Great Write up. I got one question though... Are the Normal and PWR light in the same circut? My normal light comes on sometimes, and the PWR one always works when I press the PWR button.

 

My pwr doesn't work at all. All others seem to work fine

 

My PWR light doesnt ever work, NORM works like once every couple weeks, N light doesnt work, but other then that.

 

to Zppeacock:
I have had the same problem in my car; it turned out to be a bad bulb

 

Thanks
?
Also where the shifter is does the PRND2L light up?

 

fabulous write up . i've never soldered elec. stuff before though. i just dont know? will that repair also fix my intermitant backup lights problem too?

 

Are you talking about the reverse lights? There's a yellow box on the left side of your trunk behind the carpeting that could be replaced. Also check your wiring harness at the trunk hinge, very very common occurrence making the lights go haywire.

 

thanks nuron, i'll check it.

 

Hmm a few questions

Dr. J Thanks for this kick ass post well done!

Senario:
I have replaced my gear shift indicator cause somebody swapted mine in the past with one that did nto have the over drive light, need to get thoes codes!. Ok so I havethe same board and the same problem. I was a bit supprised after changing the bulbs in the board to discover this was happening with board. From the electrical work that i've done in the past i figured it was a feedback loop from somewhere. Glad I found your post I plan on doing this tomorrow. The odd thing is after sporting a driving sessionin my swagger waggon I can go from drive to park with the lights working properly yet each time I start the car same issue. So I'm assuming the riviot point your speaking of / sodder point is in a state of pre-fail. This version of this board, I believe was in all trac models. I've got the norm and power features and I know they won't work with my standard camry base .

Understanding of your solution.
Essentially it looks like a sodder point has failed and you have extended the circuit from one side of the board to the other? Am I correct?


My solution:
I plan on taking advantage of the sodder point and using a tail off of an LED and putting it through that point, it should be hollow and a LED tail should fit through it. Then simply sodder the connections


What are your thoughts? And did I understand your write up correctly?

 

Dr. J

Just wanted to thank you again. Great write up and it was the exact problem. I did a slight variation of what you did but essentially the same thing I have never seen a circuit board liek this one that did not want to take sodder. Kinda interesting.

This was a great post and thanks again! Only three more things to back to normal.
1. Struts
2. Small Rust repair
3. Reseal lid mounted tail lights

 

This is an old post, but still the best when it comes to restoring the dash gear position lights; I just restored mine with these instructions, and all the lights now work beautifully - thanks gang

What I found: testing for continuity between sides, I found that even one ohm of resistance was enough to keep the lights from lighting; If the trace is good, zero ohms. I located 5 of the pass throughs that needed the wire jumpers soldered in.

Switch Drive and First bulbs = good advice; I'll add switch the Norm and Pwr bulbs also, as the Norm is lit most of the time.

The circuit board is (varnished?) coated. I simply took the point of my pocket knife and scraped clean where I wanted to solder - had no problem getting solder to stick to the traces.

 

Hello Dr. J & everyone,
I've just broken the light bulb with the green condom in the shift position indicator panel, as shown in the picture of the original post by Dr. J; do you know where I can get the bulb replacement (besides checking with the Toyota dealers)? It seems I have to buy the whole bulb unit with the (green) plastic base, as the bulb was broken off when I've tried to yank the bulb out of the base. My Toyota Camry is of 1987 Base model, 262,000 + miles; it still runs so good with no troubles. I love to keep it up and maintain it to the max.
Thank-you all for your posts in this thread; it's extremely informative to me.

 

Try these:

Re-Use the Green Condom over the new bulb.

www.amazon.com/HELLA-H83225001-T1-5...0VUEDOS/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1389514976&sr=1-3&keywords=286+bulb


Colored Bulbs

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331094314833


Don't buy LED bulbs. It just won't look/glow right. Been there done that
x
x

 

I probably just take out all the bulbs and put it back in there when the bulbs just blow. I don't really use that panel too much.

 

I had this problem last October 2013 and posted what I did since I didn't find this link before I started. This other link gives the bulb part #'s except for the bulb with the blue base and green cap since this is the illuminator bulb. I just used the same bulb for this as the others. http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...eration-1983-1986-1987-1991/582513-v6-transmission-light-bulbs-other-bulbs.html

After seeing the pictures where this poster marked where the problem on both sides of the board, it was the same spot mine failed. Instead of trying to find a thin wire to fit through the VIA hole, the better fix is to 1) remove some of the insulating varnish around the holes on both sides and slightly down each wire since micro cracks can be created not only going thru the board but at the junction of the wire with the round circular VIA. 2) take a regular thin sewing needle (not safety pin) and push it thru the hole til it stops due to the tapper in the needle, 3) solder both sides of the needle to the board with some solder flowing down the bare wire trace from the circle to insure better connectivity, 4) clip off the excess part of the needle on both sides to the top of the solder ball. 5) recheck resistance connectivity from the blue resistor (66 ohms) but not thru the resistor to the bulb contacts.

Now it should work. Sometimes the traces coming off the big wire connector that is soldered to the board can have cracks in the wire trace too. This is harder to fix depending which pin is connecting badly to the board.

 

does anyone know the fix for the shifter indicator pwr and normal light up but none of the other lights light up the bulbs are good too

 

Open it up, find the cracks or loose parts on the PCB and fix them...

-Charlie

 

.

 

does anyone know the fix for the shifter indicator pwr and normal light up but none of the other lights light up the bulbs are good too

This is called a run-on sentence, with no commas, periods, new sentence capital letters. I can't understand what you are asking. Please use proper punctuation so we can interpret your issue clearly.

 

Open it up, find the cracks or loose parts on the PCB and fix them...

Pretty sure there is no PCB involved with the lamp that illuminates the console shifter - it is wired to the interior illumination control via a switch (if that is the OP's need - not clear what the need really is).

 

Sounds like he's talking about the gear indicator in the dash, in which case then yes there is a circuit board inside there:

 

Print through holes have corroded, need to run wires anywhere traces go from one side of the board to the other.

 

Sounds like he's talking about the gear indicator in the dash, in which case then yes there is a circuit board inside there:

Thank-you for sharing & clarifying. I thought all models had center consoles with the shifter located there, so the display was with the shifter. Never saw one of the types you show before.

 

I thought all models had center consoles with the shifter located there, so the display was with the shifter. Never saw one of the types you show before.

Oh yeah Gen 2 Camry's had that as well, illuminated by a single bulb with no circuit board.