308CC Dash board lights

[ChrisRobin]

Hi again...

After 8 months of trouble free motoring, as the dark nights roll in my dash is playing up. one side of my right side of Speedo is flickering and has started to not come on unless you hit a cats eye then it flickers or comes on, left side of Rev counter flickered for a day or so now gone out completely temp gauge and fuel gauge still bright as a button, Asked the question at main dealer to have blank expression's but they did want to sell me a dash insert + matrix window as you can not get them separately fitted and coded for £1,600.50, I have noticed the dash is common to the RCZ, eBay sells bulbs of different colours for the RCZ, which made me wonder..... are the Dash inserts bulb lit? if so do I need to take off the black plastic cover on the back of the dash where the yellow plug is to change them, anyone know about this, £1,600.50 seems an awful lot of money for illumination.
I can send it away, for £175 for repair, but again do I want to for the sake of £5.00 worth of bulbs and half an hour of my life? Already on an MOT advisory for it, if the other side of the speedo fails then I am on an MOT fail. no other problems with the dash just these two section of illumination.

[GiveMeABreak]

Unfortunately there are 3 models of instrument display clusters and only one of them has a replaceable Matrix unit and it's not yours.

Back on point though, they only sell the complete instrument panel cluster - there are no separate parts. So the only way you are going to be able to confirm the type of lighting it has is to remove it yourself and check internally.

Whether it has LED incorporated lighting which you can't replace or standard automotive halogen bulbs like the 1.2V caps I can't say.

The cluster is easy to remove, see the video below: Once you have it out, you may be able to explore further....

[ChrisRobin]

Thank you, will have a look at the weekend (weather permitting) and hope they are bulbs! (bet they are not!) as if I would that lucky....

[Hell Razor5543]

The fact that (with some of the lights, at least) that vibration (you say running over cats eyes) brings some of them on suggests to me that there is a poor connection somewhere. I would thoroughly inspect the circuit boards of the instrument panel (possibly with a magnifying glass) for any solder joints with cracks in them, or that are 'dry'. The reason for the magnifying glass is that a hairline crack can be difficult to see normally. The difference between a good and a 'dry' solder joint is like the difference between the sides of cooking foil; a good joint is a nice shiny silvery colour, while a 'dry' joint is a dull grey. If you find any bad joints it should be possible to repair them with a dab of solder and a soldering iron.

[ChrisRobin]

"Unfortunately there are 3 models of instrument display clusters and only one of them has a replaceable Matrix unit and it's not yours"

Just got a call back finally from my not so local Peugeot dealership, he tells me Cluster and matrix are separate the cluster part number 9805630480 is £878 and the matrix or display as they call them is 9804898380 and £370, if it is displaying info alright, which it is, you need just the cluster which needs no coding as all you will undo the 4 screws remove it and put it into the new cluster, but £878 is a lot of money for basically LED bulbs which cost in the region of £2.99 each at the most, there are plenty out there to "repair" them.
cartronic: are £175 dependant on if they can repair the matrix???? no idea why they want to repair the matrix as I said it was all working ok, sent image of issue no response now.
ECUtesting: said no they don't have that dash, although they where initially up for looking at it until they saw the image.
autotronics: want a video of the problem although an in-depth description was given, then i sent an image of the problem showing the bulbs out, just waiting now for them to say no!

Seems at present all these "repair" companies want to to fix it until they see it, then when they do they back off that quickly you can almost see the dust rise, starting to think what they do is get your dash in, clone it onto one of their repaired ones and send that out to you, as mine is from a 308 so all white dials, they haven't got one on the shelf to send out.

how annoying, although you may think it does not look bad in the image it is still quite light, most times it leaves for work and returns from work in the dark, driven on unlit roads, and I have to say after driving it the other night it is rather annoying in the dark at least they have stopped flickering now and are just out.

[GiveMeABreak]

I'm just advising you from an official parts point of view. As I said only one of the dashboards are shown on replacement parts with having a removable separate matrix and that one is not listed against your your 2012 model T7 308 CC. Whether or not you want to risk breaking it open or not is up to you, but that may be the only way to see if the lighting uses standard bulbs or LEDS. If LEDs then they may well be wired into the module itself.

[xantia_v6]

There is a fair chance that the problem with your dash lighting is just a broken solder joint on the printed circuit board. If it were mine I would be carefully opening it up and examining the PCB with a strong magnifying glass.

[Hell Razor5543]

There is a fair chance that the problem with your dash lighting is just a broken solder joint on the printed circuit board. If it were mine I would be carefully opening it up and examining the PCB with a strong magnifying glass.

Which is what I also suggested, as the fact the lights 'change' when running over cats eyes indicates that vibrations affects the dashboard lights.

One of the other Forum members (Stickyfingers) has had an issue with the dashboard of one of his vehicles, and found that there were dry joints. This shows what he found;

download/file.php?id=48162&mode=view

which is why xantia_v6 and I suggest that dry joints may be a cause of your problems.

[ChrisRobin]

Hi Marc
Don't have to "break into it" it is the large matrix NG4 version, the matrix apparently is a square white "box" with an additional cable connector to it, 4 screws and it is out it is basically the same as the RCZ cluster apart from 308 has completely white dials on all four gauges, good luck on ebay he told me they are like rocking horse (what was that last word) as the NG4 was a rather expensive upgrade from factory (seen quite a few RCZ's with them but only 2 308's in their workshops) and if I do find one use my old matrix in it so as I don't over write the 48k on it., he also said I can look for RCZ it will fit but he has never seen an RCZ with all white dials, but again it has to be a diesel otherwise the fuel and water temp gauges will read wrong.
Think I need to get me specs on and get it on kitchen table for a gander inside it. I was all prepared for LED dot bulbs until I realised it was actually the RCZ based cluster, once I searched on that I found the cluster a few of them actually, wrong colours, but it also threw an extra ingredient into the mix, plug in bulbs, reds, greens and whites so you can change the cluster colour of your RCZ, so had a look on Autodoc, and there there where 30 different types of cluster bulb.
Both Rev & Speedo bulbs on right side of each dial now out all the time, reminds me of external lamps, side lights usually when you get bulb warning on dash so you go look and find a side light out, so you make that MMMm noise and slap the lamp a couple of times and it illuminates so off you go it will do that 3/4 times before it just never comes on again, that's how i feel, slapped dash a couple of times and it came on Mmmmm! now it does not respond to violence anymore.
Bulb Confusion....... MOST definatly!

[GiveMeABreak]

No worries, but don't get the NG4 confused with the matrix in the instrument cluster. The NG4 is a double DIN telematic Head unit also referred to as the Navidrive 3D for Citroen or Wipcom 3D for Peugeot vehicles as seen below - this was mine in my C5 X7.

These have nothing to do with the instrument cluster or matrix, but can send certain info to the display Via the CAN network like turn info from the NG4 navigation.

[ChrisRobin]

Cheers Marc
Super system, you gave me the link for the BMW update for the mapping when we first bought it. worked a treat. Autotronics have come back and said they can repair the back lights in it, so that's er in doors chuffed now which leads on to me being left alone, learnt something as well, I thought the large matrix insert was only for the NG4 nav system.

Thanks for your help, always appreciated.

[GiveMeABreak]

No worries, - the NG4 just uses the large multifunction display either fixed on Citroen or retractable on some Peugeot models. But these and other telematics head units can send things like the turn directions to the instrument panel too to give more close up illustrations like the turn off on a roundabout. If you are lucky enough to have a Heads Up Display as an option, then the telematics units can also send this data direct to this display which is even better - it really helps when your focussing on the road in an unknown area, not to have to keep looking at the main mapping display.

[ChrisRobin]

Hi Marc

It gives us turn by turn and images of next junction lane needed on flip up screen and also turn by turn in the centre display initially I thought that was a bit silly but it is actually quite helpful if the road you need instructions on is busy, the Nav screen you tend to look at the instructions, picture and the map itself whilst the centre screen is like my old Meg 2 nav (carminate) orange symbols easy to read just take a split second glance to visually confirm the voice command, also even when nav not activated, centre display still gives you road name information when it knows it and a compass always helps (I think), down side is postcode look up but I found a brilliant work around is to use co-ordinates instead, very accurate (providing you key them in right) also does voice control but it doesn't quite understand me, end up giving the command 2/3 times but my Megane is the same, tell it ring home and it asks me to repeat a couple of times before it gets the gist, I think it might be my Welsh accent it doesn't understand.....
The one thing that does annoy us a little is the sim card warning that pops up every time you start it up, it reads something like SIM CARD IS MISSING OR DETERIOTATED and a few other words but it takes over the nav screen, I was told you can switch it off in the cars menu, but I can not find it, the kind of message it is strikes me as being a diag tool job, I know what it is doing, but we don't intend on giving it a sim card so I need to deactivate it some how to stop it looking and moaning about it.
Been with us since February this year and this is its first real issue, and if it was like the old days of bulbs in dash then would not even warrant a question on here would here would it, I sometimes think that modern technology is not always better, as usually modern technology means one use item, so think of this dash insert for the sake of 2 back light bulbs this insert gets binned and I spend £1,053.60 on a new insert + labour should you want it fitted for two bulbs which range between £1.99 to £3.99 each.
That's how motor manufactures have moved forward!

[GiveMeABreak]

My Connected Nav definitely doesn't siarad Cymraeg. Place names are a real challenge.

As for the SIM:- the NG4 is a dual telephone system. It can use either a paired Bluetooth phone or the built in telephone which is connected to a 'Services Module' on most of these units. The SIM is used for the emergency services SOS call or the other button with the marque logo on for Citroen / Peugeot Services. It is also used in an emergency when the airbags are triggered in an accident, to make the emergency call automatically and provide geolocation info of the vehicle to the emergency services.

This needs a valid SIM card to operate though, so I tended to use a basic SIM card for this with the best provide that will keep your credit for the longest!

It is a very useful service as it can be a life saver. It may mean that the SIM you have is no longer active, so worth swapping it out. It is usually found in the glovebox (on mine it was in a little black unit where my AUX Video and Audio inputs are).

[ChrisRobin]

There is no SIM in it, I think it goes in the armrest, I seem to remember spotting it when I was looking for the USB way back in Feb/March time also noticed the address book has duel entries for phone numbers one for Bluetooth one for "car" sim, I did read about the SOS gives location to emergency services etc and to think this is on a 2012 car, VW have only really started fitting this kind of Tec over the past 5 years or so to their models, they now have a dedicated SOS control unit which keeps gong wrong and constantly calls SOS or puts a red light on your dash for SOS calls not available.
Not so cleaver German technology!
The Peugeot parts guy was telling me he vaguely remembers the NG4 and said it was around £2,500 upgrade for your new vehicle he thought, expensive for its time which is why you don't see a lot around, more in RCZ as they where better off owners/purchasers than the 308 owners, but remembers the stink when they dropped the nav updates, very expensive system and no longer supported!!!! but as he said Peugeot are quite strange, when I tried to get a touch up stick for this 308 they don't do tough up sticks anymore just spray tins, not much good for stone chips, told me to get it off Ebay which is what they tell their customers to do, give them the paint code and send em to Ebay, wrong really but what else are you suppose to do.
But have to say Vdub are getting the same as in forcing the customer to buy the larger unit instead of a part, for example turbo actuators some still available but a lot of now gone to complete turbos, some Polos and Ups with the square electronic actuator on the turbo comes with no rod? so if the rod is bent or you bend it trying to get it off (easily done) then you have to purchase the complete turbo so you jump from £240 up to £1,132! so they are all at it slowly but surely increasing parts sales by making you buy the larger unit, not going to mention Keys, massive jump in price yet we have no margin in them at all, and some Superb owners will pay over £600 for a door mirror, Why? they look no different to us, for £600 I would expect it to tap me on the shoulder to tell me there is something coming up behind me.