When vacuuming the top of the dashboard today, I accidentally swiped the nozzle over the LCD screen on my Navi and now I have a very small vertical scratch going down the middle of the screen.

Is anyone aware of a product that will disguise the scratch?

Thanks,
Paul

 

I am Glad that I am not the only dumba$$ to do this.
I did the exact same thing with the vacuum nozzole to my Nav screen. I an not aware of any fix for this I asked the service advisor about a new cover for the screen. His reply was they replace the whole thing at a cost of $1500. I told him I was just asking I can live with it . When I have the Nav on I can't see the 1 inch scratch its only when the car is off. I don't know if the service advisor was correct on the cost or not but I don't know another fix. I was crying when I did it the nozzole just sliped off the dash. I had cleaned the car many times & was very careful not to hit the screen. I know the pain you had when this happened. Like I said I can't see mine when the Nav is on. That is all the time when I am in the car almost 2yrs now.

 

I believe the response from people with scratched LCD screen on their PDAs were positive. You may go onto sites like www.brighthand.com and search the forums there for scratchd screens. You may want to just try it on a small area of your screen before proceeding. Remember to spray on the cloth not the screen. Also make sure that is it a soft real cotton cloth or you will cause more scratches. I have not try it so please don't hold me to it.

 

Although I don't know what the replacement cost of a navi unit is, I will say that it seems sensible that the entire display unit would need to be replaced--it's not as if there's a clear plastic overlay or cover over the actual screen. Keep in mind that it's a touch screen display, so I can't imagine that it could still function if there was some hard plastic screen protector over it.

Not a great example, but--if you scratch a Palm Pilot screen and wanted to get it fixed or replaced, guess what? You would have to replace the entire display--you can't just say, "Well, just pop off the glass and replace it with another one..."--it doesn't work that way...

Tony

 

Probably the cheapest way to replace the screen:

The LCD touch screen display is made by Sharp Electronics. If you remove the navi display and open the case (also might require removing a circuit board) it will have a sharp part #. Search for this part # on the web and you might find a electronics store that will sell you the display only.

 

Good suggestion but I'd place a couple caveats here: this *definitely* will void any warranty service for your navi if they find out you did it and this should only be attempted by someone who is comfortable/knowledgeable with disassembling electronics.

 

FTM,
Sounds like we both did the same thing. It's good to see I'm not alone.

The scratch is only visible when Navi is off for me as well.

I'll try the PDA solution noted above, and post my results.
Thanks,
Paul

 

Yes the touch function still work with an extra plastic protector layer over the screen. I have a plastic protector over my screen on since i got the car in 98 and the touch screen function works fine.

Kenny

 

if you want to disguise it, just scratch the rest of the screen

 

I wasn't talking about putting one of those clear thin plastic screen protectors like they have for Palm Pilots, but the fact that the factory navi screen/display comes with no such protection. What I was trying to get at was that the display does not have some sort of additional protection on top of it. If you scratch it, you have to replace the entire screen module (possibly involving removing it from the circuit board as someone else noted).

That you put a plastic protector over the touch screen belies the fact that one would not want to look forward to replacing the touch screen if it did get scratched without such protection.

Tony

 

First of all, i got a 99 TL and the screen doesn't have the fingerprint protection. I put the plastic on to prevent from cleaning the screen every time i use it and not thinking about that it also prevent from scratching the screen. And I am glad that i put one on. It did save me many times from scratching. Just a bonus....

As far as factory protection plastic, if they don't provide one, then just make one, only take a few second.... and it save you a day or two from replacing the screen (especially once your guarantee is over)

If you have one, that scratch wouldn't be there

 

Bigmonkey70 how do you make or get this plastic protection?

 

Yeah,
Where can you get this stuff.....The biggest piece I can come up with is 2"x 3"