[skyhogg]

I may have really screwed the pooch here and I did a search but found nothing relevant. Maybe someone can give me some insight. The background:

Odometer went blank. Found the thread on this forum and replaced the two bulbs with a set of Sylvania #74. Worked great but I got greedy and ordered some #74 replacements in blue from Ebay...thought it looked cool.

So I installed them and found only some of them worked. Mixed and matched and finally decided to put the old ones back in. Put the Sylvanias back into the odometer plug but like magic, now they wont fit without popping out! So I thought ok, I'll go with the blue lights in the odometer and I put two of the ebay bulbs in there. Started driving down the road and smoke starts coming from the instruments! I pull over and pulled the blue bulbs thinking there was some compatibility problem. Start driving again and now the fuel guage stopped working.

Everything else seems to work although it was too bright out to tell if any backlighting was on. So have I fried my cluster? Seems odd that just the fuel guage would die. Looked over all the fuses and couldn't find one that is marked for the instruments. Checked to see if anything else electrical isn't working but everything seems fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks!!

 

[Flat Lander]

Do a search for LED lights on the DIY thread area. I think I remember seeing something about not changing the instrument lighting because this might happen.

 

[skyhogg]

Update

I replaced the odometer light assemblies with OEM ones and the odometer is still blank. I can see it working when the sun shines on it right so I know the odometer itself is ok. Fuel guage still out but all other backlighting is working fine.

Is there a fuse associated with the instrument cluster? Cant find anything the manual saying so.

 

[skyhogg]

damm!

took some work but I found that thread. Looks like I fried my cluster. Just my luck! 200 people raving about the instrument light mod and I end up having to shell out $320+160 for a new cluster and ODO programming.

Word to the wise...think twice

 

[ramblerdan]

Really sorry to hear this happened to you, Skyhogg. Would love to know exactly how the cluster was damaged. BTW the blue bulbs were in fact incandescents, not LEDs, yes?

 

[skyhogg]

Well I found the "how to" on this forum to change out the odometer bulbs when my odo went blank. Worked great but I liked the idea of blue backlighting so I bought some #74 LED's on ebay. Swapped them all out and drove out on my way. Within about 5 minutes I had smoke in the cabin and a burning electrics smell! My stepdad used to refer to these as very expensive smelling smells.

Anyway, long story short, researched and found the threat where a few people have had similar experiences. Resigned myself to face the music and get a new cluster. Good news is I found one used for $60. Not going to worry about the reprogramming as I'm keeping my E.

So no more mods like that for me!!

 

[Laughograms]

Instrument cluster f#[email protected]

So as many other have had -- my odo light went out. I replaced with Syvanias and all was well for two weeks until -- it went out again. Had my airbag light pop on recently so I had it in for a checkup (turned out to be a seat belt clip problem covered by Honda for the life of the car) and I asked them to check it out. Didn't know for sure, they said, but there was probably a short in the cluster and it needed to be replaced for about $450 p & l. Well, I'll live without it for now. But in searching the forum I found a couple of people referencing finding one used. So my question is, where to find a used 2004 Element cluster?