Gear display - 2000 E

[jberks]

Hi all,
Minor irrititation. The display on the dash that shows the auto gear selection (P,R,D etc), has decided to no longer display some of the pixels in the matrix. Some have since come back on again, and some not. Hardly a serious fault, but I am desparately trying (failing) to keep the car is A1 condition. Is there way of replacing just this segment, another known cause etc. Any after market specialists that repair such displays ? Clearly it doesn't justify the cost and disturbance of buying a complete binnacle but it would be nice to have all the dots back.
Any ideas ?
cheers,
Julian

 

[jberks]

There must be some electronics gurus out there! I have found that whilst one line is almost always out, others come and go.
The problem appears erratic and affects both the gear display, the clock and the temp gauge on the other side of the console. I am guessing that there is nothing wrong with the LCD itself but there is something electronic playing up. If so, anyone know of a firm that repairs the circuits ?

 

[Arnie]

Pixel problems are common on these displays made by VDO-Siemens (in BMW's-too). There's actually nothing wrong with the components, but the electrical contacts with the LCD panel are not soldered and rely on a soft-foam strip for pressure. Age, moisture and vibration can deteriorate resilience of the foam (it settles) and hence the effectiveness of the tiny contact surfaces, causing Pixels to disappear. The displays are of the passive (scanned, hozizontal and vertical addressing) matrix type and so loss of contact usually results in complete missing vertical or horizontal lines rather than idividual pixels.

Just fiddling with the display unit, or gently heating with a hair-dyer will usually bring it back to normal.

Even if you fit a new one it will probably be the same again in a few years.

(I find that it gets worse, if the car is not used for a while, but that generally, they come back of their own accord with regular use of the car. Vibration and change in cabin temperature etc promotes return of pixels.)

 

[jberks]

Thanks Arnie. It does seem to be lines, or part lines that come and go. It also seems to improve over a journey. Interesting you mention damp. I have recently wet cleaned the upholstery and, being winter switched off the air con to save a bit of fuel on my daily 120 mile commute. It all seems dry, the windows aren't fogging, but it could be an increase in damp air I guess. I will run it with the air con back on, run hot air into the drivers foot well and see if it makes a difference.
thanks again for your help.

 

[CarstenG]

Arnie, is it possible to disassemble the display or is it a sealed unit? I have similar problems and might possibly try to clean the contacts.

 

[Arnie]

Yes, it's possible, but it's tricky. Obviously, you need to extract the instument cluster panel and then carefully open the display from the back. There are some articles on the internet (mainly related to BMW Pixel Problems), which you get some ideas from.

Do a search with the following key words: Pixel Problems, Multifunction display, MID, ...

eg:
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e38/forum.php?postid=1570167&page=1


BUT before you do any thing with the instrument cluster, disconnect your car battery first or you may end up registering SRS or other errors in the car's computer.

 

[jberks]

Hi all,
just to complete the story. I have been running round with the air con on and the heater turned up ( due more to weather than anything else) for the last weeks or so. The last few pixels are now back.
thanks for all you help.