2005 D3 Driver Information Screen Blank
 

Hi ladies and gents!

I've got a 2005 A8L 3.0. Oil pump failed due to poor maintenance, the oil was like wax. This caused the cams to seize, and snapped the timing belt. New engine has been fitted.

The problem is the centre LCD screen in the instrument cluster. It is blank. Not blank like it was disabled with the button on the stalk, more like a white screen on a cellphone. It just lights up when the ignition is turned on, or engine is running.

This is the way it was even before the engine change. I just wondered if anyone had come across this, or had any pointers?

Thanks all.

Break in the optical loop somewhere?

Thanks for responding

The optical loop...is the dash LCD part of that circuit?

if the optical loop was broken wouldnt more things be not working, im assuming you mean the DIS has gone white not the central mmi screen

The MMI works fine. One thing isn't working though - the climate control blower.

The car was delivered on a flatbed, so I have no idea if the climate control was working or not. I haven't charged the circuit with R134-A yet, but I doubt that would disable the blower.

Component Protection perhaps?

When I had component protection on my new cluster, the DIS was permanently orange and the speedo didn't work. Does yours work?
My new cluster was from a much later year so maybe cars of our age just go white with the original cluster?

Thanks for your response.

Everything on the cluster works, just the display.

I've just spoken to the owner, he says it's been intermittent for some time, sometimes if the car has been stood for a while (weeks) it goes blank. And comes back on its own.

Personally, I suspect there's water ingress somewhere.

It sounds like the issue is in the cluster, possibly dry joints, bad connection either display, connection or the control chip on the board.