Instrument Cluster Blank

[Deroberson]

2 days ago my instrument cluster blanked while out on a drive.

HUD still works, Fuel Level, Oil Temp, lighting indicators all seem to be working.

Just speedo, tach, trip computer all out.

My initial plan was to check fuses, but I thought I would run the codes through Carly OBDII and see, what came about.

I got: B7F67D COMBI: monitoring circuit reset triggered
E12C20 Kafas interface (detecting traffic signs, 0x287) signal invalid

Then I noticed the cluster was very dimly lit and lighting level fluctuating. So I determined there is power and no need to dig through the fuses.



Today, I go to run the car and the codes again, cluster is BLANK again and I run the diagnostics again and within Instrument Cluster: INFO 930003F Sender node:Error in function addressed

I clear the codes, no change in the cluster, still blank.

Any ideas?

[Opie55]

No ideas, but I can tell you that I have never seen this issue raised in the nearly 2 years I've been on the forum and have probably looked at every thread. At least not that I recall. You have the same car/same year I have. If you don't get any answers here, please do post back with what it turns out to be.

[DaveS86]

Have you tried pulling it out, unplugging and reconnecting, rule out a loose connection, dislodged pin on the connector. Could just be the unit has given up the ghost though.

[jjasonSU]

Weird. yes I'd agree it's not a fuse issue since it is getting power.

[elvisisdog]

Try the IT fix unplug the power supply (battery) wait a few minutes then try again.

These cars have random moments. My head unit went through a reset loop one night. Wired everything on the head unit.

[Qsilver7]

Wow...this only reinforces my dread of the 6WB digital instrument cluster as well as the digital clusters in the new G series BMWs.

At least with the 6WA cluster...there may still be some things or info that are legible or at least can be interpreted as long the needles in the 4 dials still work.

[Deroberson]

I have not disassembled or disconnected anything as of yet, thought I would solicit the brain trust here. I have an extended warranty on the car and was waiting to research the coverage before taking anything apart.

I am pretty mechanically inclined and feel certain I could dig into it if needed.

I have had the car 1 1/2 yr/2 yr, it received a new battery via warranty soon after I bought the car.

I was reluctant to disconnect the battery because my understanding is you have to reprogram.

Just trying to keep it simple but I am not feeling any magic bullets thus far. I have driven the car today 60 to 80 miles, several power cycles via normal ignition, no change.

I can see that the cluster goes dark black upon shutdown and door lock vs a very faint lit hue with power on.

[arucano]

you do not have to initialize the battery if you disconnect it. That is only required when you change to a new and or different capacity.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Deroberson

I was reluctant to disconnect the battery because my understanding is you have to reprogram.

Ditto Arucano...battery registration is only required if you replace the old battery with a new one with the same specs...and battery coding is required when you install a new battery with different specs.

Disconnecting the battery for any purpose that would require the car to be powered down...won't require any battery programming or registration or coding. You may need to reinitialize the sunroof (instructions are in the owners manual)...but there is no major programming procedures for a simple power disconnect.

[dsocold]

if you live near ny id be willing to swap and go to the dealer and use my warranty if it works which im sure it will... I. keep new replacement and u keep my old perfectly working unit

[deadspoogi]

Originally Posted by Deroberson

2 days ago my instrument cluster blanked while out on a drive.

HUD still works, Fuel Level, Oil Temp, lighting indicators all seem to be working.

Just speedo, tach, trip computer all out.

My initial plan was to check fuses, but I thought I would run the codes through Carly OBDII and see, what came about.

I got: B7F67D COMBI: monitoring circuit reset triggered
E12C20 Kafas interface (detecting traffic signs, 0x287) signal invalid

Then I noticed the cluster was very dimly lit and lighting level fluctuating. So I determined there is power and no need to dig through the fuses.

Attachment 2251935

Today, I go to run the car and the codes again, cluster is BLANK again and I run the diagnostics again and within Instrument Cluster: INFO 930003F Sender node:Error in function addressed

I clear the codes, no change in the cluster, still blank.

Any ideas?

This happened to me on my 2015 640 . Happened once on a night out the cluster was completely blank and about 30 min later it came back and never Happened again

[Deroberson]

dsocold...thanks for the offer, probably not an option for me

I disconnected the battery, let the car sit for an hour unpowered......no change.....

Getting ready for spring break and ski vacay with the kids, probably will not be able to really get into this until later in March.

[pdubq]

Deroberson, is your warranty bmw cpo coverage? This is covered by cpo.

It kind of looks like the display is fried, info is coming through, but swaths of missing output. Doesn’t look like it’s the connection.

[ezmaass]

Originally Posted by pdubq

Deroberson, is your warranty bmw cpo coverage? This is covered by cpo.

It kind of looks like the display is fried, info is coming through, but swaths of missing output. Doesn’t look like it’s the connection.

I agree. Instinct (gut feel) tells me this isn't a software related issue, especially given that you've tried a more "hard" reset with pulling the battery for an hour. It looks like a potential hardware failure of some sort given the faded/burnt looking output on the display. In an old school analog signal to a display, you'd potentially see something like this if there was a loose connection (think broken pins on an old VGA connector), but given that everything here is certainly digital, you'd expect to either get or not-get the signal (binary) - not this weird faded thing. So, yeah - my money would be on a hardware failure somewhere.

A quick search didn't turn up much (probably more digging that can be done), but at least one automotive site (in Chinese, I believe) seems to suggest this is "multi-information display (MID) function of instrument cluster fails (B7F67D)." Again, looks hardware to me.

Let us know what you find!

[carl78]

Hi All,

Thanks for the great contributions. I have the same issue on my '15 640i.

When the problem first began, the screen was completely blank, but the backlight was on. Intermittently the display will cycle through various states of "working" but always displays the vertical lines and always returns to a blank display within a few minutes. I've also tried the fuses and disconnecting the battery.

I think this supports the hardware failure theory. Unfortunately, I don't have warranty coverage

There are a few sites around that advocate cleaning the connectors between the display driver and the panel to solve similar issues in TV's. I can't say that I'm excited about trying this, but I will start researching how I might go about it.

I don't know if it is related, but the "steering shaker" on the lane change warning system has also lost all power. It still makes a noise, but the wheel is not shaking. This stopped working at the same time as the instrument cluster.

It would be great to know what the problem was! I hope that your warranty covers you!

[Bigjule1111]

Mine just started to dim down a bit while driving ..first time it ever done this ..did yours start up like that ? ..I hope I won't have the same issue

[Holt2498]

BMW BLANK PANEL 6WB FAULT - solved.

I developed a fault with my BMW f06 facelift lci model a few weeks ago, I tried searching the web but nothing as to the solution, but quite a few people describing the same / similar fault.

My car was registered in AUGUST 2015, so I am out of warranty

After speaking with my local BMW specialist and also trying numerous resets and hardware updates but all to no avail.

I rang around numerous car technicians who specialise with BMW DASH CLUSTERS including the latest 6WB black panel display which the 6 series was one of the first BMW’s to have them installed.

Anyway my screen faded to almost blank with a few very faint horizontal lines across the screen leaving the dash virtually useless apart from the fuel gauge and the oil temperature gauge which were still operational.

The diagnosis by all people were, wow never seen one of these go faulty before and I will need a new instrument panel that after buying, fitting and recoding would be circa £2500.00 GBP plus. I must say I was not best pleased, but at the same time I thought, well if the instrument panel is deemed non repairable then I may as well see if I can take it to pieces and see if there are any obvious clues or maybe even a simple soldering of dry joints.

After lowering and lengthening the steering wheel reach, I then disconnected the battery and then removed the instrument panel, quick and easy, two clips, then two connections, I then used a torx screwdriver and some patience and opened and stripped the two pcb boards (1st one held in with just clips and two sprung brass like splines to engage connection, then the 2nd pcb had various simple clips and 1 x torx screw in the middle and 3 very simple flip up ribbon connectors) which then revealed a BOSCH LED DISPLAY (a further 4 plastic clips and it’s out) after googling I found I could buy from either GERMANY on eBay, or CHINA much cheaper through Alibaba the trading site, given that the latter is much further away from where I am in the UK (Covid-19 disruptions also) and also no buyer protection, I plumped for GERMAN EBAY at a shipped cost of circa £220.00 the part numbers were identical and as I was NOT replacing the PCB’s then I saw that there was no need for any recoding.

Anyway in summary after a 5 day wait for the LED DISPLAY to arrive (luckily my car has HUD, so I had a visible speedo to drive in the interim) I then went about removing and stripping the instrument panel again and gently replaced the LED DISPLAY, I used surgical gloves to ensure no smears from greasy hands and 20 minutes later had the instrument panel back in the car and HEY PRESTO, everything works as the day it came out of the factory.

So the message is, if you have the BLANK SCREEN and if updates don’t work, it’s much more serious and likely to be (most definitely) the BOSCH LED DISPLAY which has failed. A few hundred (NOT THOUSANDS AS most and BMW WANTED) we are up and running again, everything works perfect.

Please see attached a picture of the actual part required, the part number is the BOSCH number starting with 89.

Hope this helps someone.

Kind regards Jeremy.

[pdubq]

Woohoo! Good work! That must have felt great... and nice surprise that the Dash display module is so easily removed.

[Holt2498]

Yes it was not just nice but very pleasant, in fact the most difficult part of the procedure was to ensure that when replacing the PCB which sits directly on top of the LED panel display was to make sure that the two outer dials (I will call them analogue, which technically I know they’re not but give the appearance as they’re not LED) which are fuel and oil temp are perfectly aligned and seated correctly as I had to do this a few times to make sure they read correctly, a minor but annoying slight complication, but well worth the saving in more ways than one.

Here is the eBay link to the item I purchased brand new, the seller is in Germany and was excellent.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-...72.m2749.l2649

[NorthCountryGuy]

The Moderators should archive this in a Sticky for DIY service, or something like it.

[Luftpost]

Very cool! BMW is no stranger to Instrument Display failures (VDO from my E39 experience).

And for it to be so simple, thats even better. I guess that is one advantage to the electronic components of todays cars.

L

[Derekz4]

Fantastic work, well done!