Hi,
What follows is as detailed as a background as I can provide whilst still being brief. Questions are at the end. Thanks
I own a 2006 1.4 8v Punto Grande. The multidisplay is not showing any information, only the backlight is turning on. Sometimes it turns on for about 2-3 days but then it just reverts back to this strange state.
I googled the issue and I found out that the LCD screen dislikes the damp weather. I put two and two together and noticed that it tended to go blank when it rains and come back to life about 4 days afterwords (I do not garage the car).
I bought the car in the summer and the display was working fine. First bit of rain made it useless and then it came back. I thought I could live with this intermittent behaviour but, ever since the winter has come in, the display is more off than on at this point (I live on an island where humidity is always high and it tends to dew at night)
I dismantled the instrument cluster (using a guide on how to change the instrument cluster LEDs) and removed the LCD screen and let it sit for a while. I then assembled the instrument cluster and placed a couple of packets of silica gel within the cluster (between the plastic casing and the back of the circuit board (where the stepper motors are)). After a day the LCD screen came back! I thought I had found a solution that required me to change the silica gel every so often but I can live with that.
However, about 3 days after it started to work I went out on a long drive and the LCD screen started to throw out inverted question marks at me. I turned the car on and off and the LCD screen went back to blank.
I have thought about buying another cluster and replacing the LCD screen. Unfortunately the price of one becomes quite hefty when I take into consideration shipping costs (about 50 euro / 45 pounds is the cheapest I could find). I cannot find one locally.
The roads here are quite poor. Is it still a humidity issue or could there be a loose contact somewhere that becomes dislodged with the roads and fixes itself with the roads? If so, what can I use to clean the contacts and which contacts could I clean?
Any solutions or comments would greatly be appreciated. I know this is not a very serious issue but I fear that being unable to see mileage will fail my car from the annual road test. (I also like knowing mileage to measure fuel consumption)
Thanks in advance
What follows is as detailed as a background as I can provide whilst still being brief. Questions are at the end. Thanks
I own a 2006 1.4 8v Punto Grande. The multidisplay is not showing any information, only the backlight is turning on. Sometimes it turns on for about 2-3 days but then it just reverts back to this strange state.
I googled the issue and I found out that the LCD screen dislikes the damp weather. I put two and two together and noticed that it tended to go blank when it rains and come back to life about 4 days afterwords (I do not garage the car).
I bought the car in the summer and the display was working fine. First bit of rain made it useless and then it came back. I thought I could live with this intermittent behaviour but, ever since the winter has come in, the display is more off than on at this point (I live on an island where humidity is always high and it tends to dew at night)
I dismantled the instrument cluster (using a guide on how to change the instrument cluster LEDs) and removed the LCD screen and let it sit for a while. I then assembled the instrument cluster and placed a couple of packets of silica gel within the cluster (between the plastic casing and the back of the circuit board (where the stepper motors are)). After a day the LCD screen came back! I thought I had found a solution that required me to change the silica gel every so often but I can live with that.
However, about 3 days after it started to work I went out on a long drive and the LCD screen started to throw out inverted question marks at me. I turned the car on and off and the LCD screen went back to blank.
I have thought about buying another cluster and replacing the LCD screen. Unfortunately the price of one becomes quite hefty when I take into consideration shipping costs (about 50 euro / 45 pounds is the cheapest I could find). I cannot find one locally.
The roads here are quite poor. Is it still a humidity issue or could there be a loose contact somewhere that becomes dislodged with the roads and fixes itself with the roads? If so, what can I use to clean the contacts and which contacts could I clean?
Any solutions or comments would greatly be appreciated. I know this is not a very serious issue but I fear that being unable to see mileage will fail my car from the annual road test. (I also like knowing mileage to measure fuel consumption)
Thanks in advance
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