So I have a 2009 147 Monza with an instrument binnacle where the central LCD display has bled - a common problem. I though the display from my "spare" 2008 Monza would be the same but it has a single ribbon connector and not the twin ribbon connector that my 2009 147 has. I checked a mate's 2004 147 and it had a single connector.
Why does Alfa do this? Both binnacles are made by VDO Spain but do have different part numbers.
Does anyone have a good LCD display with the twin connectors? I'm willing to pay a fair price for one. I can source a new twin connector display out of Europe but it is expensive and will take a while to get here.
I know I could just swap the instrument binnacles but I would be adding 25,000km to the mileage - I understand you can wind the odometer forward but not back.
Given that it is now almost nine months since I posed this question, I should advise how I resolved my issues with the central LCD display...!
Firstly I discovered that there were two types of display, of course. My "spare" 2008 147 Monza with the single ribbon connector was a manual car. So when I swapped the instruments over to my Selespeed equipped car, I had no gear selector indicator – I had to figure it out myself! It was not always that intuitive.
So that was the first revelation – there are different displays for Selespeed and manual cars. I guess that makes sense.
The LCD displays that you can buy out of Germany are for the 156 and not 147 as advertised. The displays are too large – ask me how I know!
Taking out the display for the instruments of another 147 Selespeed should work, but the connector clips are fragile and often break, which means the screen lights up but there is no actual LCD display. A lot of trial and error - a big shout out to John of J and S Automotive – who figured it out but got an instrument specialist to actually do the delicate work and I had a functioning instrument display. Unfortunately I also had a non-working speedometer. So back to the specialist who couldn't find the fault – this was over the Christmas holidays. So I left the car with John for a few days and with the help from another instrument binnacle lying around he managed to figure out how to get the speedometer working properly.
It might have taken six months and several visits to John's workshop but I finally had a fully functioning central LCD display. :)