MK1/XP10 dash board jumping

[CrazyCatman]

I have a lovely MK1 from 2004 with a bit of s strange issue: The dashboard is "jumping" or "flickering".

It first started in a very warm July 2021 where it had been parked and when I wanted to drive I saw the LCD jumping and flickering like a madman.

It have been MOTed with it, and I am living with it, but would like it to be fixed of possible.

Since it came during a warm period I expect it has something to do with the solder joints on the PCB but unlike my Panasonic radio in the car which had the usual periodic fallouts, I am a little hesitant to bake the dashboard PCB. Have anyone tried it on the Yaris dash?

(I can tell that it worked fine on the radio in case anyone have the issue - I found the guide for the contemporary Honda Accord radio which is the same radio)

Back to the PCB: The issue have the habit of sometimes disappear and the clock acts normal for a short time (even managed to drive 15-30 minutes with a fully functional dashboard), but mostly it is a flickering on various degree with weird RPM counting and sometimes light at the top fuel gauge. Other tinted it's almost completely gone and only shows the speed and fuel (which is why it could pass MOT with the dash). On the photo and video here it is behaving more pretty well:

Yesterday it looked a little worse:

 

Both videos (made into GIF) is taken with the car parked and the engine turned off, so the RPM should be 0.

[flash22]

looks like a failing VFD or the capacitors breaking down with age

[CrazyCatman]

Thank you Bob.

My initial thought were bad solder joints, which I see on quite a lot of electronics when it gets older (as mentioned the Panasonic radio does it a lot, and some baking helped - also a lot of old computer parts will revive after reballing.

But capacitors could also be a good idea. As I see on photos it is the surface mounted electrolyt capacitor (C302 and C309) types which can be a bit more difficult to change if I remember correct - and are prone to die and leak (the comtemporary iMac G4 uses similar, and those give a nasty leak on the motherboard). I expect it might be one of them, if any.
I also see there are a bunch of cheramic capacitors and one Tantalum (which I expect wont be the one with the issue).

Failing display would mean a complete change of that board, but capacitor, solder or cable could be fixable.

Now I know what to look for. Thank you time to get the tool box and take a closer look.

[flash22]

the 2 supply caps are surface mount, nip them off with a pair of flush cutters and desolder the remains from the pads, that flex is prone to cracking too. Yep dry joints are another issue

If you are interested in old electronics repair have a look a Chris's YouTube channel (mainly old amiga stuff) https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisEdwardsRestoration

or https://www.youtube.com/@pileofstuff

[Cyker]

The Mk1 does seem to have issues with electronics corrosion - My brother had a similar issue with the head unit display which eventually stopped working, except when he came down here and stayed with us for a few weeks, then it'd start working again!   I presumed it was something moisture related, as it's on average colder and damper where he lives.

[CrazyCatman]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

The Mk1 does seem to have issues with electronics corrosion - My brother had a similar issue with the head unit display which eventually stopped working, except when he came down here and stayed with us for a few weeks, then it'd start working again!   I presumed it was something moisture related, as it's on average colder and damper where he lives.

You mean that small one between the radio and the dashboard? The one that looks like an oversized Nokia 3310 display. Luckily mine is still looking fine, but indeed I think this too some day will have issues; it seems like a lot of electronics from the late 90s to around 2010ish (or maybe mid 90 to mid 00s) are problematic; many times baking to reflow the solder seems to do the trick (at least for a period of time); been the case on a lot of electronics I have had issues with - funny enough I still have a "virgin" Xbox 360 from 2006 if I remember the manufacture date correct on it; completely unopened Shell so never been tinkered in that runs as it should.

Apart from solder issues I see a lot of 2000-2010 capacitors blown; often on computer motherboards, but also other electronics, which is why I imagined one of these two might be the culprit in the dashboard (I really really hope it is not the display itself).

I see that the head unit displays are also Czech made Panasonic like the radios, so I imagine it could make sense of they sufferers of the same issues. My radio died while my father still had the car and had been silent for some years; one snowy March it suddenly spat out a CD and stayed to play the radio. Then some time after it became an on/off thing - often working for some time and suddenly turn off (and usually right before the news started!) Sometimes it stayed off, other times the Speakers would randomly pop and the radio would work again. In the end I decided to bake it and turned out pretty good. I have a very few incidents now where the radio dies out for seconds before coming back but there's a long time (weeks and months) between those incidents, and it is a daily driver. I read in the Sticky post here in the forum with a Yaris article that the radio being like this was quite normal, but some dismantling and baking seems to be helping on that issue, so maybe also the head unit displays. However I imagine your brother don't have the car and thereby the issue anymore.

If my head unit display died I think it would be about time to change the whole unit - perhaps to something with a big screen but preferably something from a Toyota so I might still be able to use the buttons at the steering wheel; I imagine a contemporary Avensis unit would give a better look or maybe something newer, but not too new as I am afraid how the sockets might have changed on later models. Alternatively something DIN or double DIN with or without remote switches adapter would be make my day go by but yeah having the full experience with the steering wheel controls would be amazing for me. I am considering to already buy the covers needed for a DIN or Double DIN unit to have them before I need them and then perhaps can't get them; the model is not getting any younger and although Yaris is a very reliable car in my expirence I know that not ever one take equally good care of their cars and also not every old car gets to drive once people change to a younger model. In five years my Yaris night semi retire as I can get it on the cheaper Classic insurance but I still plan to keep her as long as she can drive, but may not stay a daily driver due to the insurance rules - in 15 it can get Vintage insurance; cheaper as well as the road tax is 1/4 and the MOT does from every second year to every 8th year.

[CrazyCatman]

3 hours ago, flash22 said:

the 2 supply caps are surface mount, nip them off with a pair of flush cutters and desolder the remains from the pads, that flex is prone to cracking too. Yep dry joints are another issue

If you are interested in old electronics repair have a look a Chris's YouTube channel (mainly old amiga stuff) https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisEdwardsRestoration

or https://www.youtube.com/@pileofstuff

Thank you I will take a look; I have a lot of find memories of Amiga - and still have one of my childhood Amiga 500s among my other Amigas and old computers 🙂

This seems to become a fun little project to dive into; I need to ask my wife for another vacation 

[bathtub tom]

Can you explain please what you mean by 'baking'?

[Cyker]

You can reflow bad solder by literally putting it in a suitably hot oven; This was the ghetto fix for e.g. some graphics cards that had bad solder from factory, causing random crashes. It's useful for BGA-soldered stuff if you don't have a proper solder reflow oven or hot air gun.

It's not very convenient tho' as you need to remove anything melty or flammable from the workpiece first, and if you have a partner it can lead to arguments over e.g. why the sunday roast has an iPad on it.

[flash22]

the radio displays are fairly resilient they may need their bulb(s) changed tho

 

I have done quite a few vintage Nintendo and Sega systems over the years, amiga wise 600/1200 and CD32 all the best of the capacitor and Battery plague era, sadly prices are way up these days

Many moons ago I worked for SDL that's the parent company of Silca Systems doing the white box refurbs of the amigas and atari's

[Cyker]

Oh mate you should have held onto some, used prices of those are just silly now!