Instrument cluster repair

[ExploringOptions2004]

Hey guys, I have the notorious instrument cluster bug. I did some basic troubleshooting. Couldnt really find to much info in a sense of at home repair. On my cluster I have found i few bad ceramic capacitors as well as some diodes. I believe these are the "gremlins" responsible for the intermittent cluster problems on the 04 XLT model. I havent done PCB repairs before so its gonna be a first for me. Ive read the diodes can begin to fail intermittently thus causing the issue. But than again this is a first time cluster issue for me and first time PCB repair. Other than when I was on a real life vacation for 18 months and was doing electronic repairs as a side hustle using pretty much bubble gum,tape and glue with no multimeter or soldering irons. Has anyone have any tips or advice related to PCB in an automotive sense?

 

[Rick]

It's nice to have a solder vacuum just in case you get too much solder on the board and jump connections. Be sure to use rosin core solder for electronic work, and use as little heat as you can to avoid lifting the circuit board traces.

 

[ExploringOptions2004]

It's nice to have a solder vacuum just in case you get too much solder on the board and jump connections. Be sure to use rosin core solder for electronic work, and use as little heat as you can to avoid lifting the circuit board traces.

Thanks Rick! I dont have a solder vacuum but I saw one in. Youtube video. Where could I get one of those from? Didnt see any at my local Lowe's. Does the vacuum also help when removing components from the PCB? And I had more info about my issue. Must be in my other thread. Is there any way to copy and paste that to this one? Also, I did some practice on a junkyard cluster. I was a little too rough the first stepper motor removal and pulled the trace slightly up but was able to get it back in place . I'm gonna try to copy my other post to here

 

[ExploringOptions2004]

Ok... Well I think I may have did an oopsie... So in my testing this instrument cluster, my diode setting revealed a suspicious diode. So I pulled it out to test it out of circuit for a true reading, it checked out ok. So the next few steps is where the oopsie happened. So I resoldered the diode, tested and values the same. So I said fudge it let me swap a known working stepper motor to the known failed one just for ***** and giggles. My resistance in circuit was 228 ohm ish for the good and bad one. Well 225.4 on the good one and malfunctioning one a bit higher. So I switched them. Retested resistance..... Umm... Now 5 megaohms. So wtf happened? Its unclear to me. Any thoughts? Even if its to say kick rocks. Thanks!

 

[ExploringOptions2004]

Thank you! Also a quick update. I moved the solder around a little bit on an a stepper motor i didn't resolver. The resistance value increased just by doing this. I'm thinking my "electrical solder " has a higher resistance than what they were using 18 years ago. So I will test the cluster stepper motor swap later when I get home. And see what happens

These last 2 post from my other thread. Sorry guys im new here to forum.

 

[Rick]

There are many types of solder vacuums available, the better ones work well for removing components as they vacuum while they heat the solder.

Amazon.com : solder vacuum

This is very similar to the one I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Purchase-Desoldering-Iron/dp/B00CUKTH2A/ref=sr_1_30?crid=15PM965RAWBXV&dchild=1&keywords=solder+vacuum&qid=1585150801&sprefix=solder+vac%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-30

 

[ExploringOptions2004]

There are many types of solder vacuums available, the better ones work well for removing components as they vacuum while they heat the solder.

http://[URL]https://www.amazon.com/...prefix=solder+vac,aps,206&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10

[/URL]

This is very similar to the one I use:

http://[URL]https://www.amazon.com/...1585150801&sprefix=solder+vac,aps,206&sr=8-30

[/URL]

Oh nice! Thanks Rick! Not badly priced at all. And I'm sure it does its job. Thanks for the info and time.