The new Freightliner info center display is installed! - Page 2

John_Canfield · 09-18-2005, 01:42 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by MrTransistor:
But the main problem still exists, one light for most all malfunctions. Not safe in my opinion! Kind of leaves Freightliner open for some serious liability problems. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Mark - my Horizon has maybe twenty warning lights arrayed in two rows. It sounds like there was an about-face between our two model years with instrumentation. Other than the formely useless FTL Info Center, I have no complaints about my dash. In fact, I think Winnie designed a dandy panel. Everything is eay to see (previous exception noted.) If I had one warning light telling me to go to the formely useless Info Center, I think I *would* be steamed

I personally doubt that this would be an NTSB issue, but as we all know, anybody can sue anybody for anything and I don't know what would qualify for an action by the gov't. Since FTL (read that as Damiler Chrysler) has very deep pockets, they could probably easily wear a litigant down.

LK23 · 09-18-2005, 04:14 PM

John,

Sorry, but I still don't understand why you need to drill holes to mount the new display. It appears to mount in the same hole as the old display. Please explain.

MrTransistor · 09-18-2005, 07:12 PM

Hi John,
My panel has 24 squares and 10 are blank (they have color and a light inside that is tested when the ignition is turned on). Of the 14 that have labeling, 2 are ˜TURN SIGNAL˜, one is ˜HIGH BEAM˜, one is ˜LOW AIR˜, one is ˜PARK BREAK˜, one is ˜WAIT TO START˜, the infamous ˜CHECK INFO CTR˜, and one is ˜CRUISE ON˜. The remaining 6 are supposed to be warning lights but I have never seen any of them activated (knock on wood). They are ˜STOP ENG˜, ˜CHECK ENG˜, ˜CHECK TRANS˜, ˜ABS˜, ˜ENG PROT˜, and ˜SHIFT INHIBIT˜.

All other errors and warnings are displayed on the ˜INFO CENTER˜ like ˜LOW ECM VOLTAGE˜, ˜LOW FUEL˜, ˜LOW BATTERY VOLTAGE˜, etc. Once you drop to one quarter tank of fuel, the ˜CHECK INFO CTR˜ light comes on and stays on till you refuel. This means that any other problem that occurs and is displayed on the ˜INFO CENTER˜ has no way to notify the driver. And I can't imagine driving down the road staring at that unreadable display after the light comes on. I seem to recall that the Journey used all if not close to all of the available boxes for such things as ˜LOW VOLTAGE˜, ˜LOW OIL˜, ˜LOW OIL PRESURE˜, ˜HIGH TEMP˜, ˜LOW COOLENT˜, and others I can't remember now.

Does your 05 have these items restored to the instrument panel? Maybe someone with an 03 Journey can tell us what items are on their panel. I know I found a picture on the Web of the panel for the Journey and the Horizon back when this problem was ˜ticking me off˜, and there was a big difference in the information on the two panels. I may try to find it again.

John_Canfield · 09-19-2005, 08:19 AM

Rex - I wasn't very clear.. the display panel itself is exactly the same as the original. All you need to do is to remove the bezel and rubber gasket from the replacement and throw them away. Behind the display is a metal plate that blocks access to the right-hand set of mounting screws. I need to take the dash covers off this week when I wire in the new side-view camera; at that time I will take a picture of the mounting gyrations.

Mark - pardon - I misunderstood. I thought you were saying you had one warning lamp that pointed everything to the display. I have analog trans temp, coolant temp, voltage, oil pressure, front/rear air pressure, fuel level and turbo boost. That is probably the gauge set you have as well.

You are correct that the info center must be consulted for fault details. I apparently have the same annunciator module that you have. I do have the infamous "check info center" light.

Well - anyway a moot point for me since I can now actually read the info center. As Martha Stewart would say, "that's a good thing!"

MrTransistor · 09-19-2005, 02:39 PM

Hi John,
Well, ˜a good thing' might be for Freightliner to issue a recall and to reimburse all those who have chipped out for the new display.

LK23 · 09-23-2005, 09:42 AM

I just ordered a new Info Center Display. It is interesting that there is so much demand for the new display that the manufacturer set up a dedicated phone line to handle orders of this specific part.

I agree, Freightliner should handle this by warranty.

John_Canfield · 09-23-2005, 11:29 AM

Couldn't agree more Rex. I just took some pictures of the two holes I drilled to gain screwdriver access to the two right-hand mounting screws. I'll try to get them on the web site tonight.

smlranger · 09-23-2005, 01:44 PM

Regarding the VMSpc...I'm not quite ready to pass judgement but it doesn't seem to work well with laptops with only USB ports. I have had difficulty from the start..it will not work with my Dell 1150 with the cables provided by Silverleaf. I have been instructed to get a Belkin serial-to-usb adapter and plan to try that (the serial/USB adaptor they sent will not work).

I will give that a try and see. The info is helpful and you can customize your display.