I have an '04 544J. On Friday afternoon, while the machine was running, the instrument panel stopped working (LCD went blank and all analog gauges quit). The machine only has about 2,200 hours and has never given any indication that here might be an issue with it. The transmission is no longer working properly either. It seems as though it is working only in one gear (forward and reverse) and the transmission does not usually engage without asking it several times (moving the shuttle lever between N and F or R, whichever you are trying to use several times). I spoke with one of the local Deere mechanics and he suspects that the cluster has failed. As you may imagine it is a very expensive part. I have a hard time thinking why this part would fail with so few hours on the machine. Has anyone else had this issue?
We had one fail at about the same hours. It was just out of the warranty but we managed to get the dealer to cover half of the cost because the time we had it (just about a year) and the hours were low. We have only had one fail and we have had 8 544j's and 2 544K's. The machines do not give many problems but they are usually dealer fixes when they do.
I changed one a month ago that was doing the same thing.
I have pulled the instrument cluster from the dash, obtained a wiring diagram for the plug, and checked voltage, using the ground in the plug, for the (2) power wires that feed the cluster (one is constant, and the other is "on with the key"). Both show good voltage. The price for a new one is either $1,100 or $1,200 (US) depending on if you give them your old one for a core refund. One of the local Deere mechanics has told me that it may be possible to repair the instrument cluster. It can be opened and, if one can find where the board is cracked, one can sometimes solder a jumper wire over the crack. I may open it up and look to see if I can find the problem. It may be tough as a wiring schematic is not available, even to the dealer (so I've been told anyway), due to Deere protecting proprietary information. The same mechanic also told me to check those (2) power feeds with a continuity tester instead of the voltmeter. His reasoning was that the continuity tester will demand AMPs to run the bulb. He said that sometimes a circuit will test fine for voltage but may show a fault when asked to deliver amperage. I must admit it seems a little hard to imagine that the draw from a test light (maybe mili-amps?) would make any difference but I will follow his advice. It all seems worth a try (especially opening up the cluster if the wires re-test out OK) if I can possibly save a thousand bucks.
Don't laugh but ive used a tv radio type repair shop before to test and repair this kind of problem when its a broke path or some kind of resistor or diod gone bad
What is there to laugh about? That is a good idea.
Did you get my pm last week dgodgr? If you can't get it going get in touch with me.
I got it. I did not see the need to contact you until I was certain it is the unit and not a power supply issue. Thanks for the offer.