look tells us that the diagram is baloney, as it shows a 12 volt line tied directly to ground, so we KNOW this diagram is not accurate and must be used carefully.

The only time I heard of this being fixed was when one person went to a junkyard and pulled the instrument panel from another car and put it in HIS car. I beleive the entire issue is in that square box in the diagram, which represents the logic gate and current switch that turns on the lights which are powered from battery power.

Try pulling fuse 35, post here and tell us if that turns those lights off. If so, one thing you COULD do is install a small relay to disable that battery feed to the IC. That would probably be easier than replacing the IC.

 

ill try pulling it tonight (so i can actually see the lights, no garage haha) and report back.

 

just an update, been storming here most of the day since late afternoon, might have to wait till tomorrow to actually get in there as i dont have garage

 

UPDATE: Pulled fuse 35 and it shut the 2 lights off (as well as the entire IC haha) but it did get those 2 shut off at least - not sure where to go from here, new to all this very much out of my element LOL

 

As I said on Fakebook, we can either put a small relay in, keyed by ignition, so that power to C1-11A is cut when the key is off, or we can replace the entire instrument panel with a used one from another car.

THe issue with the relay, is that it must be wired so that ONLY that pin is powered down, as that fuse powers several security system items that must remain powered at all times.

 

what do you think the best course of action would be? looked into swapping the cluster and it seems monumental for someone who doesn't know anything about all this even tho im sure i could do it it would just take a long time - also not sure how to do anything with relays ect, once again very much out of my element on all this haha

 

would it be possible to just kill those 2 specific LCDs or just remove the bulbs for backlight? (if theyre even lit up that way.. the actual readings act as intended and clear/shut off after 30 seconds when car is off its just the back lights that wont shut off) i truly dont care about the temperature outside nor the time (i have a phone lol) and that seems like it would solve the issue right? basically just hoping theres a way forward without swapping the entire IC even though it does seem like a relatively cheap fix loads of them on ebay .. and either way im gonna have to get in there so i guess the process is the same regardless of the path forward

 

Hi Timski,
Yes, to remove the backlight bulbs you have to remove the instrument cluster. It's really not that hard a job, but the plastic of the trim piece is very brittle, and you'll probably break a few of the plastic tabs that hold it in place. I've had some success gluing them back on using PVC glue (stuff plumbers use for their pvc pipes). There are two connectors on the back of the instrument cluster, remove the one on the left (as you look at the cluster) first, then you can tilt the cluster out more to remove the connector on the left. The bulbs are removed with half a turn.
-Jerry