ajg617

Well, guess it's about time. Top and bottom of center LCD are pretty much invisible when the car sits in the sun all day (fine in the AM when cool). Can't complain given the age and mileage. Any recommendations on repair or replacement? I've had the cluster out before but didn't pay much attention to the center LCD. Reading some old posts, seems there are some hoaky repair shops fixing them. Any suggestions welcome. 03 A6 Avant
Thanks,
AJG

Airbag

there a few places around that do this , mine is gone too
i think the biggest issue is that the original module is NLA so they have to put in some off colour chineese knock off. apparently it is not too bad if you can live with the off colour. I imagine north of 200 bucks plus shipping to do this.

i fancy doing this but i think it would be best with a hot air iron and i dont have one

N_Jay

I went cheap and it was about 150 for the too bright Chinese display.
several vendors claimed to have the better German part for an extra charge.
Google around and check ebay.

arjun90

Why would you "let Audi let this one slide"?

This is a safety issue and should be recalled. Ironically, the same topic is currently being discussed on other Audi Forums.

It's a safety hazard, and not everyone is car savvy. The blame may ultimately go on the instrument display cluster if someone didn't know their lights weren't working, so on and so forth. Many situations can be modeled around this problem. Audi shouldn't have the audacity to let this defect slide.

Suppose your oil pressure or oil levels were low. Or perhaps your headlights / taillights were not working. You'd only know when your car gets in trouble, since you wouldn't have a clue why your instrument cluster is beeping as the display is washed out.

Recently, 34 Million Airbags recalled in the United States alone; affected several car manufacturers, resulted in causalities, largest car recall in US History; this should raise alarm for companies like Audi to start taking every safety complaint seriously, or else face the consequences.

N_Jay

The Display is NOT a required safety device (like an airbag).
The manufacturer is only require to have parts available, not provide them for free (as in a recall).
I am sure if you go to a dealer they will happily sell you a new cluster for $1500 to $2000 installed.

pr0xZen

Depending on where you live, the price might be really high to get this done locally, or you might be stuck with some quite expensive shipping- and import/export costs to have it done abroad. Might be worth checking into a used cluster with a good LCD - just so you know what kind of costs the alternatives involves.
Another alternative is to buy a new LCD, do the dismantling yourself, then take it to a tech to do "just" the soldering of the old and new LCD (or re-do the solder points if only those are bad).

Keep in mind though - exchanging the cluster will involve adapting for keys and immobilizer. You're going to need the SKC / PIN for BOTH the old and new one before you "set off". You'll also need either FOBs and CCM from the same donor car, or new immo RFID tags. Immo III will not adapt to or recode used immo RFID tags - so they have to be either matched to the current immobilizer, or virgin tags. (Not to be confused with FOB remote rfid, these can be reused and rematched as long as they're the right part for the CCM)

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index...rument_Cluster)

rocketman4321

Has anyone done the repair themselves? Is it "just" hot air soldering of fine pitch leads, or are other special tools involved? Does anyone know the name of the technology, e.g., "ball grid array"?

jcman

It's called SMD (Surface Mount Device) soldering, not that hard with the right tools.

tester123

Like jcman says, smd soldering is not that difficult but certainly requires proper tools otherwise, you'll start lifting circuit traces and it just gets more difficult to deal with.

Google/youtube SMD soldering and you'll see what they are about.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

These guys aren't hokey.
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