Reputable shop in UK fixing dead pixles on my acc HU?

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noogieman

noogieman

MB Enthusiast
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Sep 20, 2005
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Location
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Car
I Loewe Old Skool AMG
I was watching Discovery Channel on my dumb teevee.
I must confess I do it very often! :rock: :bannana:

It was an old episode of Wheela 'n' Deela with Mr. Mike and cool Edd China.
Mr. China is very cool and knows how to repair stuff.
Mr. Mike is cool finding cars at a bargain price most of the times.

In this episode they had bought a girlie car Audi TT with a broken gearbox Missing 1st and 2nd gear.
This car also had pixle problems shown in cluster.
Mike went to a shop repairing dead pixles.
I missed out which shop he went to!
Did anyone here see this episode with this Audi?

What's the name of the shop Mr. Mike went to remedy his fawlty speedo cluster?
I would like to contact them if they can fix my climate control head unit showing fading digits in display.

Thanks for your help
 
thanks mate

asked my swedish stealership last year how much a new HU costs?
bloke told me HU cost approx £700, for a 16 year old car!!
WTF!?

parts like climate control HU for a w202 C43 AMG.
did UK based stealerships drop the price on electronic parts like they did on front rotors?
front rotors from stealership seems to be dirt cheap in UK but still pricey to buy from swedish stealership.
 
Yep the dealerships are very reasonable for rotors and pads now. I think there are so many outlets undercutting MB that they had to reduce prices accordingly.
Unfortunately, I don't think the same can be said for electronic items. Silly money just for a key now!

Didn't realise you are in Sweden, so whether the link I posted is any use to you.
No places in Sweden can repair the pixels? Germany is closer than the UK too.
Hope you get it sorted anyway.
 
depending on whats broken you can fix them yourself. the 210 and 208 suffered with missing pixels in the gear, time and temp displays. I did mine with new ribbons from ebay for about £25
 
AMGeed said:
Yep the dealerships are very reasonable for rotors and pads now. I think there are so many outlets undercutting MB that they had to reduce prices accordingly.
Unfortunately, I don't think the same can be said for electronic items. Silly money just for a key now!

Didn't realise you are in Sweden, so whether the link I posted is any use to you.
No places in Sweden can repair the pixels? Germany is closer than the UK too.
Hope you get it sorted anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm in Sweden eating meatballs and mash potatoes :bannana:
I've been aasking around in my town there's no qualified shops repairing fading LCD screens.
My idea is to remove the HU out of the car and send it away to UK or to Germany if I can find a shop there, depending on cheaper repair costs between both countries?

I sit safe to drive the car w/o a HU installed in the car?
I will not have any AC in my car when I have the unit sent out.
Will I store any error codes in computer w/o a HU installed when driving?

B-BOY said:
Here you go, Mike had taken it to this company:-

The Instrument Cluster Repair Specialist, Cluster Repairs UK

Good luck
Click to expand...

thanks buddy
looks like his is the shop I was looking for.
do they have a solid reputation?

I will contatct both shops for price quotes.

both of you thanks a million :rock:
 
markmifsud said:
depending on whats broken you can fix them yourself. the 210 and 208 suffered with missing pixels in the gear, time and temp displays. I did mine with new ribbons from ebay for about £25
Click to expand...

when you did the repair.
did you iron the new ribbon to the circuit board?

been looking for a rectangular shaped ribbon fitting my acc HU but did not manage to find a suitable one, there were only ribbons for clusters sold on ebay
 
These people offer replacement ribbons for W202, they do require heat bonding with a soldering iron T bar though. At £14.99 + £6.99, both including shipping, its probably worth trying.

AK speedo

I used their replacement ribbons (non-heated) for my son's W208 which worked very well.
 
Codger49 said:
These people offer replacement ribbons for W202, they do require heat bonding with a soldering iron T bar though. At £14.99 + £6.99, both including shipping, its probably worth trying.

AK speedo

I used their replacement ribbons (non-heated) for my son's W208 which worked very well.
Click to expand...

thank you very much
i will contact this shop aswell.

if i tackle the problem to fix my failing LCD?
where can i find instructions with pictures how to disassemble my HU?
did anyone on this forum try to dissect the HU into pieces?
 
AK Speedo also offer a ribbon fitting service and they provide instructions after purchase. The instructions provided for my son's W208 ribbons were very clear and enabled us, as first time users, to make a successful repair. The screens are still fine, some two years later.

PS No connection with the firm, just a happy user.
 
Codger49 said:
Maybe a secondhand replacement?

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-schleswig-holstein/klimabedienteil-mercedes/k0l408

Has a couple for W202.
Click to expand...


been lurking on eBay for these for a long time.
you don't know what you get if you buy a 2nd hand unit.
junkyard seller will say there were no fading digit problems.
problems occur when you drive the car, it's the vibrations causing funky LCD problems.
I don't want to buy a used unit it's like buying pig in the bag.
it comes to either get HU repaired or have to buy a new one??

it's not a big problem i have, when i carefully tap the display it all comes back and works until next time digits fade.
these HU will all suffer from this problem eventually!
it's a shame stealership has stealers price tag on this part!! :eek:
 
if your issue is intermittent like that, why don't you open the case and see where the connections are loose, perhaps you could apply some packing to the contacts to force a better connection.
 
Yup, you're correct, problem just comes and goes.
can't I just T-iron the loose connector
 
so i finally come to my senses to send my unit out to a repair shop.
pixle errors on LCD display in the climate control head unit drives me nuts when they turn invisible.

Digital climate control head unit with pixle errors on LCD display.
A202 830 1485

I contacted 2 shops.
One shop in UK.
The other one is in Germany.

BBA Reman in Kent.

Digital Tuning service GmbH in Hannover Germany.


BBA Reman in UK offers lifetime warranty as long as I own my vehicle.
Total repair cost comes to £186 including VAT and return shipping to my home address.
I dfon't know if they replace LCD screen for a new one?

Digital Tuning Service in Germany offers only 2 years of warranty.
Repair work will cost a total of €234 eur including VAT and return shipping to my home address.
Their repairmen will replace the LCD screen for a new LCD screen.
I don't know what else they might do besides screen replacement?

Both shops offers different solutions for their repair work.
Pro vs cons!?
UK repair shop gives lifetime warranty, however I don't know if they also replace the fawlty LCD screen for a brand new?
Where the german repair shop replaces the fawlty LCD screen for a brand new screen, their repair work will come with a 2 year warranty.

What would you choose?
UK repair shop or german repair shop?
UK shop comes to approx £20 quids cheaper in total price compared to total price from german shop.

Buying a new head unit is out of the question coz it's a poor automotive part

Please give me your thoughts, which one of the two repair shops to use?
Lifetime warranty is very tempting but.....................?

Thanks for your help
 
Last edited:
thanks for the link.
buying a used HU is like buying pig in the bag for these digital head units?!

seller says, unit is tested.
how did they test it?
only by turning the ignition key ON to see how HU displays digits?
fading digits only occur most of the time when vehicle is in motion, it's the vibrations from vehicle in motion causing digits to fade.
 
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