Re: odometer display mystery

Thoughts on the seemingly illuminated squigglies to the right of the ones place on my odometer? The weird thing is that it seems to have gone away over the course of 4 hours of driving yesterday. At one point mid-drive i looked down and saw just one dot. by the time i pulled into my garage, it was gone. still gone this morning. maybe dust that is catching light from the side?

Could be an excellent Christmas for you.

Phantom PCM map of Italy?

This is a fairly common problem in the lcd displays that were used in 1997-2000 cars. The best explanation I've heard is that an impurity found its way between the layers during the manufacturing process and that over time it causes the layers to delaminate. I think this was so common that it led to the led to Porsche introducing the dot matrix display clusters in the 2001 and later models.

When I installed a 996 cluster in my Boxster, I bought a damaged 996 cluster at a greatly reduced price. That cluster had a flaw on the clock/oil level lcd. I tried several methods to fix it including heating it. I eventually swapped the good board from my Boxster an reprogrammed it to make it work.

If you cannot live with this problem, you will need to find a replacement cluster.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I have been there. Good luck.

Gauge Cluster Repair

If anyone needs more information about fixing or upgrading a 986 cluster, you can read about my trials and tribulations (and ultimate triumph) at this link.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

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I had the same problem on my 98 except mine was worse and was located between digits. I thought about changing out the cluster but it didn't really bother me. Over the next few months the defect started to get smaller until it disappeared completely. It healed itself about a year ago and still looks normal.

Thanks for the info. I'm happy to let it self-heal since I'm in the middle of replacing a seat belt buckle, clearing P0446, oil/filter change, flushing brakes and clutch. Then I'll catch my breath before addressing a slow oil drip (plug tube?). Haven't even drivin the darn car this year