Dashboard lights not working on 2008 Prius?

New combination meters 175 from Texas hybrids in about 1.2 hours of most idiots time to install it in about 12 screws pull out the vents blah blah blah millions of videos online and that's that all the flickering and smart with the battery terminal negative and all that has been used up and now you got no choice but to fix it everyone else has been playing games with the car until you got it now you're trying to play the same games and they don't work anymore very common actually You're at the end of life of playing with the battery terminals and playing all the little games that everybody tells you to play online That's ended pretty much sorry maybe it's time for an easier car for one to deal with that is a possibility Prius can be very complicated for well the easier going crowd anyway

 

Hi Todd, welcome to PriusChat.

There is no need to spend $1,000 for a new CM. If you are a little bit handy, you can do it yourself using the service below.

Texas Hybrid Batteries provides a repair service or can send you a remanufactured unit in exchange for your old broken CM. It costs $150 plus a $75 core charge. You get the $75 back when they receive your old board. The service includes programming your odometer to the current mileage and a lifetime warranty.

The details are in the link above.

 

Todd, you would get more visibility in the Gen 2 forum for your question. I remember there was a more lengthy dance that someone on youtube said was 100% successful. Might want to search for that.

I know the pain you have when the dash goes dark. Its not the worst fix if you are handy and have some time.

 

Yes ... (a) this should be moved to the gen 2 forum, and (b) there are plenty of threads already there about this known problem.

The gen 2 combination meter starts to do that because of a small capacitor on the meter circuit board. Existing threads describe what capacitor to replace. The part costs around a dollar, solder skills are needed, and taking off the dash top to reach the meter board is a tedious job.

There is a service in Texas that will send a working meter (preprogrammed with your odometer mileage) and you send your old one to them, for a cost around $150 if I remember right.

There is no "dance" that does anything but prolong the agony. You can make up lots of dances that will work, less and less often, until they just don't. What's failing is a capacitor on the meter board and what fixes the problem is a good capacitor there.