2005 Dash instruments failed.

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forums but I hope that someone can help diagnose a problem that I have with my 2005 prius.

I turned on the car this morning and all of the dash displays (speedometer, odometer, lights on indicator, fuel gauge) were not working. Originally I thought that it was the dimmer switch but I checked this and it was not the dimmer.

Interestingly; when I turned on the car the check engine indicator displayed and then turned off as normal. The signal indicators also worked.

I started driving the car and then noticed that the MPG or trip distance on the LCD was not displaying. It must get a signal from the speedometer and odometer circuit. I also tried turning on the cruise control but it did not turn on. The last symptom was the temperature reading on the LCD. It read 39 deg. F the whole drive into work. I know it was warmer than that.

The dash indicators were off my whole drive in (about 65 miles.) When i pulled into the parking space at work I put the car in reverse to back in. All of a sudden the indicators came back on.

Any help in diagnosing this problem would be appreciated. Money's a bit tight so I hate to have to take it in to the dealer if I don't have to.

Thanks in advance.

 

Thank you cwerdna. This seems to be the problem that I had. What is interesting is that it started working again after I put it in reverse. I drove it at lunch time a few miles and everything seemed to be working fine. I am hesitant to replace the instrument panel until I absolutely need to. Perhaps this was a glitch or something got wet. I did drive through a street that was somewhat flooded last week during the last down poor.

I'll keep everyone updated.

 

I found a snippet of a prius manual that shows how to troubleshoot the combination meter and harness. It may help others out there. I'll try this if the display goes out for good. Here is the link:

hybrids.ru/PriusNHW20/rm/rm1076e/m_05_2296.pdf

add the double u double u double u to the url. Since I am a newbee I can't post links.

 

I'm almost certain that it is not the dimmer switch. One of the symtoms was that it was not sending mileage data to the MFD. It was funny to look at because it would have no bars but it showed the power regeneration cars.

I should be driving it today quite a bit. Hopefully everything is still working.