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Instrument panel died..can still drive, but dashboard, etc. is black...Help?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by FrankD, Oct 2, 2017.

  1. FrankD

    FrankD Member

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    Hello all. I have not posted in awhile, and I still have my 2007 Prius with now 163,000 miles on it. Today I got in the car, turned it on, and the dashboard was all black. It was not dimmed to off. The car still drove, but of course I could not see my speed, or the odometer reading, or even the amount of fuel. Also, the multi function screen showed, but the yellow bars did not work, or the avg mpg, etc. The screen showing the wheels and the batteries did work. Cruise control also did not work.

    Radio, windshield wipers, lights, turn signals, etc, did still work. So....I thought this was beyond my scope or my local mechanic...and I drove it to the dealer. They told me I need a new instrument panel and two vents, as typically they break the vents during a new install. They told me they had to order this and it would come with the same odometer reading as before. This repair would be around $1100.00

    I gave the ok for it. What else could I do...? The car has served me well and this is the first "big" thing it ever needed.

    I think it is a coincidence, but I changed the oil yesterday and reset the oil light, no problem. Afterwards it drove fine...the only problem occurring this morning.

    All of you know much more than I do.....what do you think? Since they have it they are also doing a new drive belt since they said it was starting to wear. They told me this repair will take a few days......and a big check. Oh well.

    I look forward to any comments or insight. Thanks! Frank D.
     
    #1 FrankD, Oct 2, 2017
  2. Descovy

    Descovy Junior Member

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    Call your local dealership. We had this happen several years ago, well past 100k miles. It's a common enough issue unfortunately. They repaired it free of charge for us. Even as old as our car was.
     
    #2 Descovy, Oct 2, 2017
  3. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    #3 fotomoto, Oct 2, 2017
  4. FrankD

    FrankD Member

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    Wow...I wish I posted here before I took it to the dealer! I did print these forms out and plan on taking these to the dealer tomorrow. I may be just over the 9 year mark.....but perhaps they will do something.....Thank you.

    Frank D.
     
    #4 FrankD, Oct 2, 2017
  5. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    Looks like the classic CombinationMeter problem. My 2009 Gen II suffered a similar problem about a year ago. The local Toyota dealer replaced it under 9 year warranty, and loaned me a brandy spanking new Camry for the 3 weeks it took them to get a replacement - they would not let me drive my car since the speedo display (part of the CM) was blank and so was a safety issue! :eek: - there are lots of threads hereabouts about the CM problem! :)
     
    #5 WilDavis, Oct 2, 2017
  6. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    You could ask the dealer for a goodwill gesture and perhaps they'll bring the price down, I don't know what sort of relationship you have with them, but I've always tried to be fair with mine (although someone hereabouts reminded me that the "Stealerships" (their description) weren't doing me any favours (see threads passim about the CM problem - mine happened about a year ago this past summer), and the serpentine belt replacement is a good idea if it had started developing cracks!
     
    #6 WilDavis, Oct 2, 2017
  7. FrankD

    FrankD Member

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    Well, I had the dealer do a couple of more things....they told me one of the two license plate lights were out and the drive belt was starting to crack....so they had it anyway, so I told them to do it. The drive belt installed was $128.30 and the license plate bulb was $31.50 installed. I'm a bit embarrassed because I could have done them myself....but I've been a bit overwhelmed working lately and just said they could do it since they had the car already. I was a bit surprised at the cost. The big thing was the instrument cluster......they did bring that price down some since they did not break the two vents......so that cost was $679. With tax, etc those three things came to just over $900. My car was one year past the 9 year warranty. When I called Toyota asking for a good customer type adjustment, they told me that they could not do anything even if it was only one day past the 9 years....I was very nice to them, but they told me there could be no deviation from policy. Oh well.....this is my punishment for being too busy to keep up on PriusChat. I should have known better. Can't believe an issue this big and well known escaped me. A $900 lesson learned......Thank you all for the good and kind help.
     
    #7 FrankD, Oct 4, 2017
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  8. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    (…sorry, I just re-read you post; I would suggest contacting Toyota Corporate) Good luck! :)
     
    #8 WilDavis, Oct 4, 2017
  9. FrankD

    FrankD Member

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    I have noticed that ever since I got the car back with the new instrument panel, whenever I put it in reverse the rear camera does not come on. This has always worked no problem. I am supposed to bring it back to the dealership this Wednesday......hopefully they will not tell me it is a totally different problem and charge me more. It has worked flawlessly for years and has not worked since the new display was installed last week. Sigh..... Any thoughts? Frank D.
     
    #9 FrankD, Oct 7, 2017
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    hopefully, they forgot to plug something in, but will they admit it?
     
    #10 bisco, Oct 7, 2017
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  11. FrankD

    FrankD Member

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    Thankfully, the dealership checked and stated that the plug for the camera must not have been plugged in all the way....now fixed with no additional charge. I think we are now good. Thanks everyone!
     
    #11 FrankD, Oct 12, 2017
    bisco, Rph74, fotomoto and 1 other person like this.
  12. k9gmj

    k9gmj Junior Member

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    Good luck going to the dealers for service, my opinion is that they are going to take you for as much as they can!

    I was in Arizona in my 2006 Prius and got the "Red Triangle" drove to the next little town and removed the HV battery cover and checked the modules but didn't find any that were bad so put it back together and then it wouldn't start< (I think I didn't push down on the safety plug lever?) So I ended up having it towed 65 miles to Sunrise, AZ to a Penske Toyota Dealership where they proceeded to work on it, ended up telling me I need to do this and that and payed over $900 and then took off and drove less than ten miles and got the "Red Triangle" again so drove it back to the dealer and they tell me I needed something else $300+ so had them do that too, (well I'm 2500 miles from home)! so what the heck do I do, the service writer kept telling me "you have a Master Mechanic working on it" Big deal. The also said that the "safety plug" was loose so I'm thinking that have might been all that was wrong? But instead of letting me drive off they insisted that I needed to do all of these things. The car had never given me any problems and had about 140,000 miles on it and I had drive it to Alaska and back in 2015 without any issues and averaged a little over 50mpg on that trip. I later sold the car but should have kept it I guess.

    Dick
     
    #12 k9gmj, Jan 24, 2018
  13. JoeMomma

    JoeMomma New Member

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    If it's just we speedometer area but the blinkers are working and the check engine and all those little lights come on in the right side cluster, try the trick I found on YouTube of just disconnecting bigger white molex connector from the positive terminal of the battery. You don't need to disconnect the entire positive terminal just the white plug that's under the red protective shell.
     
    #13 JoeMomma, May 2, 2019
  14. jcrply

    jcrply Junior Member

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    THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
     
    #14 jcrply, Dec 9, 2020
  15. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    FYI, using that unplug-replug method is a TEMPORY work around for a known problem. The symptom will get worse until it won't function at all- which will cause problems trying to power the car on and off. Might be weeks, months, who knows? Also, that connector isn't designed to be cycled lots of times- it might wear and have a poor fit (eventually).
    I suggest that you research and budget for repair of the cluster (as possible). There are lots if threads about replacing the bad capacitor (if you are fairly DIY capable), or pulling the cluster and replacing it with a repaired and programmed unit from Texas Hybrid if not so DIY (or having a shop do that for you).


    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #15 mr_guy_mann, Dec 9, 2020
  16. jcrply

    jcrply Junior Member

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    I did this and it worked. Thank you. But after about a week, my car did it again. Do you know what is causing the problem? I just had the 12V battery replaced less than 2 months ago.
     
    #16 jcrply, Dec 15, 2020
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    see post #15
     
    #17 bisco, Dec 15, 2020
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