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Computer display went blank

foggy95

Tuned and Synch'ed
Joined
May 24, 2010
Messages
38
Location
Chester County, PA USA
Hoping someone may have had experience with this and suggest a few things to check. Yesterday while riding on the New Jersey Tpk - (conditions hot, dry) - my computer display screen went blank. (The little square screen that shows odometer, temp, time, mpg, etc). All the analog gauges are ok (speedo, tach, fuel level). Bike is a 2008 1200 Sport, just under 1,000 miles.

Once home, I removed the battery and cleaned the terminals, (neg had some fuzziness I cleaned off with baking soda and water). I then wire brushed both battery terminals and cable connections and checked the ground cable connection at the starter. All are fine and bright. Checked all fuses, all were OK. Still no display when I turn on the ignition, gauges pointers go through their normal dance and bike will start right up.

Did a couple searches but nothing definitive came up. I can rule out anything moisture or water related, this bike has never seen a rain drop and never been hosed down.

Thanks for any pointers!
 
My 1200 Sport is doing the same thing. A simple off-on of the ignition restores the display.

I'm thinking it's the display unit that is faulty, an intermittent connection wouldn't restore every time with the switch, and if the instrument ECU is faulty, then it would probably erase its resettable information.

I've put in a warranty claim, but can't get the bike to the shop for another three weeks. I suggest you do the same. There was another thread where someone else suffers the same problem, but now I can't find it. Can't imagine how the shop is going to diagnose this one.
 
kiwi dave said:
My 1200 Sport is doing the same thing. A simple off-on of the ignition restores the display.

I'm thinking it's the display unit that is faulty, an intermittent connection wouldn't restore every time with the switch, and if the instrument ECU is faulty, then it would probably erase its resettable information.

I've put in a warranty claim, but can't get the bike to the shop for another three weeks. I suggest you do the same. There was another thread where someone else suffers the same problem, but now I can't find it. Can't imagine how the shop is going to diagnose this one.

Thanks for the reply Dave - I guess mine is a little more fatal - I tried the "0n-off" with the ignition switch a number of times. Still dead. Maybe that's a good thing as there will be no dispute as I turn it in for warranty...
 
@ Foggy.... try to disconnect the battery for a while, not just turning on/off your ignition....


2008 bike,....... just under 1000 mls ?????????? how come :shock:

Greetz from Holland

rob
 
DutchV7racer said:
@ Foggy.... try to disconnect the battery for a while, not just turning on/off your ignition....


2008 bike,....... just under 1000 mls ?????????? how come :shock:

Greetz from Holland

rob
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the reply. Actually, the battery was out of the bike for a couple of hours while I cleaned the terminals, etc and cleaned up a few other things.

Reason for the low milegae - the 1200 Sport doesn't sell well in this country. So poorly I am told that Guzzi will not send any more over here until all the 2008 models are sold. There have been no newer Sports imported since. That's ashame because I would really like to see the Sport made available with the 8v engine and the 'Corse' paint scheme! There are still some dealers here with unsold,brand new, 2008 Sports on the floor at heavy discounts!

So, I just bought my bike this past March, new. Battery couldn't be revived after so much sitting, so dealer installed new one. Never a problem until now. I also have a V7 Classic which gets most of my local 'back roads' riding!
 
It sounds like the only thing left to check is the harness connection to the dash. Unfortunately it sounds like a fatal flaw with your dash. I've been in some awful heat with my 1100 Breva and no dash faults. It should not be heat related. I hope your bike is under warranty in case your dash needs replacement.

Good luck.
 
As John says, remove the multi pin connector on the back of the dash. While it's off, spray with contact cleaner, and refit.
If that doesn't fix it, then the dash is probably faulty.
 
I suffer from the same problem on my B11. I have done all of the above and more, including changing resistor caps, wires, and plugs to no avail. Mine will go out and occasionally come back on after a restart. It seems to go out again around 3,500 rpm. That is about the only correlation with anything I can come up with. My B11 is way out of warranty and the $800 replacement instrument panel is a bit beyond what I want to spend to fix the problem. Incidentally, it is my second instrument panel. The first one was replaced under warranty for the same problem.
 
I've had similar symptoms on my 07 Griso 1100. Display sometimes blanks, sometimes freezes and sometimes freezes in a reverse image. It went for many months with no issues (after being stored in a dry garage for the winter), then recently it started acting up again. It always resets when I turn off the ignition and restart.

When I bought the bike (year ago, dealer demo with 4k km on it) I had a "Service" warning and speed registered as zero, typical of a speedo sensor that gets wet inside. Next day the blanking started but eventually cleared itself up. They had a new battery in it, and replaced the battery cables in the bike. I have a new display, but have not installed it yet since the problem went a way for a while (free, under warranty). My suspicion is that the blanking is related to the speedo sensor that gets wet, and somehow the inputs from that sensor cause the display to malfunction. There are not may external inputs to the display, and the analog gauges never malfunction, so it is either the display electronics, or inputs into those electonics that are bad.

I plan to seal up the speedo sensor, since the display recently started acting up after riding in the rain (of course, the rain could also have affected the dash). I figure I need to seal the sensor anyway, but that may also fix the display issue.

Not sure it's the same cause for all, since my display always works at start up. This is still just a theory until I get around to sealing the sensor and seeing if there is any improvement.
 
On restart occasionally, my digital display returns to life. I can make the display blank out without moving. A quick twist of the throttle usually does it.
 
If anyone is still following this thread....it is now one week after my digital dash display went blank on my 1200 Sport, I've tried it numerous times during the past week, no go.

Today I get a buddy to follow me out to my dealers (Europa Macchina in Lewisberry, PA - great folks by the way, if you ever get near the place, drop in). The 68 mile ride took a little over an hour or so, no display the whole time. I had made arrangements to drop the bike off for warranty.

Just to be sure I was explaining the problem accurately, we (my friend, the dealer, and I) went outside so I could demonstrate the problem. Turn the key - guess what - the display came on as normal! :oops: Just like a bad boy who all of a sudden behaves when he knows Mommy is watching. At least it went out again while we were looking at it, and Lori did notice a couple of error codes when it was on. So the bike is in their capable hands right now, and I still have the fun little V7 Classic to ride while his brother is away.
 
I used to stop and take photos of the dislay with my camera phone, which probably helped with getting a replacement since I had proof (I even sent them to MG USA).

If the engine is running the tach reading proves it, so it's clear the display is malfunctioning and that the bike is not switched off.

I was also looking to see if there was any consistency such as time, temp, speed, etc. that would have reduced the possible causes. My display wasn't always blank, but sometimes just froze. Never found any consistency.
 
Thanks for all the responses to my original post. Here is Part Two:

Dealer replaced the defective unit (they called it the dash) with a new one. Good news - it's 100% covered under warranty. Bad news - I now have no accurate record of the milage on this bike, as it's started at 0 again. Does anyone know of a way to 'adjust' the mileage? With everything computerized in the thing, I would think there is a way throught the VDST or something similar. Dealer is clueless. This will present additional problems when/if I decide to sell the bike..
 
Your issue has been raised before, and no, there is no way to easily modify the mileage of the bike (with good reason as you might imagine).
 
If data like odometer etc are saved on a separate eeprom (something like flash memory usb sticks) chip then it may be relatively easy to read and alter them - if you are an electronics guy, that is...
If they are stored on one-chip-system microcontroller containing the eeprom data then it is not easy even for a hardcore electronics guy, depending on chip used.
I suppose that the dashboard supplying company may have some tool to properly access this data but chances are it does not leave their labs.

I would have some pulse sender hooked up the proper wires to advance the odometer to the miles it had before the swap. Just do not forget it and leave it overshoot the desired number! No turning back!
 
In a previous post someone mentioned changing the battery fixed their instrument panel. I just changed my battery and the dash problems continue. The good news is my B11 is still a wonderful motorcycle. The bike is an absolute joy to ride.
 
I own an 06 Breva V1100 I bought new in 06. In march of 2011 with 50202 on the bike. I left out on saturday morning. The square read out was working perfect like it always had. I stopped, eat breakfast, got on the bike, and noticed right away the read out was barely visible. I could still see the info, the odometer and all other info was working fine, but hard to see. I rode 11 miles to the hardware,turned the bike off. When I got back on the bike a few minutes later the display was totally washed out. It has stayed that way ever since. The analog gauges work just fine. I ride the bike year round in cold, hot, and wet weather.

From what I have read on this forum it sounds to me like an internal problem in the gauges in most cases.

I have just purchased a used gauge with 3700 miles on it. Will I be able to swap it out and still be able to use my original user code. Or will I have to do something different.

Thanks in advance for any response.

David.
 
I'm curious to the number of dashes in service that have had the LCD portion of the screen die. Seems too common on the Breva/Norge style. Even if it hasn't happened to yours yet, you have to wonder when it will. 12000 miles on mine and it went, so I keep track of mileage on a notepad on my phone now...not terribly accurate, but until I have an extra couple of hundred around this will have to do.
 
All in all I have not heard of that many terminal failures with the modern Guzzi dash.
The one posted by Panhead may be one, but most of the others are correctable by re-booting the dash. That involves dis-connecting the battery and either turning the key to ON or letting it sit with the battery dis-connected for an extended time. Turning the key to ON is probably the better route. Failure to drain the residual voltage when you dis-connect the battery will likely result in failure of your attempt at re-booting the dash.
If I were you, Panhead, I would try to re-boot the dash anyway as it can't hurt to try and it may work, although your issue does not sound like a normal dash glitch.

There are plenty of modern Guzzi's around with high mileage, dash failures do not seem to be a constant but rather an occasional issue and most of them are correctable with proper service. What else do you want. Welcome to the digital age.
 
GuzziMoto said:
but most of the others are correctable by re-booting the dash. That involves dis-connecting the battery and either turning the key to ON or letting it sit with the battery dis-connected for an extended time. Turning the key to ON is probably the better route. Failure to drain the residual voltage when you dis-connect the battery will likely result in failure of your attempt at re-booting the dash.

BINGO! GuzziMoto's reboot procedure just worked to correct my dash problem.

Bike: 2007 Griso 1100, 13,000 miles.

Symptom: The digital display for the "Mode" left-handlebar option stopped working entirely after I had recharged the battery from a discharged condition using an older Battery Tender. (I forget how it became discharged.) The partial dash failure then persisted for months, making me think I would need a new dash.

Treatment: Per GuzziMoto, I disconnected the battery, turned the key to "On," and waited, about 48 hours as it turned out. Then I turned off the key, connected the battery, and turned on the key, after which the display was fine again.

Many, many thanks, GuzziMoto,

Moto
 
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