Mondeo MK4.5 MCA radio/navigation blank screen.

Hello,

I apologize for posting in English on a German forum, but my German is really, really bad(from Sweden).

I'm usually active on talkford, but I haven't found anyone with enough expertise to help me with this problem.

I've had issues with the MCA display flickering and showing artifacts before, but since about a week I get no image at all anymore. Sure it might be broken and needs replacing but I really want to look at every possible solution before buying something else (or a replacement).

I have removed the battery twice to see if something needed resetting. Before the reset, everything worked but no image on display (even though it lights up). After reset, nothing works, maybe because I cannot enter the radio PIN on the display. The heating seems to be stuck at like 28-30C and the buttons and wheels for controlling the temperature doesn't do anything anymore (they worked before, but you had to guess the temp since you couldn't read it of the display). The radio worked as well.

I took the entire unit out and put it inside to heat up and dry up (if there was any condensation) but it hasn't helped. I've opened it up and I can't see any issues at least. No loose connections or traces of moisture on the chips.

I read the DTC's with ForScan today, but I'm unsure if the adapter I have is good enough to get everything. I've attached the saved information to the post.

Any suggestions or tips would be so very much appreciated, because I'm so stuck right now and a replacement unit is very expensive (if I can even find one).
And we really need the car at Christmas...

If I have missed any information please let me know and I'll append it asap.

The most important thing right now is to get the AC-controller working. The display/radio/navigation is seconday.

Zitat von Ossi

Er hat die Antwort https://mk4-forum.denkdose.de/user/6347-go4it/

Vielen dank!

Thanks for answering Endurance.

I'm starting to think maybe it's the LCD that has failed, since everything still worked until I removed the battery. If the RAM was bad, then I'm thinking that the radio and AC wouldn't have worked.

Zitat von Go4IT

I fear there is no short answer to this. I ran into the same trouble a while ago and it looks as if there are several possible faults which may cause this kind of issue.

What i can tell is, that it is completely untelated to the mainboard (and also the mainboard RAMs) and only located on the graphicsboard.

I have two such defect units at hand, one from an McA and one from an NX. I spend many many hours of searching, measuring and component swapping, mostly without luck. On the MCA it looks like it was just a defect capacitor, shorting the converter of the LCD voltage boost regulator output. But this is just a hunch.

Unfortunately there are no spare boards available on the market, especially not for the MCA+ with video input.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer me!
Then I'll probably not spend any more time on it, too bad
Considering the prices for a used replacement unit, I will probably go with a separate AC controller and then add another stereo. Don't know if it's better to look for a third party unit or go with the cheaper stereos from another Mondeo though. If anyone has any thoughts on this, please feel free to let me know
Would be nice to keep the reverse camera though as it really helps when caravanning.

Edit: Do you know which capacitor on the MCA? Might give it a go replacing that in that case, before giving up.

Edit2: I've also lost Convers+ but I'm guessing that has to do with the head unit not working.

Is there some website where you can search for used car parts in Germany, except Ebay?
Here in Sweden we have Bildelsbasen.se, I'm wondering if you guys have something similar.

Zitat von Go4IT

Around these chips is the boost converter for the base LCD voltages:

Measure these voltages:

Thanks so much again Go4IT!

I'm guessing it's possible to power the MCA outside the car? By applying voltage to the relevant pins on the quadlock connector.

Edit: at the same time, the LCD seems to get power since it lights up, but maybe that is separate from actually showing stuff on the screen.

LCD+ is 12V

LCD is 2.4V

5V is 5V

Not sure if/what you wanted me to measure between LCD+ and -?

Thanks again!

Edit:
So I put the head unit back together again and plugged it in to the car. Same thing, white blank screen.
Then I put in my CD with the 2015 MCA update in and after a while the Convers+ menu came back, still greyed out though since I cannot input the radio code.
The screen started to respond to button pushes (the ones around the screen) by trying to change to the relevant screen I suppose.
I really wish there was a way to input the code without the touchscreen...

Thanks so much yet again for your time and effort!

Oscilloscope is something I don't own unfortunately, will have to look into borrowing one maybe.
I have done SMD soldering on one or two occasions before, but not extensively.

With Christmas tomorrow this will take a while, I'll report back when I've checked of your list here.

Just a quick update.

I found a guy in Poland selling parts from his MCA head unit, so I bought the graphics card from him. I'm hoping this will solve my issue.

I will try and repair my broken one in any case, but I won't be in the same rush/panic ?

Small update again .

Got the graphics card today, installed it, reprogrammed the BCM back to support the AC controller and display.

Now I have the correct backlight but the screen is still not showing any information...

But, the AC controller is responding and I can turn the screen on and off. There are no lights on the controller buttons though. Now I've disconnected the battery again over night and I'll resume tomorrow.

Still open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Zitat von Go4IT

Well, this is unexpected... I would suggest to inspect the keyboard PCB for fluid/corrosion

Yes it was.

I've already gone over every millimeter of all the PCBs, so it's probably not that (unless it's impossible to see with the naked eye).

When powered on separate from the car, should any text be visible on the display?

Edit: I did try to run the 2015 MCA upgrade, that's how I got Convers+ back (even though its still greyed out). Might it have to do with that?

Edit 2: No difference today unfortunately.

And now I get this. It doesn't show up at first when plugging it in and I haven't been able to figure out what makes it show these lines, but I don't think they show up unless I plug in the AC connectors in the black box controller.
This is driving me a bit crazy now. And I can't shake the feeling that maybe something else is wrong.