Sat nav screen faint

[afennell]

Hello,

As soon as I started her up over the weekend I noticed straight away the sat nav screen looked very faint. It's as if it's lost all the colours. It now looks like an early laptop from the 80s. I have played around with few settings to no avail.

I'm going to try disconnecting the battery, before I do I'm hoping someone else has had the issue and there's an easy fix.

 

[afennell]

:tumbleweed:

 

[Monkeydonkeyratmagic]

Have you tried just leaving it on and seeing if it improves? Mine is faint when I start it up for a few mins but gets brighter as it "warms up"

 

[afennell]

yeah, went for a long drive sunday.
Its not just faint, its almost unreadable, looks like all the colours are missing as well.

 

[srhutch]

guessing the back light has gone.

I'd be trying to find a cheap used one with failed stepper motor and swap the LCD panel.

 

[afennell]

i had thought that, but its still bright, just faint.

 

[afennell]

Pic attached,

 

[srhutch]

You’ve disconnected the battery?

After that I’d be removing the screen to check the connection. It’s just a push fit plug so might have come loose.

 

[GuidoK]

To me that looks like a bad connection somewhere. Could be to the screen module, but also at the LCD itself. Certain colours are missing.
I've never seen that before.

The LCD screen itself (so not the complete module but just the LCD part) is also available on ebay if you're confident to fiddle with small electronics.

 

[afennell]

Unfortunately disconnecting the battery did not help.

I will check the connections over the weekend.

Where does the screen get its feed from, is it the satnav unit? I'm wondering if its an issue with whatever produces the video.

Its typical I'd have an issue never seen before! :evil:

 

[Monkeydonkeyratmagic]

Oh right, the LCD isn't faint it's fucked. transistors have separated, no way to repair without a functioning one... at that point if you have a functioning one... just use that.

Think of it this way, If you get your laptop and spill water in the hinges this will happen, same with extreme cold or frost, or also if you knock it in the right spot it will dislodged it internally.

But it's not a signal / feed fault, you'd have flickering / random colour changes and possibly "tuning lines" running across it constantly.

 

[afennell]

So its wait for a functioning screen on ebay, I bet they are thousands from BMW.

Is it just age and the cold weather thats caused this then?

 

[Monkeydonkeyratmagic]

So its wait for a functioning screen on ebay, I bet they are thousands from BMW.

Is it just age and the cold weather thats caused this then?

Most likely. Or a bump, bit of both. Just type into eBay z4 breaking and find a car that's got one and mail the breaker. Depends if you just want another. For the cost of a 2nd hand unit you could probably do the android tablet job and have that instead. Will take a lot longer to do and more grief but could be an ideal time of its coming out anyway. Guide for it in the how to section. I'm planning this in spring when it warms up a bit.

 

[srhutch]

Unfortunately disconnecting the battery did not help.

I will check the connections over the weekend.

Where does the screen get its feed from, is it the satnav unit? I'm wondering if its an issue with whatever produces the video.

Its typical I'd have an issue never seen before! :evil:

I would still check the connections. The feed is from the DVD drive which has two cam lock connectors so shouldn't be an issue there, but the connection to the monitor is just a push fir from memory so well worth a look for the few minutes it will take.

 

[pvr]

yes, just push connector. To remove the screen, you will have to take the radio out though to undo the screws which are there on the legs of the screen.

There are also three screws at the top of the dash near the windscreen side underneath a plastic strip that you need to remove.

Unless you are really lucky and the connector is on the left side of the radio in the dash so you can get to it from the glove box, but doubt it ..

 

[afennell]

Removed the stereo and check d the connector, its directly under the stereo, easy to get your hands on from the hatch above the heated seat buttons. Unfortunately it's still the same. I suppose the next check would be to remove the screen and check the actual display connectors , but I'm thinking it probably needs replacing. Are the screens the same in the x3 ?

 

[srhutch]

You’d need to transplant the actual panel and electronics as the casing is slightly different.

 

[afennell]

Cars been tucked up for a month and a half in the garage, when I turned her on the screen worked perfectly, great I thought, Something must have reset. Left the car for 10 mins, turned the ignition on and back to faulty!

I had been given a new screen and board to try so started to strip the old unit only to find one of the connectors differed from mine, oh well at least I have now checked all the connectors.

I'm currently watching a screen on eBay from a pre face lift car without dsp, should this screen work in my car?

 

[afennell]

May seem a strange question but can you use a none satnav head unit in a car that has a satnav?

Say you did not want the screen up all the time but would like the little screen on the standard head units to just display when changing modes or radio stations?