DomSmith
SILVER Star
****Please Do Not Attempt This If You're Not Willing To Ruin Your MFD****
(But it's already broken anyway, right?)
Seriously though I take no responsibility for you messing up your junk.
After several months of intermittent failure of the "dreaded MFD" issue I decided it was time to do something about it. It started slowly but eventually I suffered with climate control/radio/NAV failure about 50% of the time. Reading up on the issue it's easy to see that there are a couple of options:
1. Buy a new unit at full pull from Toyota $5450 (86111-60181 replaced 86111-60180)
2. Buy from CDan or the like $4000
3. Remanufactured Unit $1400 ($500 core)
4. Send in for repair $350-$450
5. Repair yourself
I do not have a lot of electrical experience but have done general wiring on my FJ40 over the last 20 years. I know how to solder wires, and make good connections but have no circuit board experience.
After reading up on some of the Prius sites and following a few of the MUD links I determined it would not be impossible to try to fix myself. Another member had mentioned that he had done the repair so I reached out to help make my decision. His repair has held up for a few years and he is not a circuit board repair nerd either. Thanks to Brian (Gray Matter) for helping me to decide to tear into it. I figured wost case scenario it looks too small and I decide to send it in for repair.
Here are the tools that I used:
-plastic trim pry tools
-phillips screwdriver
-3 colors of electrical tape
-8mm wrench
-tiny slotted screwdriver
-magnifying glass (4x and 8x)
-small soldering iron with tiny tip
EDIT: Here's the soldering iron I used. I filed down the tip as small as I could...
Other items to consider:
I used a soft beach towel to lay in the truck while removing the unit from the dash. I also made sure I had a well lit, clean work area with some soft micro-fiber towels to work on.
Step 1: Nav Removal
DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERY
I started by using some inexpensive plastic Harbor Freight pry tools to remove the left and right vents to either side of the NAV unit. I've found it easiest to pry from the top to clear the first clip and then just pull each vent out with your fingers. Be careful not to indent the dash foam at the top by prying against it too hard.
Now that the vent is removed unplug the connector near the bottom and place the entire assembly aside. Repeat on the other side.
Once the vents are removed you have access to the four screws holding the main NAV/Radio/Climate unit in place. There are two phillips screws/bolts on the left and two on the right.
This shows the upper left...
Lower Right...
Once the four screws have been removed you're ready to pull the unit out as one piece. I had a large towel laying over the shift console to prevent damage. The first step is to pull away at the top of the unit and slide it out, exposing the 3 alignment slots. there is a small overlap so you may have to GENTLY pry the dash lip up with your fingers....
Now you can pull near the bottom and pull out the lower alignment slots and then slowly slide the entire unit out taking care not to stress the wiring in the rear. This is what the wiring looks like behind it. (I had previously labeled some wires from a speedo correction install and DVD grounding)...
Next I marked each component and corresponding harness plugs with color coded electrical tape and then unplugged everything...
Here's the wiring in the dash...
With Step 1 complete it was time to move the unit to the workbench and tear it down...
(But it's already broken anyway, right?)
Seriously though I take no responsibility for you messing up your junk.
After several months of intermittent failure of the "dreaded MFD" issue I decided it was time to do something about it. It started slowly but eventually I suffered with climate control/radio/NAV failure about 50% of the time. Reading up on the issue it's easy to see that there are a couple of options:
1. Buy a new unit at full pull from Toyota $5450 (86111-60181 replaced 86111-60180)
2. Buy from CDan or the like $4000
3. Remanufactured Unit $1400 ($500 core)
4. Send in for repair $350-$450
5. Repair yourself
I do not have a lot of electrical experience but have done general wiring on my FJ40 over the last 20 years. I know how to solder wires, and make good connections but have no circuit board experience.
After reading up on some of the Prius sites and following a few of the MUD links I determined it would not be impossible to try to fix myself. Another member had mentioned that he had done the repair so I reached out to help make my decision. His repair has held up for a few years and he is not a circuit board repair nerd either. Thanks to Brian (Gray Matter) for helping me to decide to tear into it. I figured wost case scenario it looks too small and I decide to send it in for repair.
Here are the tools that I used:
-plastic trim pry tools
-phillips screwdriver
-3 colors of electrical tape
-8mm wrench
-tiny slotted screwdriver
-magnifying glass (4x and 8x)
-small soldering iron with tiny tip
EDIT: Here's the soldering iron I used. I filed down the tip as small as I could...
Other items to consider:
I used a soft beach towel to lay in the truck while removing the unit from the dash. I also made sure I had a well lit, clean work area with some soft micro-fiber towels to work on.
Step 1: Nav Removal
DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERY
I started by using some inexpensive plastic Harbor Freight pry tools to remove the left and right vents to either side of the NAV unit. I've found it easiest to pry from the top to clear the first clip and then just pull each vent out with your fingers. Be careful not to indent the dash foam at the top by prying against it too hard.
Now that the vent is removed unplug the connector near the bottom and place the entire assembly aside. Repeat on the other side.
Once the vents are removed you have access to the four screws holding the main NAV/Radio/Climate unit in place. There are two phillips screws/bolts on the left and two on the right.
This shows the upper left...
Lower Right...
Once the four screws have been removed you're ready to pull the unit out as one piece. I had a large towel laying over the shift console to prevent damage. The first step is to pull away at the top of the unit and slide it out, exposing the 3 alignment slots. there is a small overlap so you may have to GENTLY pry the dash lip up with your fingers....
Now you can pull near the bottom and pull out the lower alignment slots and then slowly slide the entire unit out taking care not to stress the wiring in the rear. This is what the wiring looks like behind it. (I had previously labeled some wires from a speedo correction install and DVD grounding)...
Next I marked each component and corresponding harness plugs with color coded electrical tape and then unplugged everything...
Here's the wiring in the dash...
With Step 1 complete it was time to move the unit to the workbench and tear it down...
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