Hey gang,

A while ago I bought a KL/KW GTV cluster from Mal to fit in my KJ2. The k's didn't match so I've left it a while to do anything with, however my K's are now pretty close to the cluster so I've just test fitted it in preparation and noticed that while it all works perfectly when my lights are off, as soon as I turn any light on (Parker, headlight, fog light or high beam or any combination of those) the green shift light goes extremely dim, in any gear and also in the tiptronic gears (So it's not just one globe/LED, it's all of them.) Like dim enough my camera on my iPhone wouldn't even pick it up. All other lights continue to work perfectly but that one becomes almost invisible at night.

The dimmer switch still works perfectly but doesn't affect that green shift light at all, it is always extremely dim no matter what I do until I turn my lights off, then it goes back to being bright. Is this expected behaviour on the new models or is something wrong with my cluster? If so, do you think it's easily repairable?

Cheers!

Day or night time. I have a kl cluster here, during the day you can barely see shift lights when lights are on

Well this was tested during the day but at night it's still very dim. Visible but you can barely see it. My question was mainly because on the KJ2 it doesn't dim at all when the lights are switched on, it remains as bright as when they're off. So this is an expected behaviour on the newer cars?

Well this was tested during the day but at night it's still very dim. Visible but you can barely see it. My question was mainly because on the KJ2 it doesn't dim at all when the lights are switched on, it remains as bright as when they're off. So this is an expected behaviour on the newer cars?

The lights you mentioned are powered from the rheostat and there is no difference in the wiring. However, you need ALL the plugs in for this test. As the backlighting for those comes from a different plug that the rest of the guages (Pin 20 & 3 on C24) Anyway, unplug and make sure they are all in then go again. I believe there are 3 plugs total for these clusers?

Mike

Hmm okay, I will go again. All three plugs were plugged in at the time. (Yeah there are three.) I will try it again and reseat everything.

Well this was tested during the day but at night it's still very dim. Visible but you can barely see it. My question was mainly because on the KJ2 it doesn't dim at all when the lights are switched on, it remains as bright as when they're off. So this is an expected behaviour on the newer cars?


This is perfectly normal - if my KL & KJ are anything to go by. During the day, especially if it's sunny, I can't see the green light at all. It was the same on another KL cluster that I had previously & on my wife's TL cluster.

Terrible pic, but illustrates how it looks. Obviously the engine isn't on and the highs are on in this pic but it doesn't change even if the car is running and only parkers are on.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/487922_4273421997555_502383899_n.jpg

Working as intended.

Interesting. Odd move but good to know it's all good! Cheers all.

Just fitted a KL dash from Malcolm today. I have to say I'm so glad I bought the Verada dash rather than the VRX one. It looks awesome and isn't garish or over the top like I think the white dash is. Took all of 20 minutes to fit too!

I was ready for the dim shift light issue after having read this thread yesterday. Even so I don't think it would have bothered me.

Black out clusters are the bomb,love mine...

Black out clusters are the bomb,love mine...
I always look inside the car I'm passing at night now to see their ugly murky yellow cluster, it keeps reminding how good my blackout cluster is :D

I can see the logic behind dimming that light at night now, though I still prefer it to be bright for both, or better yet dimmable with the rest of the lights. At least, I know now it's factory so I don't view it as an issue. Also, I did a quick Photoshop to show a direct comparison of how they look during the day. You can tell from the trip this is Photoshopped but otherwise it's dead on accurate, all I've done is take two photos the same and cut the new cluster into the photo of the old one. Anyway, I'm back to the old cluster for another 2000km's, then when the k's match up I will pull over on the side of the road and swap them out for good haha :D

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/287887_4278519044978_145032202_o.jpg

EDIT: Also, for anyone interested, my old cluster will be up for sale when the new one goes in, probably at the amount I drive about two months away.

I did notice that the highest brightness setting on the KL cluster was way too bright for night driving and needed to be turned down. Anyone else agree?

Nah I was fine with it, with my young and perfect eyes. I have it on brightest :P

My TL dash, which has the same behaviour, is well and truly visible during daylight with the lights on; the marker definitely dims substantially, but it's easy to make out. I always drive with my lights on in daylight when doing a long trip, and I use the tippy for downshifting quite a bit, and have never had an issue with not being able to see what gear I'm in (I usually check it first when I throw over to tippy mode before downshifting)