Swap MFD for a Tomtom One XL

This guide was created some years ago, whilst the same model may not be available the principles will be the same so I have retained the guide.

You need to remove the MFD from the car and remove the screen from the facia panel. This is done by:

  • Remove the radio using a removal tool
  • Remove the cover under the hand brake
  • Remove the 2 torx screws on holding the gear lever trim
  • Pull the gear lever trim & ashtray backwards out of the way.
  • Undo 2 more torx screws holding the centre console in.
  • Pull the centre console, it may need a little force, but it is just clipped in.
  • Undo the 2 torx screws holding the MFD in place.

Now back to the Tomtom

The main problem is that to turn your tomtom on and off you need to hold the power button on the top of the unit. This is no good when the unit is hidden behind the dash. So you need to extend the button somewhere else.

Take the tomtom apart, remove the screws indicated and carefully prise the back of the case off.

With the back separated, now remove the connectors for the power & speaker from the circuit board.

You now need to remove these torx screws to take the circuit board off. Once undone lift circuit board carefully and push up the ribon cable retaining bar to release the ribon cable. (you won’t have the yellow cable at this stage, I didn’t take a photo at the right time)

With the circuit board removed, find the on/off switch & solder 2 wires as shown, I used small gauge Kynar wire. Make sure your wire is long enough to route through your centre console.

You now need to very carefully reverse the process to re-assemble the tomtom, the ribon cable is particularly tricky. Feed your switch wire through one of the holes at the bottom, it will fit if you used thin enough wire.
I didn’t take many photos at this point, however once the tomtom is assembled, place some hot glue around the screen dash facia and quickly position it ontop of the tomtom so the screen is centred.

Once the glue is cooled, I formed a wire cage around the back of the tomtom to hold it in place should it be pushed too hard during use, you end up with this.

Fit the facia back into the car, I use some card packers around the 2 fixing screws to stop it rattleing in the dash. Feed the switch cable through the back of the dash and out through the recess next to the accessory socket.

Connect the Usb power cable as well and feed the cable down the back of the dash. I didn’t use the supplied lead, I plugged in a standard USB lead. (more on this later)

Now fed through it can be soldered onto a push to make switch.

I got my switch from maplin, I drilled a hole in the rubber mat and fixed the button in.

This shows the switch in final position.

I extended the accessory socket into the glovebox using one of these. They are handy because they have a USB charging point which is handy for the Tomtom. this is why I used a standard USB lead rather than the provided charger. To update the Tomtom, you simply unplug the USB lead from this charger and plug it into your laptop.

Press the button and it should power up.