Over the weekend I left the interior lights in my car on. Today while trying to jump it, the dashboard readings (trip meter, odometer, clock, outside temp) looked to reset, but now the odometer is blank, no ------'s or anything similar. After recharging the battery, I disconnected the cables for about a half hour to see if I could get my odometer reading back (somewhere around 225600) but still nothing. Everything else works fine, speedometer is accurate, trip meter works, clock and external temp all fine. Whats up?

 

Volvo DIM's are famous for needing to be re-soldered though specific symptoms can vary. Mine is on it's way back from BBA. The first thing that went wonky was the message center, then the whole cluster went out with no lighting, gauges, anything. I suspect that yours was near that point and the trama of the dead battery then a jump start finished that particular solder joint off.

 

Do I have to have mine remanufactured or can I just buy a new instrument cluster?

 

You really want to have yours re-done IMO. If you get a new one the miles won't be right and you will have to go to the dealer to get the ECM to recognize the new part. It takes about 5 minutes to get it out, then just box it and send it off. Look up BBA on ebay and order through there. They will even email you the shipping label. If you buy a used cluster you never know when you are faced with the same issue, and you still have to go to the dealer for programming. BBA gives lifetime warranty on the repair. I had to rent a car for a few days as you can't drive your with the cluster out. BBA received mine at 9:15 this morning and by 11:30 they reported it shipped via UPS coming back to me. I will have $230 in repair cost with 2nd day air shipping plus the $200 car rental, but the dealer wants over $1500 for new.

 

If I keep driving without the odometer display say for 1000 miles, when I fix it will the miles be accurate? I assume whatever track the miles still works, it's just the display that isn't getting an electrical signal?

 

Just got mine back today, so I can answer the question of does the car still keep track of miles, and the answer is yes. Mine showed approximately 104 miles more than the last time I was able to see the miles on the display. That tells me that the cluster is still receiving the data and storing it despite not showing.

 

The odometers/speedos are also tied into the ABS system computer. Try checking the ABS fuse. I also recall something about a sync issue between the odometer and the ECU which keeps the actual data. check for other posts on how that can be reset. It doesn't sound like the display unit is bad...