Dash/Gauge Cluster Stopped working

[esrot]

I have a 03 XC70 that the dash gauges stopped working on. Was working fine one moment than everything stopped. I can't find anything else on the car not working.

When I go to start it I will get the normal Seat Belt Light and Check Engine before I turn it over, but after I start it those go away. The entire cluster is dead. Even if I pull the Parking Brake it won't show in the alert area where the Seat Belt indicator is.

Any thoughts?

[mtndave]

Our '03 just returned from the dealer after replacing the DIM-Driver Information Module, a.k.a., the dashboard display. Turn signal displays stopped working, though signal lights worked fine. It would not pass state inspection until this was fixed. Total cost=$1600 including diagnosis, labor and part. I hope yours is a different diagnosis, but several friends with '03 MY have had to have this replacement done (at different dealers). My part was on "national backorder" according to the dealer, for more than 3 weeks. Fortunately, he gave us a loaner car.

[Willy]

It may be worthwile to check the power supply to the DIM which is fused by fuse 11C/24 (located
left of the steering wheel) and switched by the CEM, relay 2/29, see the attached pdf files.
Willy

[billr99]

Not sure if anybody else on this forum has seen this, but perhaps it would be helpful for those having DIM issues. Hopefully, this link will work as a "guest" account

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=73695&highlight=DIM

As far as an "executive summary", what the link says is that there is an IC on the DIM board with cold and/or faulty joints. This link as well as a few others discuss the idea of re-heating the IC/PCB connections. Also there are other threads on the "Volvo Owners Forum" which discuss the replacement of the DIM with a used one.

At this point I will not recommend a repair like this, but I just saved an old Mac of mine by making a similar repair. If you consider the price of giving this a try versus spending $1000+, it might be worth a go. I would ask that if anyone does try it, would you be so kind as to document what you are doing, pictures would be good and final results after a few miles driven?

DIM problems could be coming to a lot of us as the miles pile on. I know I have a dicey high beam indicator and trip odos that won't always reset. Heat and humidity affect the operation on these so its pretty obvious a connection problem is there. Not a big enough deal to sort right yet, but I could be on my last legs and a relatively simple and considerably less expensive fix would be good for all.

Good luck,

Bill

[Willy]

Cracked solder joints are often the cause of failures in electronic devices, the larger the electric current at a given point,
the greater the risk of cracks. It can also happen that a solder joint was not good in the first place. This also results in
bad or broken connections, they also have the habbit of appearing after a number of years in service. If a piece of
equipment is defective and only replacement is available, it can do no harm to run over all the solder joints (best done
by someone who has some experience, (eg. for SMD's a normal solder iron won't do) otherwise you may end up with good
solder joints but fried components, making the exercise somewhat futile :o
Willy