So my 2000's cluster went out two month's ago. All led's showing zero, no gauges working, false high temp warning, buzzing noise with needles ticking. The dealer was under the impression that all clusters could be replaced so removed it to get the part number. Then he learned that mine was too old, so he couldn't do the replacement for free. I told him put the old one back, and lo and behold it was working again. This week it went out again the same way. But thinking about it, I know this car has had electrical problems forever, and kills the battery within 48 hours of non-use. This led me to think that the problem was not the cluster per se, but the control center, and that perhaps it just needed a reboot. So I disconnected the battery, fully charged it, then reconnected it - and BINGO! everything back to normal.

So before spending $1500, try a reboot!

 

My center area of the instrument cluster fades on hot days and sometimes has lines going through it. making the information hard to read.
The other day I took off my lower column cover, below steering wheel to do some amp wiring and noticed that on the back of the dimmer/headlight assembly there is a large connector that seemed to be loose. I pushed it back on and heard a nice click, and my dashlights have been better. It is probably a coencidence but could have something to do with it also. The problem hasn't gone totally away but it is better than it was.

 

I don't think this is the same cluster problem... most of the time temp and gas gagues are off. It sounds like yours didnt work at all, thus cluster isn't broken.

 

my liloldbmw does that so I used dielectric spray on the terminals to clean them up and bingo it did

 

There are so many issues with the clusters. My center display pixels are hard to read as if some are missing. Hard to think it's just a connection problem. That's why I turn that worthless (too much information) display off, and it's also hidden by my boost gauge. I'm most afraid it will spread to other more important gauges.

 

the dimmer does only that. you can disconnect it and your cluster will default to 'dim', but should work otherwise.

My info center fades on the left side, but if you push on the surround, it gets bright again. Makes me think the backlighting is pulling away from the LCD, or the LCD is delaminating or something. Haven't had a reason to pull the cluster yet, and the dimming doesnt bother me, so I haven't investigated any further.