I often tell people that it is the only car I'll never sell. It's not the best in any one thing, but it is very, very good at all things, and still one of the best looking cars (IMO) ever made.
It has also been extremely dependable, never causing me any big issues and in many cases, fairly easy to work on myself for example: My D-I-Y brake change .
There is no doubt that a dealership repair cost will always be a more expensive proposition that an D-I-Y repair, and this post is about another one of those instances.
The pop-up navigation screen is very 2007, and was a cool feature back then. But unfortunately it is a point of weakness and these units sometimes stop popping up when engaged. The problem is a small set of gears. In my case, I was fairly sure it was a gear issue since I could hear the small electric motor running when I engaged the screen, but it wouldn't move. I was able to gently move the screen up by hand without much resistance, so another reason to believe the gears have broken. I wanted to fix this before I considered a full upgrade to an Apple Car Play solution for the interface.
I called the Aston dealer and was told they don't fix these units, they just replace the whole navigation system screen and unit. Cost is something in excess of $2000. But the gears to fix this are just $17. So I decided I'd "pay myself a couple grand" to learn how to do this.
There is a great online helpful video by Richard at Repants.lol which takes you through the steps of fixing this issue. That's what I followed to make this all work. First step is to disengage the screen cover from the screen unit. In my car there were two small tabs hugging the sides of the unit, so a little lateral pressure pulled them off and allowed the screen to be free of the cover. (some other cars have two metal bars holding this on, not my model). Watch this other video by Richard at Repants to see more info on removing this panel.
Using small plastic trim tools, I found it easier to start at the top of the "ski slope" center console cover. You have to be very gentle, particularly with the piano black cover, as it can be easily cracked if you flex it too much. I found the top to be stiffer than the lower section, so I used a tool on each side to pop it up. After that, the center and bottom pressure holders came up more easily as I grabbed and pulled up on the unit gently. Did I mention gently?
Four metal screws hold down the nav screen unit.
After removing the screws, also unplug the two wiring harnesses from the backside of the nav unit.
You can see the tabs at top, bottom, and center which keep the ski slope cover on. Also a good time to re-glue the foam bits around the vents.
To replace the gears, the first step is to remove the small black plastic cover. One screw on the front and a pressure tab inserted at the back. I like to tape the screws to stuff I take off so I don't lose track of where they go later. The pressure tab at back is shown in the yellow circle below.
Now to remove the left side cover over the gears and motor (see red circles below). You loosen the two screws on top of the main panel and remove the other three screws on the left of the photo. Note one is hidden under the foam piece at back. You can now remove that left side metal shroud.
There was one more panel I had to remove and I didn't take a pic. It has one small screw next to the motor that has a slide-in tab holding down the cover. Watch the excellent video by Repants to get the idea of how to loosen that screw to remove the last cover which holds the small electric motor.
I could now see the clearly broken pieces of the final gear that have fallen away from the last axle.
With the gear area exposed, you can easily slide off the first two gears. The ones to be replaced by the kit I bought were the half-moon one on the final spring-held axle and the second fat one shown here half way off the axle. The one in my hand gets re-used. The last part to remove is the small c-clip, washer, and spring retainer on that final gear axle (second photo below). The c-clip and washer also come with the 2-gear set I ordered. The pieces of the broken half moon are shown below after everything is apart.
Installing the new gears is easy, I just made sure to put on the half-moon gear in the right direction (it goes onto slots/tabs on the axle, so it is clear how it goes on), then add the washer and c-clip before placing the spring back in place. I used a silicone based grease to lightly lubricate the plastic gears for longer life. Then just re-install the plate that holds the motor.
Now re-install the cover plate with the three screws, making sure to "tuck" the metal plate back under the larger cover plate on top. Finally, re-install the small black cover with one screw, making sure to tuck the rear tab into its slot.
Plug the two wire harnesses back into the Nav screen and re-install in dash with 4 screws.
Replace the ski-slope center console piece, making sure to plug the wire harness back into the start button
Align the center console cover over the tab insert holes at top and bottom and use gentle pressure to click them back in. You can then snap back down the Nav screen cover and the two side tabs will re-engage on the screen unit.
The Screen works again!
Total cost:
$17.00 gear set from Aston Installations (can also buy from Redpants)
$30.00 shipping from the UK
$22.00 Tariff collected by DHL (yes, paid by me, not by the importer or exporter)
