mleskovar

If it's the same "LCD bias" paper I have from Sacer it's no good. The voltages they give you are wrong. There's no way you can adjust the voltages to within the ranges they specify. Some of the voltages aren't even the correct polarity. I even had an instrument repair guy who works with Sacer all the time unable to get an answer out of them.

samaritrey

yeah same one never really looked into it glad i didn't try to fix it.

jelecroy

I bought a replacement LCD display directly from minitools in Italy:
http://audipixelrepair.com/lcd-displ...edes-w203-w209
Lisa at Minitools shipped promptly, the display was packed well, arrived a couple days after I paid via Paypal. Installed and looks good, even at high temp. This installation is not difficult. BUT. They got the polarization wrong (off by 90 degrees) on the replacement part, and if you drive using polarized sunglasses, the display appears black. Not a showstopper, but it is annoying.

Ribo89

I have the same fading problem when it gets hot. I'm thinking of getting an old IC from ebay and replacing the screens. How much is a new screen?

jelecroy

I ordered a replacement LCD from a supplier in Italy. Good service. I paid by PayPal and the part was here in just a couple days. Well packaged - appears to be high qualty. I put it in my C240, and the display looked great, UNTIL I put on my (polarized) sunglasses, at which time it looked dark, I mean black. Turns out that the Italian connection must not have spec'd the polarization axis on the replacement displays. Ouch. So I've bought a sheet of optical film, a "1/2 wave retarder" film, and cut a piece to go in front of the new display. The retarder twists the light polarization axis 90 degrees, so now it appearsthe same as the old display (and the radio) and looks fine, even with sunglasses, and even at 100 F. I bought a large enough sheet to do ten displays - if you would like one you can send me a pm. I think $8 plus postage will let me recoup what I paid for the film.

drb930

How much was the screen from them, I didn't see a price?

Thanks,
Dave

jelecroy

80 Euros for the part, plus 30 Euro shipping. I think the shipping is the same whether you buy one or ten. They shipped Fed-Ex 2nd day, IIRC.

gatonls

Anyone have one laying around for sale? Need one badley

samaritrey

I have one but I have the old one that needs sodering to get the voltages into spec but it would be cheap since I have had it on my book shelf for over a year. BTW it is fine from the earthquake. The book case fell over but did not hurt the box the screen was in. lol

Boom vang

not sure why this type of part is failing, it should really be good for the life of the car, the Japanese car companies don't seem to have this type of failure.

Mine is starting to fade and always thought that VDO was a quality manufacturer. It is these BS failures in this car that really irks me and Mercedes via their suppliers should be covering replacement. What happened to Made in Germany quality?

BOSOXXX

Jelecroy
I was curious, in your post you indicate it is not difficult to install. Do you have any instructions, I am a novice when it comes to working on my car but the dealership cost to fix this is not reasonable.
Also, have you experienced any issues since installation?

Ribo89

BOSOXXX this should help you https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...placement.html

BOSOXXX

Ribo89, thanks this link is very helpful. Do you know anything about the part from italy described above?

Ribo89

No clue. I also need the lcd screen and I'm thinking of just buying an old cluster and swapping the screens. How did you get the lcd screen?

BOSOXXX

I don't have the lcd screen, the link below takes you to a website in italy that sells them. I have an email into them trying to find out how to purchase and I am waiting for a response.

http://audipixelrepair.com/lcd-displ...edes-w203-w209

I can't find any information describing the success of this part.

BOSOXXX

Also found this youtube video for removing the instrument cluster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjEFdu2mq0c

booakley@yahoo.

I would like to purchase an LCD for my W203, If you have any left.
E-mail me @ booakley@yahoo.com

04mbc230

Look at post number 65 for the link to make a purchase.

[QUOTE=booakley@yahoo.;5001011]I would like to purchase an LCD for my W203, If you have any left.
E-mail me @ booakley@yahoo.com[/k]

Ribo89

I just did my LCD. I got a used cluster and just swapped the LCD's. Worked like a charm!!

Boom vang

was it much cheaper to get a used cluster than buy the stand alone part? The problem that I see with a used part is that it will pose the same problem as the one you are replacing as this lcd unit was not of good quality at the get go

Ribo89

BOOM you make a valid point. I was thinking of the same when I was deciding to go for the swap. BUT, I got the cluster for free, so I had nothing to lose and so far so GOOD.

Also, i believe these LCD's have a much higher failure rate if the car is kept in a very hot environment or has high mileage. That said, I think if you know where the cluster came from then it pays off to buy a used one over the brand new LCD. Who is even selling these? Last time I read the new LCD's had polarization issued or something....

Boom vang

However...I have an issue with my LCD and the car (2004) has only 108K km and I live in a 'winter country' where we only have about 2 months of hot weather in a year. So I am an not sure of your theory, but if you get one for free, well that changes the whole situation. I noticed that you live in Chicago, not exactly in the tropics either so you have a similar climate as TO and both ours have failed!

Ribo89

My understanding is that the LCD's fade over time because of heat and/or use. My was an 01 with 25K miles( YES very low miles), but it came from Florida...

FraKctured

Great thread--thanks! Got it bookmarked for when mine starts to fade...