MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

That sounds great. At the I wrote that there were no clues on the Web about the cause or a fix. Are there instructions other than those on Hobbit's site? Can you point me to them? I have the skills if I have instructions.

Thanks!
Bob

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

I used Hobbits instructions, it is all you need. Go easy pulling plugs inside MFD, they are tight.
Sorry, no link, way past bed time.

 

Well folks, include my Prius in the list of those with the bad MFD. Symptoms are exactly as described in the TSB. It is a 2004 purchased January 2004 so pretty early. The car has 44,770 miles and 53 months of use. No extended warranty.

Many thanks to Hobbit for his work in isolating the problem and creating the excellent write up. I've purchased a unit from a wrecked car that has the 081 part number. I decided to roll the dice again. I do intend to get the original repaired or at least make a good attempt.

Shame on Toyota for not issuing a warranty extension to cover this. It is clearly a manufacturing problem. On the plus side this the first and ONLY issue we have ever had with the car.

John

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

Does anyone know where I might be able to find someone in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that can repair my MFD using Hobbit's instructions? My husband is concerned that we will void any warranty if we have the MFD repaired per Hobbit's instructions vs. paying the $1000 I was quoted by a local Toyota dealer to replace it. We do not have the extended warranty. I'd rather find someone to repair it than spend the $1000 to replace it with a refurbished display. I too am angry with Toyota that they have known about this problem, issued a service bulletin but won't do anything to repair/replace these units at a minimal cost to the owners.

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

Does anyone know where I might be able to find someone in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that can repair my MFD using Hobbit's instructions? My husband is concerned that we will void any warranty if we have the MFD repaired per Hobbit's instructions vs. paying the $1000 I was quoted by a local Toyota dealer to replace it. We do not have the extended warranty. I'd rather find someone to repair it than spend the $1000 to replace it with a refurbished display. I too am angry with Toyota that they have known about this problem, issued a service bulletin but won't do anything to repair/replace these units at a minimal cost to the owners. Has anyone taken this problem to a TV station that investigates consumer's complaints?

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

If you can't remove the unit yourself have an auto electrician remove it then ask a local computer repair shop if they can do the soldering or recommend someone who can. Print and take a copy of Hobbit's instructions to the repairer.
If you have a warranty to protect have it repaired under that, if it isn't covered then there is nothing to risk.

You can drive the car with the display out, just re-connect the switches.

 

Add me to the list. Thanks to hobbit at least I know what's wrong and can approach the dealer Monday armed with good information. I bought the car a month and half ago and have driven 3,200 miles...which is just over the 90 day/3000 mile used car warranty the car came with.

So maybe the dealer decides to be decent and help me out, or maybe they stick to the letter of the law. Either way, I know I can get an MFD on ebay for $400. A lot better than $4K. If I have to go that way I think I'll try and get the old one fixed and if I can I'll probably try and sell it off for $100 or something.

Thanks again for all the great info, the linked site with pics, and incredible details. I knew the 04's had display issues and figured I'd cross that bridge when I got there...didn't expect to get there so fast.

 

I think reading about it made it happen for me. I think I read about it one evening then the next day mine was playing up. It gradually got worse till it died.
I wouldn't bother with the Ebay one, fix yours and save $300. You can drive the car with the screen out, you just need to put the surround back to have access to the switches. The solder repair took my guy about 10 minutes once I had dismantled the screen. If your not confident to dismantle it should only take a competent tech an hour to get in and get out of the MFD using Hobbits great instruction once it is out of the car. An hour without the screen is hardly worth $300.
Once the screen is fixed if you have a little mechanical aptitude you could put the screen in yourself with a phillips screw driver and a 10mm socket in the car park of the repairer in 30 minutes easy.

As a side note, I have driven mine over 15,000km since the repair including about 260km of very rough dirt roads and no problems with my MFD since repairing it. 100km of that I was later told was a 4WD only road!

 

I'll have to see if I can find a shop around here that will tackle it. If the dealer doesn't come through, and the a finf a guy to "fix it" and it doesn't work, I'm no worse off than buying a $400 piece off ebay. Not too bad really. At least I know I can drive it with no ill effects, even if that means having a hole there for a little while.

 

my patience wasn't strong enough to wait...so I ripped apart the dash, pulled the MFD (which was waaaaay easy to do) and started to follow hobbit's research.

After a spent $10 at Radio Shack for a new soldering iron, I put everything back together and VOILA!!! It all works again. Unbelievable that Toyota would have ever charged anyone $4K for that.

Hopefully it will work from now on, but if not, I'm no worse than I started out, right?

BTW, I'm not gifted with the ability to tear things down and put them back together, but I went slowly and carefully and it was really pretty easy and, in a weird way, kind of fun...

Thanks again for the spectacular info

 

jjksutton, you bought me happiness when I read that last post, I really don't know why but I broke into laughter, well done and here is hoping she never lets go again.

 

your previous post provided some of the motivation to get moving that morning, so you derserve some credit too...

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

Well glad I could help.

 

Thanks everyone for these post. I just found this forum (looking for info on my keyfob battery) and it's great. My MFD died about a year ago (on an '04 Prius), just before my extended warranty ran out. The dealer repair shop stalled just long enough to not cover it, which is sad. I'm not technically inclined and don't know anything about soldering or anything else. I'm wondering if anyone has tried taking Hobbit's instructions to a Toyota mechanic?

 

I think you would better off taking the MFD out (very easy to do, 5 minutes tops) and going to a PC repair shop. They could probably do it easy (like patsparks had done)

 

If they cant fix it at a PC shop they will know someone who can.

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

Has anyone ever seen this MFD problem in a G1 Prius? Our 2002 did something goofy yesterday and it sounds a lot like the problems I've read on the G2 MFD.

Our symptoms: Car was started yesterday morning, first start of the day. Everything seemed normal about the car, except the MPG real-time bar spiked to 99.9 immediately even though the ICE was still running. The MPG numbers themselves read 99.9. The outside air temp reading was blank. Switching to the energy screen, there were no arrows, no battery charge status, nothing. The car was driven for 10 minutes, car drove just fine. The mpg bar graph showed two bars at 99.9, and the real time bar was still pegged at 99.9 and the reading below was 99.9. The energy screen was still the same. The radio display stated the radio was off, but it actually was. I turned the FM radio on, and it worked fine. The heater/ac motor seemed to blow fine.

We got to a stop light, turned the car off completely, restarted, and all was normal.

This has only happened once, though we have only had our 2002 for 3000 miles and a little over a month. It has 125,000 miles on it now.

 

Well add me to the list... Just got yesterday while on our way over to pick up our brand new Sienna. Talk about being able to cut the irony with a knife. Found out about the issue, the TSB, and was quoted $1000 to replace the part.
Sent the email below to Toyota so we'll see where that gets us... (it's a bit dramatic, but to get hit while we were on our way to get our third Toyota?!?!?)
To Whom It May Concern,
Yesterday (June 16th, 2008) the MFD on our 2004 Prius failed and, on taking the car to the service department at our local dealership, we heard for the first time about this issue and Toyota Service Bulletin EL002_05. He informed us that we needed to replace the unit at a cost of $1000.

Researching further, I discovered this is a KNOWN manufacturing defect with hardware within a part that is not subject to extreme usage, mileage, or exposure to the elements and yet Toyota Corporate had not seen fit to recall the part or to take ownership of this issue.

As the loyal owner of a 1999 4Runner, the 2004 Prius, and as of yesterday, ironically the same day the MFD died, a 2008 Sienna, I am astounded and offended at the lack of loyalty Toyota has shown regarding this issue.

At each stage of my life I have trusted in the economy and reliability of Toyota vehicles, my question to you is whether or not that trust has been misplaced.

During our service appointments and when buying the Sienna, we were asked again and again how Toyota could earn our business. This is how, back your product. Please contact me as soon as possible with a response and an explanation.

 

Re: MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

I'm not sure this is the same problem because when the 2004> play up they don't display any information like no consumption bars no outside temp, no AC settings, in fact you will get a message to "check the AC connection" and the audio screen will have a pic of 2 speakers and words to the effect "Audio off"

The easy way to describe it is there is a template for information on consumption and energy screens but there is no information in the template.

It may have just been a poor boot up, lets hope, but if it keeps doing it good luck finding the problem.

 

Mjonz, good luck with your MFD, I hope you get good service and a good resolution.
If not use the information on PC to fix it without rewarding Toyota for not fixing a known problem. Crying shame and a blot on the record of a great company.