Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Faulty VDO LCD repair

Hello dear friends,

Long time no read Hope you all are fine.

I would like to drop some lines, concerning a potential problem with the LCD odometer in the VDO instrument. One day, the digital display did not come on, when I started the engine. It eventually came back, but, kind of „faded“, to disappear and come on again. Sometimes it showed „dancing symbols“ and so on. All in all, less than satisfactory situation.

So, if you should be in a similar situation, this might be of some help:
This is the display:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-DISPLA...-cockpit-vision-JCB-tractor/202974684238
And this is the instruction video, which helped me a lot:
[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/jBiqv4Cs3PA[/video]

All in all, it was a 15 minutes job. The only problem, is the removal of the bezel, which has to be carefully „bent open“ from the rear, in order to be able to disassemble the instrument.

Sunny greetings from Luxembourg
Ivo

Ivo

Thanks very much indeed , that is a very useful video indeed as many of us are afflicted by this LCD screen issue.

Our of interest where did you obtain a new screen , and did the mileage carry over from the old one ?

Hi Andy,

The display, I ordered from ebay, under the link above. Lucky enough, it was the correct one.
The mileage reading is stored „within“ the instrument, so no problem there.

I must say, that I was very nervous, before taking everything apart, especially removing and reinstalling the indicator „needle“. I was afraid, that some of the plastic parts may brake or so, but everything went fine.

Great information Ivo, thank you for that, my VDO trip is weather/humidity dependent it's fine on the dry runs

Hi Ivo, I see you have a fix for the LCD odometer in the VDO speedometer. Like many people on this forum I have the same problem with my 2002 4/4. The numbers disappear over winter and reappear in late spring. I have read that this happens because the digital display absorbs moisture. This would fit with prolonged standing in a damp garage over winter. I have been experimenting to try and stop the numbers disappearing in the first place.

I considered a dehumidifier in my garage but this is a major exit from our house and the frequent opening of doors would probably reduce a dehumidifier’s efficiency. I then considered dehumidifying the car’s passenger compartment.

In autumn I put a kilo of Silica Gel Beads (used for drying flowers, EBAY) in a cake storage box, in the driver’s foot well. This gives a large surface area for water absorption. I put the lid on the driving seat. A reminder the foot well is occupied! I left the hood up and side screens and car cover on to create a micro climate in the car. Half way through winter I regenerated the silica gel.





For the first trip out in April I found the odometer display to be fully functioning, unlike previous years. This looks a promising way to stop the small dials (temp, fuel etc) from misting up on the first run of the season as well.

I regenerated the silica gel by spreading it out on a baking tray in the oven for 1 – 2 hours at 100C.

That sounds like a interesting solution, worth trying Calypso.

My problem also apeared in autumn, but, over the winter, the car was in a dry, warm garage but the symptomps remained. Plus, I had to do the MOT in march and I did not want to risk finding me there, with no odometer reading. And, with a new display already purchased… a man‘s gotta do, what a man‘s gotta do

Loosely related to above issues, during the very cold snap in the UK early December last year temperatures dropped to as low as -8°C and remained long enough for everywhere to get a cold soak including the inside of our new build double garage. This was followed before Christmas by a sudden increase in temperature with the high moisture air without the benefit of breeze, condensing on everything within garage. The Morgan despite dust cover was covered absolutely everywhere inside and out with moisture, and particularly noticeable under the hood with all engine and electrics literally dripping with it.

As I'd already had trouble with moisture damaging pictures hung on the single brick side walls I decided to insulate the pitch roof of garage using 50mm foil covered Celotex. This comes in 2.4 x 1.2m sheets and by cutting into strips, wedged it between roof truss A frames leaving the recommended 50mm air gap between roof felt and insulation when it was pushed flush into place. Whilst very easy to cut this took a while as each set of strips had to be custom cut due to variations in spacing of A frames but was complete within a week after using 16+ sheets. The ends of strips were joined together with gaffer tape. I've since added profiled rubber strips under each of the cantilever up and over doors to fill the suprisingly large gap under them. Design of doors still allows plenty of ventilation though.



Already I can feel the walls are less damp and my breath doesn't show up inside during subsequent cold weather. Also comfier to work inside

Sounds like a good idea.

Nice work Richard, I've got some fancy foil faced joint tape if you want it

Thanks Jon but signed off on that job now and my ageing knees are still recovering