Don't Toss That Defective Digital Display; He'll Fix It!
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If you’ve got a digital display that goes bad, it can cost you thousands of dollars. Instead, you can call Dwayne Ditz, who will repair and reprogram defective instrument clusters that dealers would normally replace. The difference can mean thousands of dollars out of pocket.
“I’ve had clients who’ve spent more than $50,000 on a new vehicle and the instrument cluster fails in the first year,” says Ditz, whose company is called Prospeedo. “The warranty may cover replacement, but the dealer can only put a new one in with zero time/miles. Sell it, and it will be red-flagged and legally must be sold as TMU (true mileage unknown) and THU (true hours unknown). This isn’t about ‘rollback’; it’s about the owner having a right to the information that is stored there.”
Instruments repaired by Prospeedo have their mileage and other information restored. Ditz notes that most dealers don’t have the tools or knowledge to retrieve true hours and restore them in new or repaired instrument clusters. A growing number of dealers now send new clusters to Prospeedo for restoration of data before they install them.
Even without considering resale value, Ditz says most instruments or instrument clusters can be repaired for far less than the replacement cost. He offers a complete warranty on the repaired part for the life of the vehicle. With 24 years of experience fixing digital speedometers and other equipment, Ditz has seen it all. He works on everything from cars and trucks to snowmobiles, quads, motorcycles, tractors and heavy equipment.
“I got started in 1998 offering digital speedometer and hour meter repair,” says Ditz. “Farmer customers told me they were having serious issues with gauges not working, displays not lighting up and the tractor not moving.”
Ditz was able to fix about 98 percent of the problems. He found a common problem was a corrupted EPROM or flash file caused by a battery boost to a dead battery. Other problems include failure of cold solder joints and ribbons to bad chips, microprocessors failing, or defective plastic stepper motors that drive the gauges.
“There are a multitude of reasons why a digital hour meter or speedometer instrument cluster can fail,” says Ditz. “Although I can’t fix all the problems, I can repair most problems found in the industry.
“Before you have a display or a cluster replaced, give me a call and tell me what the problems are,” says Ditz. “I don’t charge for anything I can’t fix, beyond shipping.”
If he can’t find a replacement part or rebuild it himself, he may have the parts manufactured. That’s the case with a $3 relay needed for the control board in 2005 to 2007 F-250 Ford trucks.
“The defective relay system is built into the board, but the company that made them is no longer in business,” says Ditz. “I am now in the process of having relays made that will fit the same socket.”
Difficulty with finding parts for older vehicles is the reason Ditz doesn’t work with vehicles made prior to 1992. He says that even parts for 1992 to 1996 are becoming hard to find.
“I keep 500 to 600 instrument boards on hand at all times,” says Ditz. “There are thousands of circuit boards with digital displays built into them. Every week I see something new.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Prospeedo, 3829 12 St. N.E., Calgary, Alta., Canada T2E 6M5 (ph 403 809-3903; toll free 800 277-9269; prospeedo@telus.net; www.prospeedo.com).
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Don t Toss That Defective Digital Display; He ll Fix It! FARM HOME Cars If you’ve got a digital display that goes bad it can cost you thousands of dollars Instead you can call Dwayne Ditz who will repair and reprogram defective instrument clusters that dealers would normally replace The difference can mean thousands of dollars out of pocket “I’ve had clients who’ve spent more than $50 000 on a new vehicle and the instrument cluster fails in the first year ” says Ditz whose company is called Prospeedo “The warranty may cover replacement but the dealer can only put a new one in with zero time/miles Sell it and it will be red-flagged and legally must be sold as TMU true mileage unknown and THU true hours unknown This isn’t about ‘rollback’; it’s about the owner having a right to the information that is stored there ” Instruments repaired by Prospeedo have their mileage and other information restored Ditz notes that most dealers don’t have the tools or knowledge to retrieve true hours and restore them in new or repaired instrument clusters A growing number of dealers now send new clusters to Prospeedo for restoration of data before they install them Even without considering resale value Ditz says most instruments or instrument clusters can be repaired for far less than the replacement cost He offers a complete warranty on the repaired part for the life of the vehicle With 24 years of experience fixing digital speedometers and other equipment Ditz has seen it all He works on everything from cars and trucks to snowmobiles quads motorcycles tractors and heavy equipment “I got started in 1998 offering digital speedometer and hour meter repair ” says Ditz “Farmer customers told me they were having serious issues with gauges not working displays not lighting up and the tractor not moving ” Ditz was able to fix about 98 percent of the problems He found a common problem was a corrupted EPROM or flash file caused by a battery boost to a dead battery Other problems include failure of cold solder joints and ribbons to bad chips microprocessors failing or defective plastic stepper motors that drive the gauges “There are a multitude of reasons why a digital hour meter or speedometer instrument cluster can fail ” says Ditz “Although I can’t fix all the problems I can repair most problems found in the industry “Before you have a display or a cluster replaced give me a call and tell me what the problems are ” says Ditz “I don’t charge for anything I can’t fix beyond shipping ” If he can’t find a replacement part or rebuild it himself he may have the parts manufactured That’s the case with a $3 relay needed for the control board in 2005 to 2007 F-250 Ford trucks “The defective relay system is built into the board but the company that made them is no longer in business ” says Ditz “I am now in the process of having relays made that will fit the same socket ” Difficulty with finding parts for older vehicles is the reason Ditz doesn’t work with vehicles made prior to 1992 He says that even parts for 1992 to 1996 are becoming hard to find “I keep 500 to 600 instrument boards on hand at all times ” says Ditz “There are thousands of circuit boards with digital displays built into them Every week I see something new ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Prospeedo 3829 12 St N E Calgary Alta Canada T2E 6M5 ph 403 809-3903; toll free 800 277-9269; prospeedo@telus net; www prospeedo com
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