Weird issue with my combination meter-2008 Prius

Hey, all...

I've been experiencing an odd issue with the combination meter in my car, it it doesn't have any of the symptoms I've read about with other people having combination meter failures.

Over the past couple of months, the combination meter would blip out a few times and then would be perfectly normal the rest of my commute to work. It's unpredictable when it happens...however, as the weather has gotten warmer, the problem has gotten more frequent and severe, even at times with the combination meter remaining dark for a day or two at a time. I am able to turn the car on and off no problems, the back up camera works fine, cruise control works fine, and I can even open the trunk no problem. The odometer seems to be tracking the miles just fine the whole time as well. I ran Torquepro and the ECM is not showing any codes. In fact, when the car is driving down the road and the display is black, I can still see the speed via Torquepro, so everything is communicating, it just seems like the display on the combination meter itself is going bad (or maybe a bad solder joint).

Also, 12V battery is only 3 years old and strong.

I also had the repair done where the 100 microfarad capacitor was replaced with a 220 microfarad on the combination meter board and the problem is still there.

Totally stumped here. The car is super solid with 174000 miles and in great shape with a ton of life left in it.

Also, is TexasHybridBatteries still the go-to for the combination meters? I've emailed them a few times but haven't heard anything back.

 

I guess what I'm looking for is to find out if anyone on this site experienced the same symptoms with their combination meter as I have with mine? I'm hoping it's not a car electrical issue..

 

I don't believe it's dimmer switch as it happens even when the headlights/parking lights are turned off.

 

Just gave Matt a call at TexasHybridBatteries. Really good guy! We talked about the problem I'm having and it's definitely a white elephant problem that's never been heard of before. I ordered a combination meter from him and we'll see if that fixes the problem. Will keep you all updated and let you know.

 

Wanted to give a quick update and not leave people hanging...
So, it's been about a month since I installed the new cluster from Texas Hybrid Batteries, and the problems I were experiencing completely disappeared.

So obviously, there was another problem with the cluster other than that typical 100 microfarad capacitor failure.

-Cheers..