[Katrazi]

Hello. Sorry if this exists already but I couldn't find much on it. I have a 2012 Cruze and the backlights for the instrument panel seems to have died. During the day I can see the gauges fine, except for the screen in the middle. At night, none of the backlighting works so I can't see anything.

A service guy at a local chevy dealership told me it would cost over $700 to fix it. I've been looking at pricing for parts and either doing it myself or paying a friend to help me out but I'm not sure what part it would be and the dealership didn't say. I've seen full instrument panels on eBay for around $50 five or take. Does anyone know if that would have the backlight built into it? Judging from the pictures it's just a single cable that plugs into it so I imagine it does, but $700 seems outrageous if that's the case.

Any help would be amazing at this point. Either part numbers, someone else who had this issues, etc.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I'm pretty sure the backlighting is all LED and part of the interment panel. I'm not sure if you have to reflash a VIN if you replace that or not. Likewise, I'm not sure what that does to your odometer.

 

[Eddy Cruze]

Was the Rheostat (that wheel brightness control) accidentally turned all the way off?

 

[Katrazi]

Was the Rheostat (that wheel brightness control) accidentally turned all the way off?
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I've tried adjusting it with no change at all.

 

[Katrazi]

I'm pretty sure the backlighting is all LED and part of the interment panel. I'm not sure if you have to reflash a VIN if you replace that or not. Likewise, I'm not sure what that does to your odometer.

Most of what I've seen advertises the mileage on the panel for sale and I've seen a someone on eBay selling re flashing a panel with the correct mileage. Not sure if it ties the VIN to it.

Chevys price for the panel is $150 ish. Blows my mind how it's a $700 job if that's the only part needed.

 

[anthonysmith93]

They need to be dealer programmed, a used cluster when plugged in the mileage displays "------". No way around that without dealer intervention and that's what costs the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

[Merc6]

They need to be dealer programmed, a used cluster when plugged in the mileage displays "------". No way around that without dealer intervention and that's what costs the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

This, I found clusters online for $20 when I did the RS conversion. After I found out how fun it was to swap, i just converted my set to RS and tossed the rest of it in a bin.

 

[brent769]

Just chiming in to say I had a similar issue on my 2013 Cruze 2LT w/RS when I picked it up new. For me the backlight wasn't bright enough during the day (had to look at the screen at certain angles to see), but at night it was a-ok. Yes, I did try multiple times to increase brightness with no luck. I can't seem to find the work order but I was told the gauge cluster was replaced. Sorry I don't have any more information.

 

[Katrazi]

Random thought. Has anyone taken apart the instrument panel and fixed anything before? I'm wondering if I could buy a used working panel for $50ish, take it apart, pull the broken parts from my instrument panel which is just the lighting, and put the working backlights into my current panel, no reprogramming should be needed.

 

[LiveTrash]

Random thought. Has anyone taken apart the instrument panel and fixed anything before? I'm wondering if I could buy a used working panel for $50ish, take it apart, pull the broken parts from my instrument panel which is just the lighting, and put the working backlights into my current panel, no reprogramming should be needed.

I imagine the LEDs (if they are actually LEDs in the 2012 Cruze) would be accessible in terms of soldering. If you have a steady hand and some patience you may be able to get the job done with the right tools. A fine tip soldering iron is what I have used in the past to fix LEDs on panels. If you're able to achieve this then no reprogramming would need to be done. This would also give you the ability to change the LED color if you choose. I'm not sure if you need to have certain LEDs that are dimmable or not, you'd have to do a bit of research on that.