Combination meter trouble

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Shawn W., Nov 5, 2025 at 9:07 AM.

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  1. Shawn W.

    Shawn W. Junior Member

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    Just to head off the question of whether or not I've searched for other combination meter threads, I know that there are a lot, but I have a couple of specific questions that aren't answered in any of them.

    My car, a 2004 Prius with a little over 250k miles on it, has been having issues with the combination meter for the last few years, but it's really come to a head over perhaps the last half year. I just spent about 45 minutes getting it to work this morning, which is a new personal record. This is untenable.

    I am not adept at car mechanics nor soldering and do not want to handle this myself, especially after the several hour long adventure of replacing my headlight bulbs. I've also recently read that pre-refresh 2nd gens have odometers that can't display over 299,999 miles, which I'll hit within the next 2 1/2 years.

    Where can I get a post-refresh combination meter and where can I find someone who can install it and make it fully functional? I'm in the 716 area code (the western half of Western New York) and will happily drive anywhere within a two hour radius to a place that can fix this in a single day. Barring that, anyone who can at least replace the capacitor with a stronger one, to punt the odometer issue down the road a couple of years.

    The cold isn't going to get any better until April, so the sooner that I handle this, the less frustrated that I'll be.
     
    #1 Shawn W., Nov 5, 2025 at 9:07 AM
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I think @Texas Hybrid Batteries will cross-ship: for money plus a core charge, they send you a working, no-299k-limit combination meter preprogrammed with your reported mileage, to be swapped with minimal downtime, then you send them your old one and get the core charge back. (I presume then they also check its odometer is close to the mileage you told them to program, though I don't know what they do if it's not.)

    That still means finding someone who can physically replace it in your car. There is a video:



    so maybe somebody reasonably handy near you can follow that.
     
    #2 ChapmanF, Nov 5, 2025 at 9:59 AM
  3. Shawn W.

    Shawn W. Junior Member

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    Thanks for that. My mechanic might be able to do that. He's told me that while he doesn't do soldering, at least as far putting on a new capacitor, he'd switch out the combination meter for another one. He's never done anything like that before, but he's been a mechanic for about forty years and has done pretty good so far with my Prius and my father's Prius, including swapping out hybrid battery cells on the latter, so I'm sure that he can figure it out.
     
    #3 Shawn W., Nov 5, 2025 at 11:50 AM
  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    It's probably the most easy thing you can solder on that circuit board. If your mechanic is unable to watch the youtube video and solder on the replacement capacitor you need to find a more competent mechanic.
     
    #4 PriusCamper, Nov 5, 2025 at 1:53 PM
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Changing the capacitor on a 299k-limited combination meter still leaves you with a 299k-limited combination meter.
     
    #5 ChapmanF, Nov 5, 2025 at 5:22 PM
  6. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    What's the method the shops use to program a replacement meter with your existing mileage? Is there any security to prevent that?
     
    #6 PriusCamper, Nov 5, 2025 at 5:36 PM
  7. Hayslayer

    Hayslayer Member

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    Why do you worry about getting it to turn on? The car will work just fine without it for the most part.
    When it's time to turn the car off, just put the fob in the slot, hold the power button down and as when the led on the power button changes status, pull the fob out. The car will shut off. Fix it when it's convenient.

    Sometimes the combo meter problem will prevent the trunk from opening when you want. In that case, you just need to turn the car off first, then the trunk will operate normally.
     
    #7 Hayslayer, Nov 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
  8. Shawn W.

    Shawn W. Junior Member

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    #8 Shawn W., Nov 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
  9. Shawn W.

    Shawn W. Junior Member

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    Because I need to see how fast my car is going, and I want an accurate odometer reading.
     
    #9 Shawn W., Nov 5, 2025 at 5:56 PM
  10. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Also there's a bunch of features that don't work when your combination meter goes dark... I'm having problems with mine and after it came back on today I noticed that the trip meter didn't register the 20 miles I drove when it was dark yesterday. Not sure about the main odometer yet? Even worse the red warning triangle and other warning lights don't come on when combination meter isn't working, which could mean you severely damage your vehicle or even get killed because you didn't see the warning lights. Also seems like the door lock features might only work intermittently when that capacitor needs replacing.
     
    #10 PriusCamper, Nov 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
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