the second generation Prius 2004-2009 has a dashboard instrument cluster flaw where the capacitors go bad after a number of years and it stops working. this is

the second generation Prius 2004-2009 has a dashboard instrument cluster flaw where the capacitors go bad after a number of years and it stops working. this is well known in the prius chat boards. Toyota also knew about it, but instead of making it a safety recall, they put out a service bulletin: T-SB-0172-09 Combination Meter - Intermittent Display If you search the web for that you will find a ton of hits. The solution is to replace the entire instrument cluster circuit board. If you have a replacement board, It's relatively easy, maybe an hour of work if you are handy, and there is no soldering unless you have no replacement and want to replace the bad capacitor yourself, and maybe a transistor. You will probably break your A/C vents in the process because they are made of a type of plastic that becomes extremely brittle with age. There is a guy in Texas, Texas Hybrid Batteries, who will sell you a refurbished dash circuit board for $150 if you mail him yours. Buying a new one is a bit spendy and may require going through a dealer depending on laws, since the odometer is part of the assembly and has to be 'flashed' to what your vehicle was before the swap. However on cars of this age the odometer is often up to about 200,000 miles and exempt from a lot of the odometer laws.