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MFD Isn’t

13K views 22 replies 16 participants last post by  fdret44 
#1 ·
My MFD is a multifunction display any more, in fact it’s no function display.
It started cutting in and out yesterday, the radio stopped, the display froze and then it would come back on. Now the screen just says something like, “Check System Function”
 
#2 ·
It is most likely the TSB: EL002-05

Early models of the HSD Prius and some Land Cruisers & Highlanders will sometimes require the revised Multi-Display. Your dealer will order you a free replacement once they confirm that's the problem. That happened to me. It was a painless fix, and all has been well since. (In fact, my "Info" button got upgraded as a result too. It now toggles screens like the newer HSD Prius do.)

Also note that MFD is not proper terminology. The TSB clearly refers to the touch-sensetive screen as a Multi-Display.
 
#3 ·
Diana_04Prius said:
My MFD is a multifunction display any more, in fact it’s no function display.
It started cutting in and out yesterday, the radio stopped, the display froze and then it would come back on. Now the screen just says something like, “Check System Function”
Get it replaced. I had one of my customer's car with the same symptom
and Toyota service swapped it with a new one.

They said a few bad badges went in to assembly line and it is circulating
around somewhere in the US ! It should be under the warranty 3/36 ?
 
#4 ·
It's happening on 2004 Highlanders and Land Cruisers with the
Navigation system, and on 2004 Prius with or without the Navigation
system. There are different part numbers for the Nav and non-Nav
Prius displays, so if you are having problems make sure your dealer
orders the correct one for your car...

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/toy ... 002-05.zip
or
http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Toyota/11053 ... index.html

To quote US TSB EL002-05:
<quote>
Some customers may experience various malfunctions occuring in the
multi-display. Some examples are:
* "Audio off" is shown on audio screen while the audio system is
playing.
* Climate control is not responsive and may say "Check connection of
the air conditioner."
* Map, Destination buttons are inoperative and may display "External
system not connected."
* When pressing any button on the multi-display, the system takes 5
to 10 seconds to respond to the user's input.
* Outside air temperature not displayed.
</quote>

Prior reports on various Prius boards have noted other Classic Prius'
Newarkitis symptoms: no charge on the battery icon, no arrow flows on
the Energy Monitor, a "stuck" Consumption screen showing many
consecutive 100MPG (or 0 l/100km) segments even with the engine
running at idle... It will occur randomly at first, but will get
progressively worse. It's only covered for the basic 3 year/36,000
mile warranty, so be careful if you're going past on mileage as it
could be very expensive... Car is fully driveable, but it's mostly
an annoyance. A reboot may temporarily fix the problem. Problem has
been reported on US, Canadian, and Australian Prius so far that I've
noted, I don't recall one way or the other on the European/UK lists...

Here's some photos taken by an Australian Prius owner of what's occuring: http://www.trufit.com.au/Prius/ScreenUnitFailure/

The car is safe to drive while waiting for the part (usually on
backorder these days). Usually the buttons on the steering wheel work
best when trying to change things and the display is acting up.

The good thing is that if you have a pre-April 2004 Prius with the
navigation system, the new display will change the Info button on the
steering wheel to toggle between the Energy Screen and the Consumption
Monitor.
 
#5 ·
"Audio off" is shown on audio screen while the audio system is
playing.
Does that.......

Climate control is not responsive and may say "Check connection of
the air conditioner."
Does that.......

Map, Destination buttons are inoperative and may display "External
system not connected."
Does that.......

When pressing any button on the multi-display, the system takes 5
to 10 seconds to respond to the user's input.
Does that.......

Outside air temperature not displayed.
Does that.........

Hmmm......... I guest I will be making a phone call first thing Monday morning.
And I do have the Nav System and the date of manufacturing was 11/3/04 :(
 
#6 ·
Mine just started doing the same thing. All of the manfunctions noted above were experienced. Also the bluetooth system is affected. The button on the wheel will answer the incoming phone call but no audio in or out is heard.
Part is on order at the local stealership.

Mike
 
#7 ·
Sticking buttons?

I had read elsewhere that some people had odd behaviours from their displays due to a sticking "Climate" button - which is an apparent defect of the older MFD. It would then inundate their system with millions of inputs, enormously slowing down the display. The temporary fix was to check their buttons and make sure none was depressed - permanent fix was to replace.

Could it be something similar here?
 
#8 ·
I went to the dealers on May 16th and they agreed that that was the problem and they were ordering the part. Well, I just called them up to find out when the part was coming in and they said, “What part?” So now it is back to square one and they are just ordering the part now.
#&%##!!!…………… :x :x :x :x
 
#10 ·
The are FedEx'ing it overnight delivery from the west coast and he was very apologetic. Over all, I must say this dealership has had a good track record with me. Every problem that I had ( mostly it has been TSB or routine maintenance ) they fixed it right away and in the time they said they would without any hassle.
 
#11 ·
I have a display failure with all of the symptoms above on my 04 with over 100k miles so I'm not under warranty anymore. My question is if I take it to the dealer are they going to charge me to do a diagnosis that tells me what I already know? Should I just order the part from the dealer and have them install it? Seems like if it's a known problem Toyota would have replaced it under a recall but that didn't happen.
 
#12 ·
Fordman789 said:
I have a display failure with all of the symptoms above on my 04 with over 100k miles so I'm not under warranty anymore. My question is if I take it to the dealer are they going to charge me to do a diagnosis that tells me what I already know? Should I just order the part from the dealer and have them install it? Seems like if it's a known problem Toyota would have replaced it under a recall but that didn't happen.
I think I'd start with a phone call to the service dept. and see how they respond. Call them with a clear description of the symptoms, tell them how it matches the TSB (have the number ready so they know you know what you're talking about). See what they say.

The TSB does, however, indicate some things that should be checked before declaring the MFD dead, so I wouldn't be suprised if they have you bring it in for a diagnostic check...if so get it clear up front what that will cost you. Also make sure they order a refurbished MFD..should be around $700...new will be close to $3000.

Let me add that you have another option...buy one from Ebay..a salvage. One on there now for $950 (which seems darn high for a salvage IMO):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOTA-P ... enameZWD1V
Then you could install it yourself or have the service dept. or any decent car stereo installer do it for you...it's not a difficult project.
 
#15 ·
Also make sure they order a refurbished MFD..should be around $700...new will be close to $3000.

Let me add that you have another option...buy one from Ebay..a salvage. One on there now for $950 (which seems darn high for a salvage IMO):

If I'm going to have to pay for diagnostics, then $700 to $950 for a used one or $3000 for a new one I think I can live with it the way it is for a while. I have two daughters in college and the money tree in the backyard is a little bare right now. Thanks for the replies.
 
#16 ·
Fordman789 said:
Also make sure they order a refurbished MFD..should be around $700...new will be close to $3000.

Let me add that you have another option...buy one from Ebay..a salvage. One on there now for $950 (which seems darn high for a salvage IMO):

If I'm going to have to pay for diagnostics, then $700 to $950 for a used one or $3000 for a new one I think I can live with it the way it is for a while. I have two daughters in college and the money tree in the backyard is a little bare right now. Thanks for the replies.
We should all turn off our MFDs for a few days to remind ourselves that it isn't necessary for making the car go.
 
#20 ·
I called Bellvue Toyota and for $90/hr they can run diagnostics and tell me my MFD needs to be replaced, which I already know. A new one runs $4500, they have no remanufactured ones but I might be able to get one in Kansas City. I can drive it as-is but with no dependable heater controls. As long as I have them set where I want them and don't change anything I should be ok while I look for an affordable fix.
 
#21 ·
FL_Prius_Driver said:
Read this late breaking news about MFD failures:

http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/
It might be worth contacting Hobbit and asking if he'd consider attempting to repair your MFD for a small fee...I suspect he'd look at it as a good opportunity to confirm that his finding on this first broken one is the same in other broken units from the same generation and you might get yours fixed about 500% cheaper than the dealer wants you to pay.
Can't hurt to ask.
Of course that would require you to remove and ship the MFD to him and then reinstall it yourself after repair.
 
#22 ·
I have a 2007 Prius, bought used in 2009 with 22,000 miles
My CLIMATE CONTROL touch button on the MFD (multi-function display) stopped working at about 125,000 miles. Then as winter of '14-'15 got colder, the entire MFD began needing warm-up time to even light up/appear at all. In severely cold weather, starting with winter of '13-'14, the dash indicator for how much fuel is in the tank stopped registering correctly. I would be on a trip and after 3 hours of driving in the frigid cold and 250 miles, it would not register the additional gas put in nor continue to correctly read how much gas was being used. I dealt with the problem by adding gas every 2-3 hrs of drive time on a trip and I was all right.

It wasn't until Oct./Nov. of 2014 that the CLIMATE CONTROL MFD button stopped working at all and I complained to the dealer. They quoted the entire display needed replacement - and no, there was no way to replace just parts!! - and would cost $4500! When I stopped laughing I lit into them about how many people had problems with the MFD when I researched it on the internet and did they think I was nuts enough ( I said it nice and loud so others with Prius in the repair shop would take notice!) to pay that kind of money when it equaled over 22 monthly payments of $200/mo. for a new car? that it was 1/4th what I paid for the car when I bought it w/22000 miles? and that I suspected that was probably the cost of a new transmission?

I asserted that I believed there must be a recall on it since how could the owner be responsible for such a problem with all the complaints on the internet over the years for the very same problem. The service person said he would contact Toyota and see what could be done. 4 wks. later he said they could do the work for $1000. Since I had lost my job due to fiscal issues with my employer's balance sheet (a school district no less) I told him that unless that amount was cut in half there would be no repair...and so it is, I am figuring I am just going to drive the car to within inches of its life and then drive it to the dealer and abandon it.

I went thru this same nonsense with the start button in Jan. 2013---it either would not shut off, or it would not turn on. The dealer claimed ignorance of what the problem was 3x until I ran off copies of the internet chat rooms where this problem was documented (in same way as MFD problem) by 100s of complaints.

My mileage was probably in the high 80K's at that time. I again had to raise my voice to get them to negotiate and say oh, OK , we will check with Toyota but right now we can't find any recall...A few days later, *M*A*G*I*C*! They DID find a recall on the problem which meant that they had to remove the dash altogether to replace the computer. They had my car for one month, they did give me use of a loaner free, but I feel quite sure that THAT repair is somehow tied in with the problem I am now having.

I CAN adjust window defrosters and somewhat adjust the heat with buttons on the steering wheel-just not the fan speed or source of direction for it. I am laying low with the problem until I feel I am ready to wrestle with Toyota again. I'd rather wait until good weather to buy a new car and get rid of my hobbling Prius.
 
#23 ·
It sounds like you have several problems. The main display containing the speed read out, fuel gauge, etc. is a VFD (Vacuum fluorescent Display). There are reported problems with them and the coverage was extended for that as the cars aged. The LCD display for the radio, climate control, etc. had problems in the early Prius models (starting in 2004). This didn't happen to my 2004 but others had to replace the unit.

Since you are having problems with both I would suspect that you might want to check the voltage on your 12Volt battery. This supplies power to the various computers as they start up. Once the power is on, power is delivered by a 12Volt inverter in the power control hybrid module. That supply also recharges the 12Volt battery.

Just a thought as things do get strange when the 12Vold battery is weak. A 2009 should be new enough not to have problems with either display.
 
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