Restoring a degraded Prado 90 series multi meter; Part 1

A functioning 3 eyed multi meter completes the Land Cruiser 90 dashboard

Restoring a degraded Prado 90 series multi meter will not only save you money but it will also bring back that ‘complete’ feeling to the car’s dashboard. A three eyed functioning multi meter will bring glory back to the dash as one member of the Prado group once remarked. The following is the process of restoring a 1997 Prado 90 series as described by Mr KG.

With the right materials at hand, you can get finish Restoring a degraded Prado 90 series multi meter in less than 2 hours. Below are things you would need:

Some of the items used to repair Mr KG's Prado multi meter

1. Philips head screwdriver (the shorter… the better)
2. Alcohol swabs (yup…from your first aid kit)
3. Pieces of polarized films (at least 2 pieces enough to cover the entire meter or several smaller pieces)
4. New utility knife blades
5. A hot gun with glue stick (just in case)

Location of the screws and the back cover of the multi meter

Obviously you would need to remove the entire cover of the multi meter to get to the actual ‘glass panel’ (LCD screen) that has the degraded polarizing film. Mr KG struggled with the external cover initially. There are only two screws on the side which holds the covers together. This is where a short screw driver would be handy. Unscrew the two side screws and slide the back cover towards the windscreen. The is a power supply connector for the internal unit and several other screws to undo before you can completely remove the inside unit. Here is a TIP: take photo of each screw or component before you remove them.

Getting to the glass panel of the multi meter requires removing more screws. Unfortunately for Mr KG, almost all of the plastic ‘female’ part of the screw attachment broke when he was unscrewing the screws. This is probably due to the degradation of the plastic (age perhaps). Don’t worry anyways, this is where the hot gun with glue stick comes in later on. More on this later on.

The hardest and most time consuming work. Be careful not to break the glass panel/ LCD screen

Mr KG used some alcohol swabs to help remove some of the stains

It seems there is a way to completely detach the ‘glass’ piece from the internal unit. But if you are unsure, you can work around it. Just be more careful. With just the bare utility knife blade, slowly and gently scrap away the old and degraded film. This is probably the longest and most tedious part of the restoration work. With most of the old film removed, the alcohol swabs can then be used to remove any other residue. Next up is getting the polarized films onto the glass panel/ LCD screen of the multi meter.

#pradomultimeter
#landcruisermultimeter
#pradocompass

 To be continued....