Fuel gauge letter markings very faint
 

My 2008 RL fuel gauge marking letters for full and empty are very faint. Thinking that a bulb may have burnt, when I called dealer parts, the representative told me that there are no bulbs to replace but you have to replace whole instrument cluster costing over 2 grands.
The fuel needle is very clearly visible but letters are not even with parking lights on

Anybody experienced this issue?

When I looked at the parts diagram for the dash, there seems to be no bulbs to replace for in the instrument cluster. Considering it's 2 grand, I would pop open the instrument cluster and see if there are any visible bulbs back there.

Wouldn't surprise me if it's LED bulbs soldered on the circuit board.

I agree. Figured it's still worth exploring at 2K :)

I can understand if fuel gage light is not working when I turn parking lights on. What I am not able to understand is that during daylight also I cannot see fuel and coolant temperature gage markings
I see bright red color needles in daylight but not letters on fuel or coolant temp gages.

Is daytime visibility affected by the same bulbs which affect night time?