Dirt Behind Instrument Cluster

Ah ok - Protech is what I plan to use to stop scratches

 

just buy a pack of o-rings and find on that fits. i'm assuming you are just pressing it up against the plastic

 

Ive said this a couple of times - doesn’t work bc angle of the screen

 

I'm here because
1. My glass had micro-scratches the day I bought it - thank you mister dealership porter kid! Now there's a heat crack. I blame living in the South and intense heat but honestly, it's ridiculous that it should crack. I never hit it or anything, wtf.
2. There's dust down the odo stick. Why Toyota has to use the crappiest, scratchiest plastic AND have the ODO stick come through an unsealed hole in the glass instead of putting a button literally anywhere else is beyond me. Let's not talk about how it's angled-up to catch every micro-particle of dust, I'll start ranting.
3. I bought the replacement glass, it's $50 bucks now but hey that's inflation baby! and not interested in having dust in the new one.

Love the ideas for keeping dust out! Thanks guys!

 

Before replacing the clear plastic add a piece of heat shrink to the stem in the area of the plastic. Locate it both inside and outside the clear plastic. It makes it a bit hard to use the stem when turning and pushing, but a pull back up and a bit of a turn in the opposite direction covers that small problem.

 

Did it today. Seems to be a solid solution. Thanks TacoRancher!

 

I f’ed my screen up my cleaning to too aggressively and ended up getting a new one from the dealership and it was about $50 surprisingly. Insanely easy to swap them out

 

Pull a measurement with your tape. Measure in millimeters. Ace Hardware is your best friend for stuff like that. Grab a few sizes for $0.05 a pop. You should be good to go.

 

I found that no O-Ring or gromet will work because of the angle of the clear plastic. I have visited my ACE many times.

There are two other solutions discussed in this thread; the ear thing-a-dingy and shrink wrap. My pick was the shrink wrap while I had the plastic off the cluster.

 

Ahhhh.... Yes, I see the problem now. I realized that after I sent it, and looked at my own dirty dash wondering WTF to do about it. I might have an idea to redeem my jackassy response. Hitting up Ace tonight.

 

I think that i found a solution. Take a #10 rubber thread protector and cut the angle needed on one end. Then cut an opening on the closed side. It's pretty snug, so I stretched it out a little. Should work to keep more dust from collecting.

 

Its Black, that's a plus. Should work a bit better than the cut at an angle heat shrink. I like it.

The only problem I see with the cutting of an angle on either the heat shrink or thread protector(cap) is that the knob does have to be turned slightly and pushed in and out, thus causing an opening. Albeit temporary and in my case not very often.

Spend much time in the fastener section of your local ACE? I think I have every color of thread protector they sell.

 

Just incase someone wants to replace the cluster with this one. Lol... The speedo would probably work that's about it.

Its from a 5th gen Toyota truck!

 

Any closer pictures? i tried a few things but came up empty since it was tight

 

I wonder if a #12 rubber thread protector would work any better? I never use the trip setting so I don't mind that it's tight... It still goes right to left just fine for brightness though. I was also thinking any sort of rubber tubing could work if you find a better size. I'm sure you could find black or clear to work.

 

I stretched it out over the top of a pencil a couple times to loosen it up.