Display has now gone weird

[Dajoca]

Hi again. I have just today looked at the car for the first time after it broke down again last week with no battery charging taking place. I was aiming to put a test on the alternator / regulator to see if it was something simple.

Got in the car and saw that in my absence the mileometer had gone from 130k to 650k miles?

Turned the ignition key, all of the dials went haywire, there were 6 warning beeps from the dash and the LCD display looked like this.

Here's a link just in case the image is blocked.

http://1vision.org.uk/car_trouble/h2ad87e28#h14ad6689

I suspect that even if it is a simple fault, it will cost an arm and a leg to diagnose, so it is very likely that the car is going to be put out with the recycling this time.

Any clues?

TIA.

Edited 12 February, 2011 by Dajoca

[Raf_]

Have you checked the alternator cable and the fuse box on top of the battery? I had all sorts of lights on the dash beeping etc when mine went

[Dajoca]

I shall take a look tomorrow morning. Thanks for the info.

[Raf_]

It also can give the impression of a knacked alternator. May be the cause of your breakdown aswell mine was, lucky there was a post on the alternator cable and the fuse box on here the week before so I realised straight away

[mbuk2456]

Ive ive also had this problem today the lcd for the mileometer and the clock/computer just went haywire! car has been parked up for a few days and it has been really cold not sure if that has affected it! All the other dials on the dash working fine!

Left the car runnning for a bit with the heaters going and it went back to normal! Anyone else had this problem? Bmw instruments play up in the cold weather due to a poor seal around the instrument binacle didnt think that VAG cars suffered this though!