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GJR
Camped on the site
Joined: May 12, 2007
Posts: 472
Location: Bristol
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Posted:
Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:10 pm |
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A4 B5 Centre display (DIS) replacement.
For years I've been annoyed by the centre DIS display with "missing lines"
I've looked at the repair services on Ebay, but they all require you to send it to them and after repair they send it back which takes at least a couple of days. I need my car everyday so not an option for me. With (Chinese) replacement displays now going for 35 pounds, I thought of having a go at replacing it myself - done today and it works
Here is the write up on how to do it & some pictures. I've seen this covered on other forums but can't find the links at the moment. Anyway, no harm in another write-up.
1) Take the cluster out of the car - this is not difficult but a bit fiddly. Remove surround above the steering wheel, undo 2 screws which are now visible. Move the cluster forward. There are 3 connectors on the back which are held in place with a little locking bracket. Undo the bracket and the connector then slides out. The one on the right side has the shortest lead on it and is not easy to reach and undo. Protect the top of your steering column with a cloth or so when you do this otherwise you'll scratch it with the cluster's attachments.
2) Split the cluster body - Remove 2 screws on the back (torx), then I used matches to keep the clamps apart after which the body slides in 2 halves.
3) Next is to remove dails - Be very carefull - use a thin knife blade under the centre of the dail - you need quite a bit of force to price them off. you only need to remove the speedo, tacho, fuel and temp dails. leave the volt and oil temp in place.
4) Take of dial covers and remove white support unit behind it: Cut the corners with some plyers at the volt and oil pressure dial location and just above the 2 small displays. Remove the white support structure - it is still fixed to the PCB with some clamps.
7) Remove the metal surround of the display. This is removed by turning the clamps on the back of the PCB such that the metal surround can be slid up and out.
Now remove the old display - use solder iron to heat up the contacts on the PCB one by one. I used some plyers to keep the flexible lead under tension, one by one you can then unsolder the connection - this is not easy and with me it started tearing apart and I spend quite some time having to take the little strips off one by one.
9) clean up contact strips on print board - use plenty of solder flux and go over each contact strip with the solder iron, add more solder tin if required.
10) Put new display in place, I used tape to keep it in position. You need to ensure it lines up properly, it is a bit fiddly to get it in the exactly the right place.
11) The final bit. With the new display's flexi strip hovering over the connector strips on the PCB, you need to use some soldering flux, then heat up each connection strip one by one - not too long but long enough so the solder melts and creates the connection.
12) Once you're happy with the soldering (check each connection with a magnifying glass to ensure connection has been established), put it back together in the reverse order. The tricky bit here is the positioning of the dails in the "0" position. This is not obvious and after a few attempts mine are now fine.
All in all I took well over 3 hrs: You need plenty of patience and some soldering skills, but I would not want to do this again....
good luck |
_________________ Gareth
2005 A6 Avant 2.7 TDI SE - 94K
2000 A4 Avant 1.9 TDI SE - 196K - SOLD |
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QuattroJames
Site Moderator
Joined: Aug 08, 2007
Posts: 5336
Location: Dorset
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Posted:
Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:21 am |
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Nice work, well done.
I'll make that a sticky as it's such a common issue. |
_________________ 2003 A4 Avant 2.5TDi quattro with a few choice mods...
Ingolstance |
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GJR
Camped on the site
Joined: May 12, 2007
Posts: 472
Location: Bristol
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Posted:
Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:57 pm |
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QuattroJames wrote: | Nice work, well done.
I'll make that a sticky as it's such a common issue. |
Cheers for that - 2 days in and it is still working - can't help but looking at it during driving - simple things make life so much better.. |
_________________ Gareth
2005 A6 Avant 2.7 TDI SE - 94K
2000 A4 Avant 1.9 TDI SE - 196K - SOLD |
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kurgan
Camped on the site
Joined: Feb 03, 2003
Posts: 244
Location: London UK Passat 1.8T SE '01 (Y) A4 1.8 SE '96 (N) Vag-Com user
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Posted:
Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:58 am |
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Barnz
Camped on the site
Joined: Feb 01, 2003
Posts: 260
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Posted:
Fri May 11, 2012 12:52 pm |
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GJR wrote: | QuattroJames wrote: | Nice work, well done.
I'll make that a sticky as it's such a common issue. |
Cheers for that - 2 days in and it is still working - can't help but looking at it during driving - simple things make life so much better.. |
Does it still work??? |
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audioc
Site OWNER
Joined: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 12502
Location: E Bay?
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Posted:
Fri May 11, 2012 5:53 pm |
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GJR
Camped on the site
Joined: May 12, 2007
Posts: 472
Location: Bristol
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Posted:
Fri May 11, 2012 9:54 pm |
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Barnz wrote: | Does it still work??? |
Yes, 7 months in and 10K further it is still fully functioning |
_________________ Gareth
2005 A6 Avant 2.7 TDI SE - 94K
2000 A4 Avant 1.9 TDI SE - 196K - SOLD |
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GhostRaven
Newbie
Joined: May 15, 2012
Posts: 1
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Posted:
Mon May 14, 2012 11:33 pm |
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Has anyone tried just re-soldering the joints for the display? I am the proud new owner of a B5 A4, and havent gotten around to fixing this yet. But with my electronics background, and the symptoms i found (cuts out with heat, but will display when it is cold) tells me a bad solder joint? Any thoughts? |
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GJR
Camped on the site
Joined: May 12, 2007
Posts: 472
Location: Bristol
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Posted:
Tue May 15, 2012 8:42 pm |
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It is not as simple as that. Appearently it is the flexible connector which looses its connection to the display rather than to the pcb. Sometimes by applying some pressure to this area you can get an improvement on this (the 5 pound "fixes" on E-bay will tell you all about this).
I tried this but it made no difference to mine, so in the end replacing the lot is the answer.
good luck |
_________________ Gareth
2005 A6 Avant 2.7 TDI SE - 94K
2000 A4 Avant 1.9 TDI SE - 196K - SOLD |
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Evilgoat76
Newbie
Joined: Sep 07, 2014
Posts: 5
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Posted:
Sat Sep 13, 2014 9:40 am |
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Ghostraven - Broadly speaking you are correct, however its the connection from the FPC to the class or FPC to the driver chip. The same thing causes 'horizon' lines on TFT displays and is likewise, terminal. |
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audivw
Camped on the site
Joined: Nov 13, 2004
Posts: 315
Location: Norfolk
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Posted:
Mon Apr 01, 2019 10:38 am |
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whys all the pictures not coming up !!!!! |
_________________ 84 WR ..........SOLD
86...WR....Mine
00..A4..Avant 1.8
quattroforum.com |
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