2004 MFD Acting UP

[richard schumacher]

Thanks for your usual correctness and clarity. I was careless in reading the bit about "warranty claim".

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but haven't most of the failed MFDs been in climes with large temperature swings? Thermally induced stress is a common contributor to solder joint failure. Maybe I can hope that mine will never break...

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by richard schumacher

...Maybe I'm fooling myself, but haven't most of the failed MFDs been in climes with large temperature swings? Thermally induced stress is a common contributor to solder joint failure. Maybe I can hope that mine will never break...

Hi Richard,

My dad was the first owner of my 2004, which spent the first 2+ years of its life in Honolulu, where the ambient temps usually range from the low 70's to the high 80's. After I bought the car from my dad (only 15K miles on the odometer at that time) I had it shipped to southern CA in the fall of 2006. A couple of months later, as winter approached, the MFD started to become flaky as ambient temps dropped down to the low 50's and high 40's at night. I then had the MFD replaced under the 3 year/36K mile warranty.

Hence I would agree that thermal stress likely contributed to the early failure of my original MFD. The good news is that Hobbit identified the exact point where the failure occurred, so with some persistence anyone with a small-tip soldering iron can replicate his success in repairing a failed unit whose warranty has now expired.

[randyb359]

I have a 2008 that did this once so far. I turned off the car and back on and it started working. Is this the same problem? I will have to ask the dealer tomorrow when I have it in for other work

[Patrick Wong]

The MFD design changed in 2006; however I've noticed that a small number of owners continue to report MFD issues. Hence if your MFD is intermittent it would be quite reasonable to report that to your dealer.

However I suggest that you document its failure via photo, to make it easier for the tech to justify its replacement. Often an intermittent failure will refuse to manifest itself while the car is being tested at the dealer.

[Dion]

Just to update everyone.

The dealer installed a new MFD today on my 2004 Prius.

Now it toggles the energy screen from the steering wheel.

Maybe it was worth the touble for that little option.

I am now glad I purchased and got to use the extended warranty.