2005 Renault Scenic instrument panel dead

The main dealer will not admit this is a common problem! however i am an RTE (renault technical expert) and change on average one panel every two weeks! is that a common problem or are my customers just unlucky? i have 12 panels which i am currently examining for a common failure so as to come up with a solution and repair procedure,

This may be old hat now, but just found this thread......
This is a VERY common problem on 2004-2005 Scenic and Grans Scenic series 2 cars. To the extent it was reported on BBC Watchdog programme (Anne Robinson) in October 2009. Replacements were being charged at anything from £450 to over £700 at Renault Dealers. Or the quited £175 for a repaired unit from BBA Reman as above.

Soon after BBC got hold of it, Ren-Oh relented and now offer a replacement on out of warranty cars where the customer pays the first £100 and Renault UK pay the rest. Has to be done at a Ren-Oh dealer though (that's the bad news!).

Symptoms prior to complete failure include all the displays going haywire, or flashing. And/or all the trip readings re-setting themselves every startup, or even whilst driving.

Buyers of used Scenics should note: Renault don't offer to correct the total mileage on the new dash unit, even when the owner can supply a very accurate estimate of what it should be. Instead, the mileage starts again from zero. Thus there are a lot of what seem to be very low mileage 2004-5 Scenics out there! Dealers (in my experience) don't want to note readings either, but will document that the unit has been changed - if the owner insists.

An MOT mileage check via the VOSA web site (free to use) will give you a fair guess of mileage prior to new dash though, as most cars suffering this are beyond their first MOT but young enough to be in the computerised MOT database.