Central Control Panel Display

[robinf]

Anyone seen this problem before? - last weekend my LCD display appeared to have an electrical brainstorm and now shows one half of one display (on the left) and one half of another display (on the right hand side)! I can just about see the main headings on the left hand side - eg 'Roof', 'Fridge', 'Heater' etc, so at least I know where I am in the menu, but the right hand side is showing a melee of icons from '70%' (presumably the leisure battery charge) to those for mains charging, and 'fridge on' icon. I'm a bit concerned that this is the first sign of a complete failure of the display and I will be left in some remote corner of Wales with the roof up (a nightmare often mentioned by some of your other members)!! Any ideas anyone? My van is 4 and a half years old so no chance of any warranty claim and from what some say, the unit could be costly to replace.

 

[Martin]

Hi, it does sound like a faulty display from what you have described, you could try and reset the control panel by pressing the lower button on the right hand side of the control panel for 5 seconds, it will then re-boot

 

[Stu]

Yes, don't go to Wales :laugh2

Welcome

It seems there are a lot of issues with the Control panels at the moment. I would suggest a friendly call to our tame Service Manager, Alex, at SMG. He will be able to point you in the right direction and help to see if VW would offer any goodwill.

 

[robinf]

Thanks for replies Martin, but just tried re-booting to no avail. Also thanks to Stu, I'll give Alex a call as you suggest. I also tried switching off the main isolator switches in the rear cupboard but that's done nothing either!!

 

[Stu]

It's clutching at straws but you could pull it out and disconnect the supplies from it and leaving it off for 5 - 10 mins.

It's simple to remove, just follow the guide in your manual for emergency roof closing

 

[robinf]

Hello again Stu - well I tried that and probably clutched at the wrong straw. When I plugged the Display Unit back in again, I'm left with a flashing clock that I can't update and no selection for the Pop-up roof! Also, the right hand side of the display is now solid black. However, as I can still turn the fridge off and on, I can chill a bottle or 2 of chardonnay to drown sorrows. And sorrow comes in the form of a replacement unit costing £606! The Cali's done just 13,000 miles in 4 and a half years. Any other suggestions before I contemplate chilling a bottle of Smirnoff too?

 

[Stu]

Not doing so well here are we Robin.

At least you have control of the Fridge so I would suggest turning it down a little further, while you can, and putting the Smirnoff in. Smirnoff needs to be properly cold.

Did you try Alex??

I think there is a legal point that comes in a level of expectation and that is that the unit should have a reasonable lifetime. I think from conversation here you can produce reasonable evidence of systematic failure.

 

[Martin]

Alex is still away on holiday until next week so might be worth sending him a PM as he has got quite a backlog when he arrives back. I agree with Stu on this is something like that should not fail and I would push hard to not pay the full £600+ for a control panel as at the end of the day it is small PCB and LCD and few buttons.

 

[california180]

Hello again Stu - well I tried that and probably clutched at the wrong straw. When I plugged the Display Unit back in again, I'm left with a flashing clock that I can't update and no selection for the Pop-up roof! Also, the right hand side of the display is now solid black.

Hi Robin...have you tried a re-boot after removal :?:

:idea: just a thought, did you wipe the display shortly before experiencing your problems as I seem to recall a mention in the manual about only using some "magic" wipe!

Good luck with this

Chris

 

[robinf]

Alex is still away on holiday until next week so might be worth sending him a PM as he has got quite a backlog when he arrives back. I agree with Stu on this is something like that should not fail and I would push hard to not pay the full £600+ for a control panel as at the end of the day it is small PCB and LCD and few buttons.

Good point Martin, thank you. I can wait till Alex's return, no problem. Looking at the other issues people have had with this part suggest to me that there could well be a case for claiming it's of 'unmerchantable quality' and that a reasonable person would expect it to last longer than 4 summers (we are fair weather folk). I know it's most probably irrelevant but £606 looks ludicrous for a small handful of electrical bits. You can buy a fully-loaded PC for that. More relevant perhaps is that the development costs for this item have already been sunk in VW's forecast number of Cali vehicle sales, so any post-sale replacements should be costing them just the marginal cost of manufacture - looking at it, about £15 I reckon. Regards, Robin

 

[Stu]

If it were me in your situation I would be exploring the route with VW but I would also look to try and carry out a repair myself.

From what I know of them they are generally off the shelf parts except for the casing and of course the software. It appears that yours has suffered and LCD failure which may be a commercially available part.

 

[robinf]

Finally bit the bullet last week and had a new control unit fitted by VW in Cheltenham. Having spoken to folk at VW CS in Leeds as well as the dealer, they agreed (between the 2 of them) to offer me a 30% goodwill discount which I accepted. Remember that my problem was the gobble-de-gook characters on the LCD display and that I could not re-set the time. The full replacement cost would have been £606 plus a small fitting cost. I've noticed another topic appeared this last week on the forum re repairing the item, but sadly, that turned up too late for me! However, I have retained the old unit and will be looking to see if it can be repaired (either in case it happens again, or if someone else needs one). Sarah (Parts Manager) at the VW dealer was as helpful as you could reasonably expect of someone in her position, but she had to defer to her manager and to VW CS of course. Although my problem was not unique, neither was it common enough to elicit more sympathy! Regards to all, Robin.

 

[debarros]

OK I need to repair my display unit. It works fine if you can decipher the text covered by several lines. So can any one tell me how to repair the display without having to replace the whole £ 600 unit?

 

[debarros]

Finally bit the bullet last week and had a new control unit fitted by VW in Cheltenham. Having spoken to folk at VW CS in Leeds as well as the dealer, they agreed (between the 2 of them) to offer me a 30% goodwill discount which I accepted. Remember that my problem was the gobble-de-gook characters on the LCD display and that I could not re-set the time. The full replacement cost would have been £606 plus a small fitting cost. I've noticed another topic appeared this last week on the forum re repairing the item, but sadly, that turned up too late for me! However, I have retained the old unit and will be looking to see if it can be repaired (either in case it happens again, or if someone else needs one). Sarah (Parts Manager) at the VW dealer was as helpful as you could reasonably expect of someone in her position, but she had to defer to her manager and to VW CS of course. Although my problem was not unique, neither was it common enough to elicit more sympathy! Regards to all, Robin.

OK did you fix the old unit? My is gone doble dee gook.... I would be interested in your advice

 

[robinf]

Hi debarros, I'm afraid I can't be of too much help to you at the mo as I haven't as yet tried to get it repaired. The hugely expensive new one carries its own warranty period so the incentive is not as pressing as it might be. However, now that you have raised the question I will try to pick up the old thread again and see what can be done. If it is possible to repair it, then I should do that, but realistically, it's not going to be in the sort of timeframe that I would imagine you would want. Anyway, I'll keep you posted if anything positive happens. Regards.

 

[debarros]

Txs. My display unit can still be guessed at . I can just about make up the writing but it is becoming less and less readable. To put up the top I have to search for the right position and it does take quite some time. So no rush, but if you manage to do something with it or even just isolate the display screen (I think that is where the problem is), I would indeed be interested. I have contacted a company in Portsmouth that fixes Audi display units and they are investigating if they can work on VWs as well. Will see. Thanks anyway. Jose

 

[Freeley]

Try contacting volksvans on here he seems pretty confident that they can fix them via a cable replacement. Mine is the same as yours debarros and am planning on going down this route when time allows.

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[debarros]

Hi Freely - Ah! a lead - hope it works thanks . How do I contact them? I thought a cable replacement would work but everyone seems to think I am speaking a foreign language when I ask. Any idea where they are based? Jose

 

[Freeley]

You can pm him on here. Don't know where you are but volksvans are based in Derbyshire

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