Radios and displays are married together so 99% of the time it’s cheaper to get a complete radio and clock from eBay for £50 ish than have a main dealer decode and recode a new clock into your system so most people either put a aftermarket stereo in and keep the clock area as it is or upgrade to a higher model of cd30 mp3, such as a cd40 usb or if you go to the bigger screen then a cd70 navi is an option, basically as long as the screen and radio match each other anything from a vectra c, astra h, zafira b or corsa will fit and it’ll be plug n play, possibly the only other things you’ll need extra will be a gps Ariel £20 ish, a bigger cowl for the top of the dash £20-30 and a updated gps maps card @£25 ish, oh and a usb aux in for down in gear lever area with lead for £20 ish.

 

One reason I don't really want to go down the road of changing the whole thing is that the current head unit and display do have an Aux-in which I gather they don't all do. Also, I know the radio and CD work fine on the existing unit, which they might not on a replacement unit. I don't want to swap good for possibly bad. I think I might try a 'third way' which is to obtain another display and then transfer only the LCD itself from the 'obtained' unit into my original display module, if it is possible to do that. I haven't looked inside but there will be a PCB with a chip or chips on it and one of those chips will have the 'marriage certificate' for the head unit stored inside it, so if I can keep my original display module PCB and graft a working LCD onto it, that should work. There is an outside chance that the cause of the fault is actually on the control PCB but more usually, missing segments or pixel lines on LCD displays are due to the failure of internal connections within the LCD itself.

Does anyone have good photos of one of these display modules in a dismantled state?

 

Have you thought about using one of these -

 

Have you thought about using one of these -

No, I'm one of those luddites who only uses phones as actual phones so I have no need / no use for Bluetooth. I just want the existing console display to work without any bits missing from the characters.

My interest in the AUX input is for another purpose.

 

Let's suppose I go for the option of replacement of the head unit and the display as a matched set, is the head unit in any way coded to the car? Or will it 'just work' if I swap a CD30 MP3 and matched display into my car?

 

A matched pair will work provided it is from a full CANBUS vehicle but it really isn't difficult to divorce the existing display and marry in a replacement. You do of course need both security codes.

The issue with just putting a matched pair in is that it will have a different VIN code stored, which in itself is not an issue but ideally should be changed to match the vehicle 😉.

 

A matched pair will work provided it is from a full CANBUS vehicle but it really isn't difficult to divorce the existing display and marry in a replacement. You do of course need both security codes.

God, this is an absolute nightmare. Who knew two duff segments on a clock display would be so hard to fix. I'm coming more and more around to the way of thinking I might just try to fix the actual display (I am an electronics tech by trade, and usually we don't attempt to repair faults within LCD displays because it is more cost effective just to replace them). I am beginning to wonder if it would be worth my trying after all. Secondary to that is the possibility of physically transferring the chip which contains the faulty display's ID into a replacement display, I have the tools and the soldering skills to do that but the 'surrogate' display would need to be absolutely identical inside, ideally the same version of the same printed circuit board, for this to be feasible. If I just buy a random display from a car the same age I won't know what's inside until I look inside it.

When you say 'it isn't really difficult' I presume you mean for someone who has the relevant high-end Vauxhall diagnostic / programming tool. I don't unfortunately. When buying a replacement from a breaker it would be unusual, I expect, to get the required details of the donor car along with the display so even having the diagnostic gear would not help if those details did not come with the replacement display.

 

One question which didn't really get answered yet, are the head unit and display pair also coded to the car, or do they have a security code which needs to be input when the power has been lost and restored? I'm just wondering why the replacement radio / display having a different VIN code stored could be a future problem - maybe if someone has to request the security code, they get given the one for the radio which was originally fitted, rather than the one fitted now?

 

As this is proving top be a bit of a ball ache why not get one of these and cover the original or get something similar that will fit in front of the original.

runnerequipment Car Clock - Solar Powered 24-Hour Car Clock - Automatic Switch On And Off, Clearly Visible Day And Night : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

runnerequipment Car Clock - Solar Powered 24-Hour Car Clock - Automatic Switch On And Off, Clearly Visible Day And Night : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

www.amazon.co.uk

 

Thanks for all the ideas - background to all this is that when I put the deposit down for the car I did so on condition that the display would be fixed, but when I went to pick the car up two weeks later I was told that a replacement display was on back order from Vauxhall. I suspected I was being fobbed off so as you have seen, started to investigate the possibility of fixing or replacing it myself. In the meantime I gave the car seller another nudge to remind them about it and they said that as they got Corsas in all the time, would I be happy to accept an identical matched head unit and display from another car?

Well, I wanted the problem fixed and I wasn't bothered if the replacement was no newer than my existing one as long as I didn't lose the AUX function, so they whipped the head and display out of another 2013 Corsa, put it in mine and it works, all very efficiently and as hoped / expected, no charge. It did make me wonder about what they would have been happy to pinch from my car if some other customer badly wanted it and I feel kind of bad that what was my problem will now be someone else's, but ultimately Vauxhall are to blame for making all of this so stupidly difficult. Code the radios, yes, like they used to, but code the head and the display as a matched pair? Really? I get the feeling they would have coded the individual head, side, tail, stop, fog and reverse light bulbs to the car as well if they possibly could.

Maybe that's coming...?

 

Code the radios, yes, like they used to, but code the head and the display as a matched pair? Really?

If you think that is **** don't ever buy a BMW you cannot even put an alternator on one of those without using the computer to tell the car to talk to it.

 

I do think it's ****, and no I won't ever buy a Beemer anyway. It sounds like the sort of car which would demand a dealer reset for a bulb-out warning even after you have replaced the bulb. I hope I'm kidding.

Seriously though, I went with another Vaux, common or garden, always ten of them parked in any large car park model because I thought the infrastructure to do anything which might be necessary would be out there and easy to get hold of. I think my next car might be an original Mini or an Escort Mk1 or Mk2, purely electro mechanical, definitely no coding, ECU or any other other fancy electronic stuff.

 

. I think my next car might be an original Mini or an Escort Mk1 or Mk2, purely electro mechanical, definitely no coding, ECU or any other other fancy electronic stuff.

I hope you have tens of thousands in the bank as that's what it'll cost to get a good one.

 

I know, I had a couple of MK2 Escorts back in the day when they were just Run Of The Mill motors as common as Corsa Ds are now. My other half's sister's husband buys cars like that (Minis, Escort MK1s etc) and fully restores them then sells them - I couldn't do that if I had invested so much personal time in something, I'd have to keep it.

Anyway drifting OT now...