How to: Overhead console display fix - 2nd Gen

[SportTracMike]

Another one reporting in worked perfect, then when taking the board back in the house the button fell apart so I had to salvage one from an old satellite receiver.

 

[Jakers_AK]

Ok so I had the same problem and sure enough when I took the overhead display apart there was the 510 resistor disconnected on one side. So I took it inside, and then dropped the little booger and after 30 minutes of combing through the carpet I don't think I will find it. So my question is does anyone know where I can order one of those resistors? It sure would be easier than llooking for the one I dropped and cheaper than replacing the whole unit.

 

[J_C]

Ok so I had the same problem and sure enough when I took the overhead display apart there was the 510 resistor disconnected on one side. So I took it inside, and then dropped the little booger and after 30 minutes of combing through the carpet I don't think I will find it. So my question is does anyone know where I can order one of those resistors? It sure would be easier than llooking for the one I dropped and cheaper than replacing the whole unit.

Resistor coding uses the first two numbers as the value and 3rd # as the multiplier (power of 10), so it is 51 Ohms. You might find them on eBay, a baggie full for a couple bucks from a Chinese seller but will have to wait a month for them to ship, or at electronics suppliers Digikey is one of the cheaper places because they have no minimum order and will ship less than (8 oz?) a certain weight, USPS first class which used to be only $3 or so.

You might want to measure the remaining resistor to be sure this is the right size 0.248" L x 0.124" W (6.30mm x 3.15mm):

CRCW251251R0FKEG Vishay Dale | Resistors | DigiKey

 

[2sday]

I've seen a few posts relating to the overhead console display going out over time.
I had the same problem, and found the culprit.

Thankbyou so much for posting this. I wish I looked this problem up in further detail sooner. I took my vehicle in for O2 sensor, and power window, door handle, and OVERHEAD CONSOLE TEMP & COMPASS DISPLAY not working. I took it to the dealership and only the dealership because 1. A mile from work and 2. covered under extended warranty (which was set to expire in a month or so) none the less all my issues were solved except for the overhead. Dumbfounded I said what do you mean you didn't fix it, that was the reason i made the appoitment in the 1st place. 8 days ago, Over a week in advance - (all the other issues happened after & right up untill the morning i dropped it off) his answer to me was, and I quote. "cant find parts to repair or replace it FORD no longer makes parts for the overhead thing" (yes he said thing) shaking my head I asked "well do you have any suggestions for this thing and is this common? If so do you book all your appoitments for things you know you can't fix? He smerked and said "you can just find one somewhere like in a junk yard and swap it out." Without skipping a beat i replied "that's your recomendation, "just swap it out" yeah, does that seem logical in the least bit? I mean seriously guy, as a FORD certified technician, your suggesting that the chick who once brought her truck in for a set of wiperblades to be replaced is really gonna go find one in a junk yard & just swap it out"??? Needless to say I left (pissed off) Serves me right though for believing the dealership in the 1st place-oh well but now 2+ years later, while searching another problem I stumbled upon these posts. Thank you so much!!! I'm actually going to do this before I skip on over to a junk yard. Fingers crossed. Thanks again!

 

[Jakers_AK]

Resistor coding uses the first two numbers as the value and 3rd # as the multiplier (power of 10), so it is 51 Ohms. You might find them on eBay, a baggie full for a couple bucks from a Chinese seller but will have to wait a month for them to ship, or at electronics suppliers Digikey is one of the cheaper places because they have no minimum order and will ship less than (8 oz?) a certain weight, USPS first class which used to be only $3 or so.

You might want to measure the remaining resistor to be sure this is the right size 0.248" L x 0.124" W (6.30mm x 3.15mm):

CRCW251251R0FKEG Vishay Dale | Resistors | DigiKey

I live in Fairbanks Alaska, I called every electronics/gadget/hardware store in town and no one carries any. I found them on ebay and ordered 2 for $7.50. They got here in about 4 days, I got them soldered up and my console works again, thanks for the great thread and info. I was thinking it was a lost cause because the overhead unit I was using was the 3rd one I had tried that didn't work, I thought there was a wiring issue somewhere. I'm no electrician either by any means but I managed to get the little buggers on there using a butane fueled soldering iron. Which I DO NOT recommend. IDK what you call em but the little vents in the shaft blast out too much hot air and I had a hell of a time holding it on the solder long enough to melt it without melting the other components on the circuit board but I managed. Now I'm onto my next 2 projects, fixing the heated seats and front main seal

 

[J_C]

* Although that PCB is set up with pads for surface mount resistors, if you had to you could just use a leaded resistor instead, probably even a more common 47 ohm instead of 51, but at least 1W rated, put it at a funny angle and bend the leads to run across maximum solder pad area.

Given that it's in a vehicle and subject to vibration, if using a leaded resistor I think I'd want to also pop down a blob of sensor-safe RTV on the middle of the resistor to hold it in place better (or thermally stable non-acidic cure epoxy/cement/etc), making sure the PCB under it is clean for good RTV adhesion.

 

[Explorer2.0]

Let's keep this thread alive! Our '95's display went from bad to worse over the last few weeks. We stumbled upon the fix in this thread. Thanks to all! This was the first time in awhile that we truly missed Radio Shack. We ordered 6 Panasonic caps from Amazon for ten bucks. Two days later... FIXED! Damn near instant on!

Team
TARDIS

 

[J_C]

^ Thanks for the pics.

Digikey.com is a great place to get capacitors. They have a parametric search feature to drill down to exactly what you need and a huge selection of premium quality parts, no minimum order limit, and cheap USPS shipping (under 8 oz).

Granted in this case, that capacitor didn't need to have especially high specs.

 

[Explorer2.0]

We looked online but Amazon Prime seemed the quickest. Ordered Wednesday, installed Friday! We got Panasonic's better if not best caps. Overkill!

Team
TARDIS

 

[J_C]

^ Not necessarily overkill to the extent that the original cap probably failed from the heat produced by (what looks like) a linear regulator right next to it, so a major brand long life cap rated for 105C could be of benefit... except you may not need it to last THAT long on a vehicle now 24 years old.

Anyway, Digikey is great at getting orders shipped fast, though it might have taken an extra day over Amazon Prime... but would've only cost ~ $4 delivered.

 

[donalds]

I use digikey to buy all my components lol

 

[t99eddieb]

My overhead display died yesterday. I will be taking it apart in hopes to exchange this resistor. Thanks for the post. Lets keep this thread alive.

 

[Eric1971]

13 years later and this thread is still awesome! My overhead display started glitching between normal, blank, and everything lit up. I followed the steps, checked my resistors (161 SMD in my 95 EB), hit a few other solder points to shore them up, and tested the capacitors while I was in there. Aside from one small misstep on my part that I did not firmly connect one of the resistors at one end (still a novice at soldering), I got my display back as good as new!

 

[C420sailor]

I did this fix on my ‘98 a few years back and my ‘99 now needs it. Great info.

 

[Steve32]

Non-Sunroof Models

Thallarsen,
Thank you for this fix. I have a '99 XLT AWD 5.0 with this problem. I pulled the circut board and immediately noticed that I only had 1-510 resistor. Although it does look as if there may be evidence that the solder failed on both ends of the missing resistor, I can't really be sure. I looked to see if it dropped off when I pulled the board out and couldn't find it.

Since your explorer, which has 2-510 resistors, has a sunroof and a 2nd connecting harness, where my non-sunroof model only has 1 connector, I was wondering if all non-sunroof models only had 1-510 resistor, rather than the 2.

If you, or anyone else, can give me an answer, I'd really appreciate it. BYW, I'm having a tough time trying to find a replacement 510 resistor...any ideas?

When I took mine apart (‘01 Explorer Sport Trac), there was only one “510 resistor”. The missing resistor had fallen out of the assembly as I walked from the truck to the work bench. I luckily found it on the floor after looking for it. Another post I read had the user having one fall out when removing the console. He tucked the part into his cup holder not knowing what it was, until he figured it out. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

[isol]

Hi,
I fixed my display today. My fix did not require soldering as 510 resistors were firmly in place. However, when examining everything with a magnifier; i noticed corroded solders. I cleaned the board and solders and everything works now

 

[Wrath]

The only thing that I noticed that could be wrong with mine is that the lighted display has a burnt spot in one corner.

Pulled mine all apart, didnt notice any bunt, or solder marks. Did notice that my led screen was burnt in one corner thou.

My display quit again and when I opened it up, discovered the display had an burn spot on one edge of the glass about 1/2" in diameter.

This is a great thread! Unfortunately it did not come up in search when I started diagnosing and repairing my module, so I had made a post about it and was directed here.

That dark/chrome spot in the glass display is normal, and is the result of the "getter" being fired during production to remove the remaining oxygen inside the display. You see the same thing in vacuum tubes, TV CRT's, and nixie tubes.

These are Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFD), and I believe those 510 resistors are part of its power circuit.

A bit about these resistors: the three digits represent a value and a multiplier. First two are value, third is how many zeros are after the initial value. 510 is a 51-ohm. 511, however, would be a 510-ohm, and a 514 would be 510K-ohm (510,000 ohm). The board connects these in parallel, which ups the wattage but halves the ohms, taking the circuit impedance down to 25-ohm. A single 25-ohm, half-watt resistor soldered to the pads is more than adequate and will get nowhere near as hot as the factory 510's did.

Keep this thread alive! As our trucks get older I'm sure more of these overhead modules will fail and this thread is a goldmine!

 

[donalds]

This is a great thread! Unfortunately it did not come up in search when I started diagnosing and repairing my module, so I had made a post about it and was directed here.

That dark/chrome spot in the glass display is normal, and is the result of the "getter" being fired during production to remove the remaining oxygen inside the display. You see the same thing in vacuum tubes, TV CRT's, and nixie tubes.

These are Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFD), and I believe those 510 resistors are part of its power circuit.

A bit about these resistors: the three digits represent a value and a multiplier. First two are value, third is how many zeros are after the initial value. 510 is a 51-ohm. 511, however, would be a 510-ohm, and a 514 would be 510K-ohm (510,000 ohm). The board connects these in parallel, which ups the wattage but halves the ohms, taking the circuit impedance down to 25-ohm. A single 25-ohm, half-watt resistor soldered to the pads is more than adequate and will get nowhere near as hot as the factory 510's did.

Keep this thread alive! As our trucks get older I'm sure more of these overhead modules will fail and this thread is a goldmine!

View attachment 433821

That is great information thank you!

 

[dav9194]

Great to see the older posts are being use for the gold mine they are. I'm going to be rebuilding the same overhead consol gain on my newest 2nd generation Explorer, another 1999 XLT SOHC. I have had a impossable time finding thin circuit that feeds bulbs as the are inserted in the reflecter sheild. Its the PCB that the bulb holder contacts "raw" copper traces when inserted. Theses always seem to tear apart do to heat and age, getting one from junkyard again is an option, but i think im going another way this time. I broke a flashlight one night not long ago and noticed that the reflector sheild would almost fit into the overhead console area, a little Dremal tool work and its about ready to be fixed in when i get time to remove overhead console to install. I tested the LED that came with the flashlight on the circuit power, looked like the LED was right at 3.5V, normal USB type setup really it seems. Powers on and off very nicely without having to install additional resisters or modifying circuit at all except just installing. I will try to post pictures as i goo along. I figured that as time goes on a few updated things like changing over to LED's in dash instead of OEM setup is due, and i think the old Explorers deserve the upgarde. Mine have never failed me as long as i take care of them, even under the harshist of my farming use.
Also, i have found that i can "reflow" new higher lead solder right over the original solder joints on those PCB's without replacing the resisters almost every time without any problems and get years of use out of them even after they first fail. I use a microscpe camera to look at solder joints and found that the failures are usually just cracked solder joints that were a "cold joint" from the factory. I'm not sure what type of solder they are required to use as far as these joints go, but they remind me of the BGA problems on the XBox game systems due to high tin content in the solder compond. I personally use 70/30 micro rosin core solder and heat joint properly and flow new onto area, i can always see the new solder kind of melting the older solder as the lead flows into the joint that i believe a low lead/high tin solder of some sort Ford uses at the factory.
I will be back,
lmk if i can help.
David S

 

[J_C]

^ It is unlikely that Ford used low or no lead solder in '99. RoHS lead solder restrictions didn't kick in until 2006, and even then, excluded means of transport for persons or goods. We could blame the solder but ultimately they could have designed it better and had no problems using the solder they did, but it would have cost a little more.

At the same time, they probably did not use something as high as 70% lead. Tin has better conduction and lowers the melting point. Odds are that on a PCB like that, Ford was using Sn63Pb37 due to being eutectic, and that's a good reason to use it for circuit repairs too, on components where you need to hold them in place until the solder sets. I use 63/37 on practically everything electrical, including repair of newer lead-free soldered components.

Unless you want a very focused beam, like for reading something, you don't necessarily need a reflector at all to implement LED(s) as replacements for the incan bulbs, just enough heatsinking for the LEDs that they don't overheat, whether it be a sufficiently sized backing plate they're already soldered on, or add your own plate, or the pill/carrier from a flashlight. However in the case of LED flashlights, most at about 1.5W and higher power, depend on the body of the flashlight to 'sink away heat from the pill that the LED is mounted on.