carcster88

Curious, all the other lights work. Just noticed the clock was not working today. Unless it is a cheap and easy fix....it will stay broken. Any information on this? Appreciate it.

This is the clock LED on the dash gauge pod.

C4CRNA

does the oil level light bar work?

carcster88

That and the clock do not work, funny thing is I was driving this morning and they worked again. After I got off work, they were inop again. Kinda strange. I am not really worried about the oil light bar as I can check that manually.

Anyone else have an issue like this? The Germans were never really good with car electronics.

GTRSR

Sounds like a burnt out bulb on the backside of the gauge cluster. An OEM replacement is less then $10, or upgrade all to LEDs for ~$30. Procedure details o. Renntech.org or on this forum.

Good luck.

C4CRNA

Loose connection? Have you or anybody done any work back there recently?
wiggle the key! Could be failing ignition switch
Car just out of storage ? rodents

carcster88

Nope, no loose connection I can see. Someone has to have an idea. Searched the internet everywhere but can't find anything.

carcster88

Bump.....anyone have advice on a fix besides buying a new cluster?

GTRSR

Most likely needs a new bulb. Fairly easy to remove the gauge cluster (two Torx head screws) to get at the back. Factory bulbs are <$5 or so.

carcster88

The lights in the cluster look like LED to me, did not think they had a bulb behind them. This is for the oil gauge and clock on the right. Does it have a bulb behind it? If so that would be a very cheap fix.

targa996

Is it led or Lcd? Lcd is backlighted and there would be a bulb .. but I'm not sure how easy to change that. Maybe someone can post a pic of the assembly from a repair manual ....

carcster88

Went to the Porsche dealer today and they think there is a bulb behind there. They want an hours labor to remove the cluster. Right now looking for a DIY on cluster removal. If it is just a bulb...I should be able to change that. Any link to a DIY for gauge cluster removal on a 996?

C4CRNA

I did a search on 996 forum "cluster removal"
Copy and Pasted this from second post.

The cluster is actually easy to remove. Here is what I did:
1- remove the small, circular grill on the left of the gauges by prying it out carefully
2- remove the hazard switch by pressing it in so you activate the hazard lights. Once it has "popped out" use a small pry tool or very small screwdriver to pop it out completely by locating a small hole on the underside of the red, lit hazard switch.
3- Once the hazard switch is out, press the hazard button to turn off the lights and you'll see that the hazard switch surround has two small holes on either side. Use that same pry tool or screwdriver to pop it out.
4- Using a torx 20 (I think that it was a T20), remove the screw behind the hazard switch surround trim piece and the one behind the small grill on the left side (the grill that you removed in step 1).
5- Now that the 2 screws are out, simply grab the whole cluster and lift up. There are two snaps that hold it in place that should pop quite easily. At the end of the day, only two screws and two of those snaps hold the whole thing in place.
6- On the back, there will be three wiring plugs. They need to be removed. You'll notice that on the back of each plug, there is a lever that gets released and pulled upwards. There is a small tab on the back of each plug that has to be pressed in to release the swing lever. This is easy to do with your fingernail. Once the lever has been released from the plug, swing it up and it will pull itself from the cluster.
7- Once all plugs have been removed, lift the cluster up and over the steering wheel

I haven't done this myself just passing this along from those previous posts,hope it helps.

carcster88

Thanks much..also just found a DIY from Pelican.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...96_Cluster.htm

Anyone have a pic of what the back of the cluster looks like to replace bulbs?

GTRSR

Sorry, no pictures. Just did this on a 996 - each of the three screens are backlit by a bulb. Bulbs twist out (about 1/4 turn - bayonet style).the cluster is easy to remove and replace - two screws plus disconnect color coded connectors.

carcster88

Thanks much GTRSR, appreciate that. Any part number for the bulbs?