Lights failed on me today
 

I drove the car (2005) this morning to school and all was fine. One the way home I backed the car up and was driving out of the parking garage and realized I couldn't read any lights on my dash (no miles per hour, no gas, no odometer, etc). I originally thought I had the brightness turned to the lowest setting but that wasn't it. I pulled over and re-started the car, still didn't come on. The only lights on were the freeze icon (but it was in the mid 60s!) and the maint req (got an oil change a few weeks ago)- and they blinked the whole way to my kids daycare.

Also the screen did not show me my MPG or average, but it did graph the bars showing my MPG for each 5 minute increment.

When I got back in after picking my kids up the maint req and freeze icons no longer were on and now the screen was actually calculating my MPG- but it had reset all my info.


My husband called the dealership while I was driving home and they said it was either I had the lights turned down or I had something on my dash blocking the sensor or something. None of those were the issue. I also can't find an explanation in the owner's manual.


I guess I'll see how it is tomorrow and if its still messed up I'll have to take it in :(

Re: Lights failed on me today
 

There are reports of a failed multi-function display that causes symptoms similar to yours. The thread is over in PriusChat and I'll try to forward it to you later tonight.

Bob Wilson

Re: Lights failed on me today
 

cool thanks!

Re: Lights failed on me today
 

I just went out to cut the car on, this time the lights did in fact light up but they are all spazzing out and not reading real numbers.

Everything else appears to be working as normal.

Re: Lights failed on me today
 

Hi,

This is where the thread starts:
http://priuschat.com/forums/care-mai...tml#post520213

Hobbit did great work with:
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/compare.html

It appears the failing solder joint causes the bus that connects multiple systems together can fail inside an MFD. Now that doesn't mean this is your problem. However, it is something to share with the service department.

Do you want to try and fix it yourself? If so, there is more information you'll need to confirm the diagnosis and this involves removing the instrument panel and working with some of the wiring. This is not something for the faint of heart but it is doable.

Bob Wilson

Re: Lights failed on me today
 

Took it in today, last update they still haven't figured out what exactly is wrong with it.