Hoping you can help with a couple of electrical gremlins....
Intermittent trip computer lighting reversal (bright when headlights on, no lighting when headlights off) which now seems to have manifested itself to the Drive indicator on the dash simultaneously....
Latest incarnation sees the same issue happening with D,3,2,L light also.
Sometimes...no issue at all...sometimes, cant read gear indicator or trip for week to 10 days, then suddenly comes good for a day, then dies again.
TJ 4 speed non trip.

My instinct says earth problem....anyone know where the earth for these things is physically located?

Never happens to P,R,N lights however.

Thoughts or things to check gratefully accepted !

First place I'd look is your rheostat (dash light dimmer), particularly since the diagram suggests the L,2,3,D lights run through this whereas the N,R,P lights do not. Try fiddling it about to see if it has any effect, otherwise check all relay box and junction box fuses.

First place I'd look is your rheostat (dash light dimmer), particularly since the diagram suggests the L,2,3,D lights run through this whereas the N,R,P lights do not. Try fiddling it about to see if it has any effect, otherwise check all relay box and junction box fuses.

Contact cleaner= check...Screwdriver=check...will let you know, and thank you.

Contact cleaner= check...Screwdriver=check...will let you know, and thank you.
Dimmer removed....dimmer disassembled...dimmer cleaned and checked....(little ball bearing on spring lost, then found again)...dimmer re-assembled.....no effect.

Fuses and relays next.

Anyon eelse got an idea?

Cant help but would like to know what the outcome is as my dash cluster in my TF exec has P R N lighting up day and night as per normal but the D 3 2 L only light up when headlights are on, during the day these don't light up.

The P,R,N lights are earthed directly via the junction box (fuses and relays near driver's right foot) and the D,3,2,L lights are earthed the same way, but via the rheostat. The dash illumination is also earthed thru the rheostat. I'd check all relays and fuses in the junction box. If they are all good, and this is a bit of a long shot, check all your park, indicator and tail-lights for any broken filaments. I've had a broken brake filament drop onto the tail-light filament inside a globe and it did some very unexpected things to the dash illumination. Other than that, I guess check all plugs up under the dash and near the junction box to make sure they are clean and fully connected.

Have pulled all fuses and checked all...problem remains...dash lighting is completely responsive, but trip and D,3,2,L lights still dim, unless light on in which case they turn bright...
Am off to check parkers and brake lights next.
Wish me luck !

With my issue I tried swapping out the dimmer switch with one on the parts car where I know all transmission lights work on dash with no luck have checked all fuses still no luck where to next, am thinking it got to be in the cluster itself mmmmmm

The P,R,N lights are earthed directly via the junction box (fuses and relays near driver's right foot) and the D,3,2,L lights are earthed the same way, but via the rheostat. The dash illumination is also earthed thru the rheostat. I'd check all relays and fuses in the junction box. If they are all good, and this is a bit of a long shot, check all your park, indicator and tail-lights for any broken filaments. I've had a broken brake filament drop onto the tail-light filament inside a globe and it did some very unexpected things to the dash illumination. Other than that, I guess check all plugs up under the dash and near the junction box to make sure they are clean and fully connected.

Ensoniq5....Do you (or anyone else) have a wiring diagram (or plug ID) for the KJ1 upper cluster????
I would like to play "stick 12v in this one and see what happens" to my cluster to see if its R/S or i have bigger issues.

All wiring diagrams are in the manual (PDF downloadable from here: http://depositfiles.com/files/wd1172wal ). Unfortunately the diagram isn't quite laid out the way you might like, tracing this fault may require referencing a number of diagrams and charts so your best bet would be to grab the PDF. No doubt it will come in useful for other things anyway! I would not recommend randomly feeding 12V into the cluster while it's in your car, there are a lot of wires running to the ECU and I suspect it might not take too kindly to that.

I've had another go at tracing this out and for the life of me I can't work out how the dash lights are supposed to dim when the headlights are on, which makes it a bit tricky to diagnose. The rheostat still seems central to the problem but as that's been eliminated I'm at a bit of a loss. If you have a multitester, check that there is earth at the black wire to the rheostat, and the other side (black/yellow) should drop in continuity (increased resistance) to earth as you turn the rheostat (all this with ign/acc off). If there's no earth, trace the black wire (runs to the junction box eventually) and look for breaks or open/dodgy connectors.

Although I can't really see how this could cause it, check to see if the shift illumination light (the one near the gear stick) is working, ie. P,R,N.etc are backlit with the lights on. This globe, along with the turn signal/hazard warning lights, is on the same circuit and maybe there is a continuity or earthing problem there. I dunno, I'm guessing now.

I've had another go at tracing this out and for the life of me I can't work out how the dash lights are supposed to dim when the headlights are on, which makes it a bit tricky to diagnose. The rheostat still seems central to the problem but as that's been eliminated I'm at a bit of a loss. If you have a multitester, check that there is earth at the black wire to the rheostat, and the other side (black/yellow) should drop in continuity (increased resistance) to earth as you turn the rheostat (all this with ign/acc off). If there's no earth, trace the black wire (runs to the junction box eventually) and look for breaks or open/dodgy connectors.

Although I can't really see how this could cause it, check to see if the shift illumination light (the one near the gear stick) is working, ie. P,R,N.etc are backlit with the lights on. This globe, along with the turn signal/hazard warning lights, is on the same circuit and maybe there is a continuity or earthing problem there. I dunno, I'm guessing now.

Went and got multimeter from shed...battery inside has turned to goo...now to beg the mrs for spending on a new one!
Will let you know how it pans out. Thanks again.
(Personally i think the 12v into everything idea was going to be more exciting !)
Will try the 12v idea into the backlighting of the cluster itself, might shed some light..(or lights)

Have you recently put in a new headunit?

Or LED headlights/parking lights/tail lights?

Have you recently put in a new headunit?

Or LED headlights/parking lights/tail lights?

Yes have recently installed dash only LEDs.
Problem was occurring previous to this however.

Really can't go much further without a multimeter. The rheostat earth definitely starting to sound like the culprit.

Have you tried putting your own earth from the chassis to the rheostat? Make sure you've got your wire identification right, or you could easily fry some fuses. If you aren't confident with electrics, best bet would be an auto electrician. If it is a simple as a dodgy earth, any decent auto elec will find and repair it in under half an hour - and you don't start risking your cluster and other parts by hooking up 12v to pins in a random attempt to find something.

All wiring diagrams are in the manual (PDF downloadable from here: http://depositfiles.com/files/wd1172wal ). .

Couldn't download (would only accept gold membership).
Am going to bunnings to get multimeter today.

Couldn't download (would only accept gold membership).
Am going to bunnings to get multimeter today.

Hmm, I just grabbed this link from another thread on this forum. I can't remember where I got mine from but I certainly didn't pay for it. Probably available from a bunch of places, just Google it.