Finishing up self-repair of the Prado 90 series multi meter Part 2 (end)

A clean Prado 90 multi meter LCD screen

The last part of Mr KG’s self-repair of the Prado 90 series multi meter involves pasting the new polarized films on BOTH sides of the glass panel (LCD screen). Click here if you have missed the first part of restoring a degraded Prado 90 series multi meter. Putting on the polarized films needs to be done correctly to make sure you get the right contrast.

Some of the things needed for the repair. Note the use of hand phone polarized films (cheaper than the large ones).

Before you go about pasting the polarized films, you need to align the two films on both sides of the glass panel correctly so that it makes the correct contrast. The easiest way to do this is to fix one piece of the polarize film on one side of the glass panel and play around with the film for the other side to the correct contrast. This is how you do it:

1. Make sure you remove all residue or dust on one side of the glass panel (let’s just assume it’s the side that faces outwards)
2. Slowly paste one piece of the polarize sheet over this side. If you have a piece that is large enough to cover the entire glass panel (best option), do so and then trim off the sides with a sharp blade. If all you have are small polarize sheets (the ones meant for hand phones), then you would want to position them carefully so that the ‘joints’ are hidden from view once the assembly is completed)
3. Bring the entire assembly to the car and reconnect the power supply. 
4. Power up the car. Now, try placing the other sheet of polarized film on the other side of the screen. Try using both sides of the polarized sheet, rotating them to different angles until you can visually see the LCD working.

Once the polarized sheets are aligned correctly on both sides, you should be able to see the LCD working

Mr KG’s car is approaching 20 years old. Although it still runs like a dream, there are obvious wear and tear. One very obvious wear is the degraded plastic parts. After all these years, some plastic parts have turn brittle, prone to breaking. Almost all screw points made of plastic on the back of the multi meter gave way when it was unscrewed. While there are great videos on Youtube showing how these can be repaired, Mr KG found it much easier to just use the hot glue gun.

Hot glue gun used to fix the broken plastic screw holes. Hope it will hold

So, there you go. One tried and tested way of repairing a degraded Toyota Prado 90’s dashboard multi meter. If you have comments, suggestions or some input on this, feel free to drop a note in the comment section.