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Does Combo Meter REALLY need replacing?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by KenHulme, Apr 11, 2016.

  1. KenHulme

    KenHulme New Member

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    2005 Prius
    We've got a 2005 with 110K miles on it and recently the Combo Meter malf'd -- in the space of a couple days, the car didn't want to shut off twice, and once at start-up the instrument panel didn't light up. Since then it has run just fine. Took it to the dealer and they want to replace the combo meter. We never got the "Warranty Enhancement" notice (which has, of course, expired).

    Dealer says its $800 to R&R the meter. If we don't get it fixed, how often do the malf's re-occur? We're in Florida, not a cold climate.

    Anybody NOT replaced the meter and continued to drive and drive and drive? Enquiring minds want to know.
     
  2. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    You get no speed or mileage data during the malfunction, i.e., miles traveled are not logged.

    Mine has done it twice during cool and/or wet mornings here in PHX. It's an '08, but since it's a salvage title, they won't honor the extended warranty.

    $800 is a pretty good price. Is that for replacement and reprogramming or a repair?
     
  3. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    might be worth inspecting solder joints on the MFD particularly around the plug sockets, it could be just dry joints, wont cost you anything to have a quick look.

    If you do find some bad joints but you aren't confident to solder them yourself I'm sure the local tv repair shop would hep you out for a small fee
     
  4. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    Well, as you may learn from other threads that yesterday, my 2009 Gen II (111,000 miles)started showing symptoms of what I subsequently find to be a fairly common problem, and even though later in the day the symptoms disappeared, and all the systems started behaving normally, so I was almost taken aback when I took it to the local dealer and they mentioned the warranty, offered to not only fix it under the warranty, but also provide me with a loaner for the duration at no cost (something about it being a safety-issue since the display (inc. the speedometer) was not functioning) - refreshing to find a dealer who will step up to the plate! :)
     
  5. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    He's talking about the combo meter - the speedo readout, green HUD, etc. It's an extended warranty item - 9 years.

    The response you received is per Toyota policy, not the choice of your individual dealer. They are obligated to do exactly that per the warranty extension letter.
     
    WilDavis likes this.
  6. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    I have been through reflowing solder joints on the comb meter, it didn't help. I sent mine out to the guy that repairs them on eBay. It cost me $120 and was well worth it. I had it back within a week. He also sells repaired meters for about $150. He says the firmware on one of the processors is bad and causes stray messages to be sent on the CAN bus. They get worse over time. Mine got to the point where it wouldn't turn on at all.

    XT1585 ?
     
  7. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    sorry my bad!

    must be a relatively simple repair if they are doing it for $120, looks like there is a few capacitors on that board!
     
  8. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    A couple of the caps do go bad, but evidently there is bad firmware on one of the chips. I took the opportunity to remove that god awful beeper on the meter. No more reverse beeping for me. No seat belt warning...it's nice.
     
    #8 tony2ltr, Apr 12, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2016
  9. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    keen to find out exactly what they do to fix this, my car has pretty high mileage, a prime candidate
     
  10. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    Reverse and seat belt beeps can be disabled using instructions on this site.
     
  11. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    I know they can be disabled. I don't care to have to redo it every time the 12v battery dies, that's all. He did the repair very quickly, I had the part back within a week. He also sells used repaired meters with varying mileage on them.

    XT1585 ?
     
  12. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    Has anybody replaced a 2004/2005 combo meter with one from a 2006+ vehicle? That would fix the odometer limit problem and probably have better firmware. I just don't know if you could even plug it in...
     
  13. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    I haven't looked at the pinouts, but as long as CAN message are the same it should work. The ready light on newer gen 2 cars is on the idiot light board to the right of the comb meter. On the younger cars it is part of the meter. Any of the other idiot light empty spaces could be assigned as a ready light. I don't know how close the mounting is, general shape, etc... I was thinking that is what I would do at some point of the future. Honesty though, most of that I formation can be gotten from Torque and an Android tablet. I considered just mounting the tablet instead of the comb meter, but it also controls other functions, so that would be difficult. The meter would have to be left plugged in even if you were using a tablet for the display.

    XT1585 ?
     
    #13 tony2ltr, Apr 13, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2016
  14. andrewclaus

    andrewclaus Active Member

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    I did this too and it worked fine. Tearing apart the dash took a couple of hours the first time, but it went back together in about a half hour. The biggest challenges, IMO, are removing the PS airbag and removing the A post trims around those airbags
     
  15. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    Yes. Those 1/4 window trim pieces are difficult to get out, and they have little tabs that slide into the dash. I drove my Prius for 2 weeks with all the electronics zip tied to the dash structure.

    XT1585 ?
     
    #15 tony2ltr, Apr 13, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2016
  16. pmelc1

    pmelc1 New Member

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    I bought my '06 Prius with 30k miles in 2012. Combimeter started failing intermittently around 2014-15 and failed permanently in 2016 I'm going to say (when I say permanently it occasionally still works, but like 5% of the time max). It's now mid 2023. I keep track of gas mentally, and other than running out of gas a few times there haven't been any issues. As for odometer and speedometer, I estimate the mileage and go with the flow / guess how fast I'm going. No speeding tickets since then.

    I finally bought a refurb one on Ebay a few months ago but haven't installed it yet.

    As for the Prius in general, probably at around 190-200k now and all I've needed since 2012 is the inverter water pump, one set of front pads and rotors (the originals, around 120k), and one ignition coil (though I changed all 4 plugs and coils just for maintenance's sake).
     
    #16 pmelc1, Jul 14, 2023
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2023