swast4

New Member
Hi guys and gals,
I have been looking through this site for a few months now doing some research before I purchased my car , a 2002 L322 Mk RR. When I bought it, it had a fault with the digital display on the dash, quite alot of the pixels where missing. I knew about the fault before I bought the car and new it was a common fault on this model. Unless I missed it, there is no info on this site for the repair process. So I thought I would give back to the site instead of taking away. I was quoted at my local 4x4 specialist £220 +vat for the repair to the dash and about £100 +vat for the labour.

I did some research and got a bloke called Ethan from CLUSTER REPAIRS UK 07934345959 to repair it for £180 inc vat plus £18 Postage, the difference though was that he replaced the parts, rather than repaired and thus gave a 3 year garantee rather than the usual 12 months. If you ring him upfront so that he is aware of it coming he will do it right away, if you get it to the post office before 12pm (and it weighs below 2kg) send it special delivery it will get there to him before 1pm the following day, he will then repair it and send it the next day and you will receive it again before 1pm the following day. Alternately he can send out a loan unit for an extra £20 but he still needs this back. Postage cost is £8 special del before 1pm or £10 if you want it delivered on a Saturday.

So I will begin, you need to remove the dash to do this you need to follow this procedure (ittook me about an 1 1/2 hours but could do it now well below an hour):-

Passenger side first, remove the plastic end cover off the dash, it just clips in, I used a flat blade screw driver at the bottom of the panel to pull it off. Once thats off, there is an 8mm bolt holding the cup holder in, remove the bolt then push the holder out from behind.

To get the dash top off, remove all the big torx bolts, flip out the center dash speaker grille and the 2 torx screws either side of it. remove the vents at each end of the dash, these are held in by 4 clips which need to be prised inwards, look into the vent and you'll see them(2 each side of the vent), once all the clips are prised inwards, push the vent out from behind if you can, I couldn't, so used a pair of water pump pliers with a cloth wrapped round the grips (don't be afraid but you really do have to pull). These type where used rather than normal pliers as the jaws will give you a better surface area to grip. Then you need to remove the housings that the vents were in, these are held in with torx screws (3 in total).Carefully take out the vent housings, once these are out, there is a torx screw either side of the dash, take these out then pull the dash top towards you and lift out, disconnecting the speaker first from underneith.
Then there are 2 more torx screws holding the display unit on, remove and disconnect the 3 wiring plugs and package up and send away.

Tools required:-
Flat blade screwdriver
8mm socket and rachet
T20 and T30 torx bits

CIMG0885.JPG

You can get the torx bits for a couple of pounds from ebay, pictured is also a magnetic teloscopic pointer which is usfull if you drop any bits in the dash.
CIMG0883.JPG
Above shows the point where you prise the side panel off.
CIMG0882.JPG
Above shows the panel with the 4 clips.
CIMG0879.JPG
This shows 2 torx screws to help remove vent housings also 8mm bolt for cup holder.
CIMG0877.JPG
This shows cup holder with it's clips.
CIMG0880.JPG
This shows the vent coming out, if you look you can see there is a pinch type arrangement on the housing and a bit of plastic on the vent which is why it is hard to pull out.
CIMG0881.JPG
Shows water pump pliers and all important cloth.
CIMG0875.JPG
This shows the last srew in the housing, remove this then housing can be pulled out.
CIMG0874.JPG
This is the dash top screw which is covered by the vent housing.
CIMG0872.JPG
This was taken through the windscreen and shows 2 torx screws behind the dash unit/console.


I really hope this helps, it really is not hard and has saved me a few hundred pounds and I've got a 3 year garantee, also while the dash is of, why not put a permenent live feed for you tom tom or speed detector etc. If you do you use Ethan at CLUSTER REPAIR, please let him know where you got the info and that Adam put you in touch.

Thanks....................Adam
 
Adam

Thats fantastic, been meaning to do mine for last couple of months but keep putting it off as i didnt want to get half way through and find out it was a ball ache of a job!! Will deffo get it sorted now and follow your instuctions.

Many thanks

Nick
 
Great idea to install power for a Tom Tom etc. but note that these devices don't necessarily run on 12 volts, so you may need to retain the plug-in bit which goes into the lighter socket, as this acts as a transformer.

You can get an in-line lighter socket, which can be connected to a 12 volt feed, with all the gubbins hidden behind the dashboard.
 
Very interesting read as I was going to do mine as I've 2 digits missing. However since my car was in for other warranty work the question was asked and it was replaced under warranty, saved me a lot of time and hassle
 
PLEASE BE AWARE !!
When they strip your dash display down they have to remove your needles and they could put them back slightly off, please see my thread L322 4.4 V8 normal operating temperature. I wasted about 40 hours of my life because of this, an unlucky coincedence !

Very interesting read as I was going to do mine as I've 2 digits missing. However since my car was in for other warranty work the question was asked and it was replaced under warranty, saved me a lot of time and hassle
 
Just a couple points of warning :eek::eek::doh::eek::eek:

The method of pulling out the air vent is INCORRECT and could cause damage!! To vent facier or vent it's self

The correct way - look inside the vent using a torch - there are two clips on each side. Use a small screwdriver to bend these clips inwards (they are plastic and you can ease them inwards) Use a bent coat hanger wire to hook out the vent using the top deflectors (the solid/strong ones) if the clips are back enough the vent pulls out 'easily' :):)

The vent will pop out easily with no damage - now bend the clips back so that they will work correctly when refitting.

The rest of the instructions are correct.

Note - I also had the cluster repared - and had the same problem as above - the temp needle was fitted incorrectly and was showing too high. Another wasted Saturday - fortunately my gas conversion also had a temp sensor that confirmed all was ok

It was worth doing tho' as I have all the messages reading right :):)

Total time for the job - in and out 1hr

Regards
Ian
 
does the display save the mileage or is it getting it direct from the ecu or wherever? the reason im asking, i found a cheap second hand dash which all works completly fine, just wondered if i can just simply plug in with no errors etc. and it will display the correct mileage.
thanks
 
Sorry to recycle this thread but have just purchased a repair ribbon

This thread is gonna be a great help for removing the clock binacle
 
Sorry to recycle this thread but have just purchased a repair ribbon

This thread is gonna be a great help for removing the clock binacle

Good luck

DIY isn't easy

Tried it myself on the MID display and it didn't work

Ended up breaking the unit

I wouldn't even attempt to do the dash one myself as it involves stripping down the needles in the display :S
 
Good luck

DIY isn't easy

Tried it myself on the MID display and it didn't work

Ended up breaking the unit

I wouldn't even attempt to do the dash one myself as it involves stripping down the needles in the display :S

Oops breaking the unit doesnt sound good mate

Will let you know when I attempt it how I get on !

Luckily I work for myself in a small garage/workshop so that may be half the battle but who knows :(
 
Did you successfully complete this task?

Super old thread I know but I tried the MID repair ribbon in my 2002 L322 HSE last weekend. It started out with no pixels at all and come the end I can now see them all, ok, they are quite faint but better them faint than not visible at all. (any ideas why they would be so faint?)

I've been told that the MID repair is harder to do than the dash display as I also need to fix this to.

I'd be interested to hear form anyone that has done the dash ribbon repair and how they feel it compared to the MID unit in terms of complications

Cheers

Dan
 
i took my dash apart much the same as the instruction but bent the tabs in - a long way - to get the vents to pull out and took it to the link below who repaired it the same day. i took the complete dash top off for ease and it was a dead easy job when you know how

i really wouldnt bother taking the cluster apart yourself as just removing the needles can kill them, this company can also fix this apparently

i think i paid £99 with a guarantee and my pixels are like new, i have a thread on here somewhere

Cluster Repairs - Car Dashboard - Gauge Cluster - Instrument Panel Repair - Speedometer Repair
 
i took my dash apart much the same as the instruction but bent the tabs in - a long way - to get the vents to pull out and took it to the link below who repaired it the same day. i took the complete dash top off for ease and it was a dead easy job when you know how

i really wouldnt bother taking the cluster apart yourself as just removing the needles can kill them, this company can also fix this apparently

i think i paid £99 with a guarantee and my pixels are like new, i have a thread on here somewhere

Cluster Repairs - Car Dashboard - Gauge Cluster - Instrument Panel Repair - Speedometer Repair

Old thread but incase anyone else is pondering having a go....

I thought I would try the cluster repair ribbon having done the MID with success and I'm pleased to say all went very well and I now have a full LCD of pixels.
You dont need to remove the needles although by doing it this way you will need to drill 4 holes under the faceplate. Once its all back together you cant see these holes so thats no issue.
This was the only tricky bit to be quite honest, and it helped having an extra pair of hands to hold the face plate out the way while I drilled nervously through, once thats done iy was easy. In my opinion (drilling aside) this is actually easier to do that the MID repair.
 

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