Flickering Digital Gauge Cluster

Sorry if I am duplicating an existing thread, but I could not find anything related to the issue I am having with my 2024 Tundra Limited TRD Off Road. In the past month or so after I start the truck portions of the digital gauge cluster flicker. Then after the truck warms up on the inside, the issue appears to go away (until I start it the next day). The exterior sensors on bumpers are not blocked by ice or snow. At first I thought it was only during extreme cold temps (-10 F or so), but as you can see in the video, this is happening at +20F as well. Anyone else experience something similar or know of a solution? Faulty fuse or other?

 

Possibly a connector behind the dash that isn't connected all the way, then when it warms up there's enough expansion to make problem go away? I've seen cold solder joints cause issues too but that should be pretty rare these days. There was another thread not too long ago where the big screen was doing weird stuff and indeed it was a loose connector.

 

Video it everyday so when you go to Toyota and they say they can't duplicate it you have plenty of proof.

 

I have this exact issue. I live in central Texas so "extreme cold" to us is 27F. This happened to me the other day and it was around 50F outside. Cross posting my thread, but I posted a video on YouTube of the exact same behavior.

2025 Limited TRD Off Road with 3" factory TRD lift

https://www.tundras.com/threads/abs-vsc-pre-collision-system-flashes-when-braking.154032/

 

Still happening on my commute this evening. The engine and cabin were fully warm and it was about 55F out. I did notice it only happens when stopping or accelerating in the 9-13MPH range.

It feels like a wheel sensor issue but I don’t know why it stops doing it after driving a while.

 

Dropped my truck off at the dealership this morning. Just got a call back and they said it's the rear diff. They ordered a new one and it's 3 weeks out. We'll see if that fixes the flickering once it comes in and I get it swapped out.

 

Wow! You went from "flickering display" to "faulty differential"? And we all thought for the latter, all you had to do was watch for strange noise when driving above 65mph (https://www.tundras.com/threads/whistle-above-65-mph-not-wind-noise.125509/page-3). Hey, at least they are doing something. Good luck with the repair; keep us all posted.

 

Wow....I assumed it would just be some loose wiring or fuse. Etc....the rear differential huh? Interesting enough my locking differential light started blinking this week at times.

Did they figure that out just by looking at error codes?

 

I haven’t gotten to talk with the service advisor in depth. Picking up the truck tomorrow and I will ask for sure. The truck is still drivable, but now I’m curious as to whether my rear differential lock works. If it’s related to the diff lock, that would explain why it’s happening to the TRD ORs.

 

Ok...let me know what you find out....now I feel like I need to take my truck in...literally yesterday my rear diff lock light starting flickering...

 

I don’t have the diff whine from the other thread. And it sounds like that one isn’t a TRD OR issue. Given your flickering diff lock light, I’m thinking maybe this one is related to the locker and they’re swapping out the whole diff.

I’m going to try out my diff lock tomorrow when I get my truck back.

Do the TRD Pros have the same 3rd member and locker?

 

Not sure on the TRD Pros...vs TRD Off-road...but I would guess they are the same.

Just curious, what dealer are you going to? If mine can't figure it out might suggest they share notes ?

 

I would think the TRD OR and Pros have the same rear end since they’re the only ones with lockers.

I took my truck to Toyota of Cedar Park here in Texas. I’ll mention it to them and see what they say about it. I was kind of thinking the same thing. But it only took them a day to diagnose. That’s assuming when they put in the new rear differential the problem will be fixed.

 

Just talked to the service advisor. He didn’t have much info except when the foreman saw the initial notes (I.e. “customer states”) and the pictures and videos I sent…he said write it up and put “see foreman”. This instructs the technician who pulls the ticket to work on to go talk to the foreman first. It’s something they’ve seen before or have been instructed on by Toyota.

Seems like maybe a TSB in the works.

 

OK thanks for the follow up . . . going to make an appt to take my truck in now too.

 

Let me know what they say and I can ask the service department at my dealership if they can share notes, if needed.

 

Update: rear diff came in early. Dropped the truck off yesterday and it looks like they got started on it today. Should be done by this afternoon or early tomorrow.

 

I'm no engineer, but cold/hot shrinkage and expansion in metal tells me this is a loose connection somewhere.

 

Awesome - thanks for the update!! So I had to take my wife's Rav4 into the dealership (3 hours away - Glenwood Springs CO) and I showed the service guys a video of the flickering gauge cluster on the Tundra . . . they had not seen anything like that before and were a little baffled that the rear diff was the cause of the flickering . . .knowing that you were getting yours fixed, I told them well lets wait to see if it fixes the problem and then we can go from there. If you happen to have a name of someone familiar with your truck/repair at Toyota of Cedar Park, could you share it with me? Hoping I can have them call each other and sort it out. I did not have my truck there for them to do any diagnostic's tests . . .but it would be great to just be able to confirm what the fix is, and potentially save me 6 hours of driving before the part comes in

 

I just picked up my truck and drove 25 minutes home with no flashes on the gauge cluster. Truck read the outside temp at 38F.

Talked to my service advisor and he said it was determined to be an internal failure in the rear differential. They replaced the entire rear differential assembly. Parts were somewhere around $4k, but everything was covered under warranty.

He said the shop foreman knew what was up when he saw my photos and videos. Yours looks/sounds worse than mine, so I’m willing to bet they’ll know. I don’t think the service advisors necessarily know, you gotta get that info back to the shop foreman.

I couldn’t get the foreman’s info for you, but if worse comes to worse, he said the shop down here would talk to your shop if they needed and called. My advisor sounded very confident that the shop guys would know what’s up based on the videos. And added especially since you also have a flickering rear diff lock light.

On the topic of a TSB or recall, the advisor made it sound like this is a known issue at this point and there needs to be a certain number reported nationwide for it to become a TSB/recall.

 

Awesome - thanks for all the details . . . if anything changes on your end, or the flickering comes back, please let me know!

 

Will do. Ran some errands this morning and no flickering (yes!) but I did notice that my diff temp behaves differently now. It seems to take longer to warm up than it did before. This is the far right temp gauge when I have my “Right Side” set to Tow Gauges.

 

That's good news! I will have to sort thru those screen options...have not been to good about that.

 

Taking longer to warm up means that the friction has been reduced. The previous increased friction was caused by improper lash that resulted in the wearing of materials and the metallic debris in the gear lube.

 

There are a minimum of 4 rear differentials.

Hybrid with locker
Hybrid without locker
non-Hybrid with locker
non-Hybrid without locker

 

Guess that puts the OR and Pro into separate categories. These are the only 2 cases of this issue I’ve seen, so that’s not much to go off of.

 

Nope. The TRD Pro is a Limited Hybrid with the TRD Off-Road Package and TRD Pro specific trim pieces.

 

Right. That makes the TRD OR (non-hybrid) and the TRD Pro (hybrid only) different rear ends.

Hybrid TRD ORs would, presumably, have the same rear end as the TRD Pros. Unless you can get a non-hybrid Pro.

 

200mi since the new rear diff went in. No cluster flashes, no diff noises (none before either) and no noticeable difference in driving performance. Only difference, aside from no warning lights, is it takes longer for the rear diff fluid to warm up.

 

Good to hear . . . I sent an email to my dealership with all the information, service guy is checking into it with their foreman, your dealership and the toyota rep. Will let you know what I hear back!