Dash issues - T350

[NWTony]

Once again, electrical gremlins have struck!

The LCD portion of the dash doesn't work and the red shift light flickers all the time. The needles still work though so at least I know how fast I'm going, but not knowing oil temp, pressure etc.

Occasionally it does flicker back into life ( the lcd ) but even then it is somewhat corrupted, random letters , shapes etc.

I presume this is dash ECU failure? Has anyone had the same thing. I've checked the connectors and ribbons etc as well as the ones behind the dash but everything seems OK.

On the plus side, it is running OK

[shep1001]

If all the connectors are in properly I would try a new set of ribbon cables, the ones below will do for £10 unless you can make up the flat ribbons yourself. I did try to buy a set but for the price I was quoted I would have wanted solid gold with diamond trim on them! Dodgy ribbon cables was my problem but I replaced them after spending £100 on shipping and a diagnostic check on the clock pack & ECU only to find out it was perfect! My dash would freeze on start up sometimes so no display would illuminate and the shift lights would stay on, also the beeper did not work. I suppose the LCD could be faulty too but they are not cheap to buy but can be swapped yourself with minimal effort. so I would look at the cheap stuff first

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331050928753

If it needs sending away, I would recommend Paul Smith to do the repair, although there may be others that are good but Paul knows TVR electronics and I have used him twice and he has been brilliant both times and his charges are reasonable (its the insured carriage that costs a fortune!)

Edited by shep1001 on Friday 22 November 12:59

[NWTony]

Thanks once again, you seem to be solving all my problems

That printer cable will relace the ribbons between the dash and the ECU? Has to be worth a go then before sending the ECU off for repair. I have just had my heater amplifier circuit repaired by Paul Smith so I'm aware of his work TVR electronics must provide him with a steady income

[shep1001]

NWTony said:

Thanks once again, you seem to be solving all my problems

That printer cable will relace the ribbons between the dash and the ECU? Has to be worth a go then before sending the ECU off for repair. I have just had my heater amplifier circuit repaired by Paul Smith so I'm aware of his work TVR electronics must provide him with a steady income

You need 2 cables don't forget as one or both could be iffy. That company has more just give them a call and ask them. I am not going to bother getting flat ribbon cables just keep the printer cables on mine. They are a bit long but I just coiled up the spare under the dash

[NWTony]

NWTony said:

Thanks once again, you seem to be solving all my problems

That printer cable will relace the ribbons between the dash and the ECU? Has to be worth a go then before sending the ECU off for repair. I have just had my heater amplifier circuit repaired by Paul Smith so I'm aware of his work TVR electronics must provide him with a steady income

Way too many smileys.

[sidpinup]

It may be simple. Check the really fine wires that power the LCD backlight. If you take the dash pod off you should be able to easily identify them. I replaced my LED display a while back and one of the wires disconnected but would reconnect if I thumped the dash. I've since fixed it properly.

[NWTony]

Cheers, that seems another cost effective fix - I'll give it a go. I'm liking these less than a tenner options!

It could make sense, on occasion the dash briefly works, albeit with a corrupted display.

Two printer cables and a wiggle coming up.

[geoffphead]

try spraying the lcd board with freezer, it will tell you if you have an iffy connection or circuit board has a break or dry joint.Make sure battery is charged and giving around 14ish volts, my Tam did funny things before i replaced battery.

[NWTony]

Forgive my ignroance but what is freezer? (and how does it show up bad joints etc?)

[snowy]

NWTony said:

Forgive my ignroance but what is freezer? (and how does it show up bad joints etc?)

I would assume the guy means some of this stuff

http://www.maplin.co.uk/freezer-spray-29004

[geoffphead]

snowy said:

NWTony said:

Forgive my ignroance but what is freezer? (and how does it show up bad joints etc?)

I would assume the guy means some of this stuff

http://www.maplin.co.uk/freezer-spray-29004

yep sorry should have made myself clearer but i knew what i meant !! lol
its great for quickie fault finding , i learnt it when i did a stint on TV and radio repairing from a very old sage.

[NWTony]

geoffphead said:

yep sorry should have made myself clearer but i knew what i meant !! lol
its great for quickie fault finding , i learnt it when i did a stint on TV and radio repairing from a very old sage.

Once again with the ignorance I presume you spray it overthe board, connections etc and it shows up faults how? What would I be looking for?

[NWTony]

Well, not the ribbons unfortunately. Swapped with printer cables and still the same fault.

Looks like I need to be looking at either the dash ECU or the dash itself. As a daily driver that's going to be tricky , I'm presuming the car won't run without the dash ECU?

[EvoOlli]

Car will run without the Dash ECU, but you won't have any heater control.

[shep1001]

NWTony said:

Well, not the ribbons unfortunately. Swapped with printer cables and still the same fault.

Looks like I need to be looking at either the dash ECU or the dash itself. As a daily driver that's going to be tricky , I'm presuming the car won't run without the dash ECU?

I have a spare (used) LCD if you want to try that. If you cover the postage round trip you are more than welcome to try it before splashing out on a new one. Alternatively I am 'up north' this week maybe we could meet up. Where in cheshire are you its a big place.

Edited by shep1001 on Sunday 8th December 10:54

[NWTony]

shep1001 said:

I have a spare (used) LCD if you want to try that. If you cover the postage round trip you are more than welcome to try it before splashing out on a new one. Alternatively I am 'up north' this week maybe we could meet up. Where in cheshire are you its a big place.

Edited by shep1001 on Sunday 8th December 10:54

That's very generous of you, I'm in Widnes myself and I owe you a pint for this and previous help so anytime you're free, let me know and we'll meet up.

The LCD does flash and have a green line form when the ignition is on, so I think that works. Symptoms include:-

Needles not always resetting to zero on start up.
Flickering sidelight LEDS always on for some reason, although this predates the dash issue.
No LCD display at all.
new today, the air con blue LED is always on when the heater is on. This is despite the fact I don't have aircon.
The red shift light stays on / flickers all the time.
The buzzer still works though, it beeeeeeeeeps when the door is open etc, so the data is there somewhere.

As I said I swapped the ribbons for the printer leads without any changes, so it isn't that, which is a pity. I will have to drop Paul Smith an e-mail and see how quickly he can repair an ECU. It would be good if he could send me a refurbished unit!

Anyway, anytime you're free let me know when and where and I'll pop over for a meet and a chat and pint or something.

On an off-chance, I don't suppose anyone has a "spare" dash ECU I can try? Long shot I know!

[NWTony]

shep1001 said:

I have a spare (used) LCD if you want to try that. If you cover the postage round trip you are more than welcome to try it before splashing out on a new one. Alternatively I am 'up north' this week maybe we could meet up. Where in cheshire are you its a big place.

Edited by shep1001 on Sunday 8th December 10:54

That's very generous of you, I'm in Widnes myself and I owe you a pint for this and previous help so anytime you're free, let me know and we'll meet up.

The LCD does flash and have a green line form when the ignition is on, so I think that works. Symptoms include:-

Needles not always resetting to zero on start up.
Flickering sidelight LEDS always on for some reason, although this predates the dash issue.
No LCD display at all.
new today, the air con blue LED is always on when the heater is on. This is despite the fact I don't have aircon.
The red shift light stays on / flickers all the time.
The buzzer still works though, it beeeeeeeeeps when the door is open etc, so the data is there somewhere.

As I said I swapped the ribbons for the printer leads without any changes, so it isn't that, which is a pity. I will have to drop Paul Smith an e-mail and see how quickly he can repair an ECU. It would be good if he could send me a refurbished unit!

Anyway, anytime you're free let me know when and where and I'll pop over for a meet and a chat and pint or something.

On an off-chance, I don't suppose anyone has a "spare" dash ECU I can try? Long shot I know!

[Noblebenn]

Does anybody know what the remedy was for this fault, I have exactly the same.
I have changed the LCD display as I had a new one and the old one had some lines missing but this has not solved anything.

Was driving along, all of a sudden display went black and red change light started flashing. Car runs great and all other controls work. When ignition turned on there is a change of colour on the display so I think this is working fine.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Noblebenn]

All fuses okay, earth behind battery and in footwell looks in good fettle and new 25pin ribbon cables fitted to dash but screen is still blank. Red flashing change light has stopped but I'm sure this will return again. Think the ECU may need sending off, do these all of a sudden stop?

[shep1001]

Noblebenn said:

All fuses okay, earth behind battery and in footwell looks in good fettle and new 25pin ribbon cables fitted to dash but screen is still blank. Red flashing change light has stopped but I'm sure this will return again. Think the ECU may need sending off, do these all of a sudden stop?

Power connector between the LCD & the clock pack maybe? Get a volt meter and see if you have voltage on the panel after the connector