i get in the car today and start it up. the instrument panel is dead. i mean D.E.A.D.

nothing. no tach, no speed, no clock, no mileage, no gas level, no temp gauge. the only display on the panel was in the center LCD readout (where the mileage usually is) and it said this:

PIN -
CODE

i shut the engine off and restart. same thing. i did this about 5 times and finally got it back. of note: the car starts and runs fine without the instrument cluster working. it's just super-inconvenient to not know how fast i'm going and how much gas i have left.

i hadn't disconnected anything, and everything was all good up until this morning...

i stopped at the volvo dealer...they said the only time the display shows that readout is when the instrument cluster is first installed. otherwise it probably means that the cluster is going bad and will need to be replaced.

they gave me a ballpark estimate of $1000 for the cluster. i checked some volvo parts websites, and the price is just around $1000; maybe a little more.

there are some for sale on ebay for < $100; but will a used cluster show the mileage on the car it was salvaged from, or will it show MY mileage?

any thoughts? the car has about 116k miles on it. i'm getting sick of all these "little" issues. AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

thanks.

2001 s40

 

Definitely sounds like you need a new cluster, but a used one might not work. I know for sure that the dealer will have to program it to work with your car at the very least. This is why the used ones go for so cheap.