Missing pixels on a 2001 suddenly totally restored!
 

I've had the 2001 X5 for about 14 months now. There has always been several pixels missing from the display. I could hardly tell the mileage and could barely make out the MPG and such.

I started the car yesterday and ALL the pixels were on! The only thing that changed was the night before I had put a little sealer on the lic plate light so it would stay on.

Has this happened to anyone else?

The missing pixels are caused by bad connections where the wide ribbon cable meets the circuit board in the display... mine looks better or worse on certain days depending on temperature as it affects the connection strength at each contact point. I for one really wish BMW had put an actual plug for that connection vs the clamped fit cable they used...

if it is raining outside my display looks quite good. Most of the time it is pretty much not legible. I've been thinking about sending it to vdorepair.com but I'm kind of unsure right now.