Need serious troubleshooting help.... display / shut off issue

Try changing the fob battery? Our 3rd gen warns when fob battery is getting low, not sure about second gen.

 

Well somebody is going to tell you to test and/or replace the 12 volt battery.

But not me.

I have no idea.

 

The culprit is your combination meter. It doesn't require much serious thinking to come to that conclusion.

Combination Meter Warranty Enhancement | PriusChat

If you documented a failure of the combination meter in 2013 or earlier maybe you can make a claim under that extended warranty.

Otherwise, since the extended warranty has now expired on your 2004 model year vehicle, you can either install a used combination meter or you can troubleshoot the failed component. I think the former would be a lot easier to accomplish unless you have the skill to rework PCBs with surface mount components.

 

As a safety measure, the ECU which receives signals from the POWER button will ignore driver input when the car is moving. This is so that an accidental press of the POWER button while you are driving merrily along at 70 mph does not shut the car down.

You can probably see the safety issues that would arise should that be allowed to happen - for example, no power assist of steering and brakes, the possibility that the transaxle parking pawl might engage and lock the transaxle output shaft, etc.

If the combination meter is not working then that ECU has no idea what speed the car is traveling at, hence it will ignore a normal quick press of the POWER button. However, if the button is depressed at least 3 seconds continuously, that will eventually get the car's systems to power down.

 

You missed "repairs no longer available." Revisit the old obsolete notice. Visit the newer notice.

Luscious learned that the repaired combo meters don't hold over time. Thus they only deal with new combo meters from Toyota. Unfortunately it appears that someone has noticed a failed new OEM replacement; Luscious doesn't state if they have experienced this too. If you go new, hopefully you'll get the same or longer lifespan as the failed original (10+ years).

If Toyota says No, ask if they'll cover the part and you cover labor, or 50% of the part, etc. Anything helps.

 

i would grab a salvage unit or ebay if no luck with toyota. most units are still good, even though there were enough bad ones for toyota to extend the warranty.

 

Well, I found plenty of used units on eBay:
prius speedometer | eBay

autobeyours.com is an excellent source in general for 2G Prius salvage parts. I don't know if they have combination meters, you could try calling them.

I buy new Toyota parts from AutoNation Toyota Gulf Freeway, Houston, TX.

 

My 04 Prius has the same problem. I think it is temperature affected. Occasionally when it is very cold out the heads up display quits. Possibly a power supply issue in the display. It may be a bad connection, but since this thing is a rolling computer it may be a timing issue between computer boards and the display never initializes correctly.
I think his is so since the MFD doesn't clock the vehicle speed and no mileage shows up. I'm not sure but I think the VSS signal quits.
It affects the cars mileage readings too. When mine goes out I note the mileage on my DashDyno SPD display and add that to my cars mileage when it comes back on to track my cars mileage.

Several weeks ago I lost the display after starting up and the display was good, I turned it off, IG-off and shortly later I turned the IG-on again and the display quit. It was about 20 deg F.
I couldn't get the display on again by several IG-ons and offs. I drove 35 miles and after I shut down the car and restarted the display came back on. The electronics were warmed up by then.

I don't know what to do here, since anything looks expensive. I can live with it for now though. Just waiting for spring.

 

This got me curious as to cost of ebay vs New.
NEW Combo Display, Part# 8329147360, is $266.54 at Camelback. Rebuilt on eBay is $149. Small difference of $117.54; I'd go new b/c better chance of lasting as long as the original one that died. This would be a small selling advantage, should you sell your car private party later.

Sciencekit. If you do go new, contact that eBay person to see if he will buy your dead combo meter? Maybe he'll give you the core vale of $75 or a slightly lesser amount, say $50? If he agrees to buy yours, the difference between new and rebuilt will be smaller than the $117.54 above.

 

My Post #10 above contains links to Luscious Garage about this problem. Read both notices carefully and in their entirety, starting with the obsolete notice first. After reading both notices, you should be convinced that your combo meter is dying.

If you can't DIY, consider contacting Steve at Autobeyours. Find out used part cost, labor for installing said part, and labor to install new part you supply. They are located in Scottsburg, Indiana 47170. Google Maps says it would be a 5hr:47min road trip, 352 miles.

You should also price shop multiple dealers, near and far, as labor/greed rates vary, both for part and labor.

 

Don't forget (quoted from Luscious site), "The dealer will need to special order the unit, to have it programmed with your current odometer, which takes two days (for ones we’ve recently ordered) or longer depending on the backlog. Maybe Toyota will come out with a gizmo to allow dealers to program in house. (It can be done “manually”, but requires soldering to the board.)"

 

You should feel good about getting NEW after reading this posting from another PC member.

Anyone else have bad luck with Dorman combination meters? | PriusChat