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[pscocoa]

This post updates readers with the conclusion to a problem that started in early August 2007 and was only  resolved today at the technical level.
 
Brief background - I have a 2001 Omega Elite 3.2 with a Siemens Colour SatNav system. The colour display became erratic and degraded over a period of 2 weeks or so such that  there would be just a blank screen or a series of lines. However, like an old telly, if you banged the dash everything would be fine for an hour or so – if the screen had a job to do such as follow a route it seemed to be more reliable – that could have been my paranoia at that stage of course!!
 
I first took it up with a VX dealer who advised buy a new display £1200 and added “but the biggest problem is programming could be £200 extra for fitting”. I checked with 2 or 3 dealers and got a similar message. Then placed my dilemma before you guys on the Omega forum. Bottom line on the advice given is:
 
1.      German eBay is a source of cheaper used screens -  but be careful that the used replacement unit has been depaired from the original vehicle with Tech 2
2.      Some members had identified components that could be used in the screens but the down side being if I remove the screen from the car and tinker with it I may have no screen at all at the end of the exercise.
3.      Downgrade to a GID – possible as a last resort
 
Faced with these problems I wrote to VX HQ who guided me back to a dealer who first of all said they had no idea and suggested I took it to a local car audio place who allegedly had good sparks on site. These guys were nervy about doing anything but checked the connectors – still no joy.  
 
Therefore back to the dealer - £70 for investigation – result was:
1.      There is no test equipment for this problem and no advice from Vauxhall
2.      It could be either the NCDC 2013 radio or the sat nav aerial or the display itself
3.      Told me it was my gamble at £1200 for a new display or £1200 for a new NCDC2013 – but the dealer did take it up with Vauxhall Exec Customer service that I should not be in this position – everybody clueless as to the next step.
 
Back to Omega forum – advice from TheBoy suggested it was the screen. So I decide to gamble not with £1200 but with a German display at £200.
 
Next problem – part number – p/n in VX parts is different to that in car but seems to have same Siemens number. VX parts have no record of part number in my vehicle. By this time I know enough to be dangerous – and critical item is ident number KH or KJ on display. I know my ident number is KJ.
 
I then spot an eBay item - OmegaB/Zafira/Astra – cid display with KJ ident and the VX part number for my vehicle. First one is offered "as seen" with no comebacks – I do not bid – too risky – good decision – see later.
 
Then along comes another item with a one month guarantee off an Astra G – I bid and get it – delivered reasonably promptly from Berlin by FedEx.  
 
Take it to dealer – screen is inverted and says display safe – they cannot get tech 2 to work – initially ignored my comments that depairing was first required. No joy – they did not charge me.
 
Back to Omega forum – very kind offer of help from TheBoy – therefore round trip of 160 miles to his place one Saturday. He removes display safe straight away with tech 2 – but then we conclude that the grey connector (you have a grey and a black on colour sat nav – grey is for data and black for RGB) is faulty as it will not talk to Tech 2. I note from forum that others have had mixed experiences on buying off german ebay. Decide not to be beaten on this.
 
Display returned under guarantee to Germany – communications by email almost exclusively in German – and remember – at this stage the display is mine and if it goes missing its all down to me – do not skimp on the courier/postage.  
Unit returned about 2 weeks later – unclear as to exactly what has been done apart – “changed a panel” – was the closest I could get.
 
Take it to dealer it works they say but no colour map – doesn’t charge for fitting as now they have got it down to 15 minutes. At least I have a screen with all data – just no colour map.
 
Telephone to the German repairer – he says the black lead is not connected - back to forum and TheBoy confirms that black lead is RGB needed for map feed . Spoke to dealer – we can identify that black lead is a feed but we don’t know what data it feeds.  
 
Pitch up this morning at 8.15 at dealer and ask them just to check the black lead – 15 mins later a grumpy sparks comes back throws keys down and stomps off- reception call me over and whisper – we think its fixed!! It was the black lead. I now have a fully working screen – for how long on idea – I also have a spare unit now to consider having repaired.
 
Great!! But what is this forum really about.
 
1.      Without TheBoy I would not have had the correct information to make decisions/gamble on throwing more money at an unknown situation. And tremendous thanks are due to him
2.      Without the various pieces if info from the site I doubt if I would have ended up with German eBay and asking the important questions about depairing.
 
I thank everyone out there who has had a part to play in this mission which has cost a lot more in my time but was necessary to prove a very fundamental point which we should address with Vauxhall.
If there is no-one to take responsibility within Vauxhall as an organisation for Sat Nav screens apart from to sell you a new one then this must be dealt with. As colour screens become more popular maybe something will be done – but why is there no test bed for screens to identify faults which can be repaired in Germany for 200 -300 euros but no one here  in UK has a clue.  
I will be contacting VX about this problem – it has not put me off Vauxhall – indeed I bought a new Signum this week and will be keeping the Omega. Character forming exerience.

[wakeyomega]

Great News, your tenacity has paid off. (I'd been wondering where you had got to).
When I fixed mine with a replacement LCD panel it was also driven by the fact that i didn't want to fork out £1,200 quid - quite a motivator!
I still believe your original issue is due to a faulty LCD panel, and they ARE quite straight forward to change, however as they cost about £150, you wouldn't have saved much anyway.

Well Done, Pat

[pscocoa]

Thanks Pat - I do want to push Vauxhall to address issues such as this in future - there are a few small German companies who repair these things - why is it not possible for Vauxhall to have a test unit of some description here - as I reported before AEL who do all VX electrics do not touch Sat Nav etc. It is a crazy experince to have to go to a VX dealer on a big item and they do not have a clue what to do. Take today - if I had not pushed them on the RGB cable - I might well have been sending the unit back to Germany again as faulty. There is a major organisational issue here for repairs on this stuff. Perhaps it is now resolved on the newer units - will check when I have a spare month.

On the panel issue I will now open up the old one and may have a go.

cheers

[Golfbuddy]

Well done on getting it fixed. I'm sure that I would have bottled out long before you did. Good result.  

Why not repost in the 'General Chat' area. That way more people may read about it.

[Jimbob]

Well done for your perseverance  

[VXL V6]

Good news! I would guess that Vx would have been more 'helpful' had you spent £1200 with them but as you say, hardly anyone has any experience with this kit.

I have the same screen in my car and the dealer that I bought the car from upgraded the GID to a CID for approximately £500, I wish now i'd asked to buy the GID back as well so that I can downgrade it when I sell the car.

Anyway, you've got it all sorted now at a fraction of the VX price and you have a spare screen that hopefully can be repaired!

 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Would you consider selling the old one to me as is?

[TheBoy]

hardly anyone has any experience with this kit.

I'm beginning to think I know as much as any Vx person on these. Done a few now...

[pscocoa]

Sorry not to have replied but been testing our new Sgnum 1.9 cdti in Cornwall - 600 miles almost to a tank - impressive though not used to manuals these days and keep missing first.

Anyway back to Omega

1. Reply to "Wakeyomega" - I have started to dismantle my original CID screen now - can you tell me how you dealt with the three metal strips that connect to the body of the display housing when you fit it back into the car? - it looks as though these have to be resoldered after removing the top panel. I don't want to risk breaking the solder at this stage if there is an easier method. It is a strange set up with the black plastic retainer - do the strips pull out of the retainer? - looks a pretty solid fit to me.

2. Reply to MarksDTMcalib - I am going to try and get to the bottom of this problem with Vauxhall - if the solution is as Wakeypmega has set out then I do want VX to work with us to provide fair solutions to mega expensive repairs where there appears to be no justification. Therefore I will try and get this unit fixed - I could send it to Germany for 400 euros or so fixed price repair but having gone so far with this I feel obliged to continue.

all the best

[Andy B]

.... - 600 miles almost to a tank -  ......

That's impressive! That'd be almost a tank & a half for my Astra and nearly 2 for my Omega!!  

So you're the one who bought a Sigma!!        

[pscocoa]

ha ha - I have wanted a Signum for some time - yes I have read the jibes - but having gone through Cavalier, Carlton and Omega it had to be tried - would like to add the Vectra but my wife doesn't like the shape - I think she meant the Vectra and not me!!

I have already  put down a marker with VX about the the Dual Mass Flywheel on the 1.9 cdti. Very impressed with the Signum spec and economy  but obviously does not drive as well as the Elite 3.2.

[wakeyomega]

1. Reply to "Wakeyomega" - I have started to dismantle my original CID screen now - can you tell me how you dealt with the three metal strips that connect to the body of the display housing when you fit it back into the car? - it looks as though these have to be resoldered after removing the top panel. I don't want to risk breaking the solder at this stage if there is an easier method. It is a strange set up with the black plastic retainer - do the strips pull out of the retainer? - looks a pretty solid fit to me.

MMm - heres the rub, its about 2-3 years since I repaired my CID, and I'm getting older by the minute so memory cells are fading! I certainly had to unsolder / solder  the three metal strips, but they are so large it was straight forward (I think I used an unsoldering tool for ease, can be bought from maplins). I can vaugely remember the plastic retainer but if you send me photos it will all spring back to life (which is more than I can say for me!). If you PM me I'll send you my email address. What I do remember is that I had it in/out the car and dissasembed/ reassembeld at least half a dozen times and could do it almost blindfold at the end!

Pat

[STMO123]

Inspiring story! Well done friend

[pscocoa]

Today managed to desolder the three pronged connector on my old screen and removed the top panels to get down to the tft screen which - as reported by other members is a Sharp LQ5AW126 which is no longer in production - but is replaced by LQ5AW136. Took me about 30 mins without ever having done this kind of job before. This is the usual suspect for faulty CDI unit.

If interested the wiring diagrams and project photos are available (narrative in German but puictures informative - you need to scroll down quite a way to get to the visual stuff)  at the following site:

http://mitglied.lycos.de/hardwarekiller03/dvbtG.htm

the Sharp parts can be bought from the UK section of:

http://www.sharpsme.com/Page.aspx/europe/en/584a4758-fe34-4f95-a54d-e3b92ca554fa/


And that is next step for Monday !!

[Weds]

If interested the wiring diagrams and project photos are available (narrative in German but puictures informative - you need to scroll down quite a way to get to the visual stuff)  at the following site:

http://mitglied.lycos.de/hardwarekiller03/dvbtG.htm

Time to break out Google translator...