Radio / Clock display problem 1998 and up Explorers ( blank / fade / blanks / fades )

[magngineer]

I got a new redesigned board from www.partstore.com for around $100 delivered. The radio was made by Pioneer I believe. You also get a couple of other boards as part of a kit.

I tried fixing it myself, it lasted 2 weeks. I tried doing the board trade with the guy in North Carolina, it lasted a little over a year. E-mails regarding his warranty went unanswered.

Unless you want to keep revisiting the problem, buy a new board.

 

[gijoecam]

Trevor at www.pacificaudiotech.com did mine. I attempted the repair and made mincemeat out of my board (let the smoke out). He charged me $70 for the repair. It's all been working great for the last 4 years now.

Give him a call...

-Joe

 

[jack1.1]

replacement radios on ebay fixed mine for $40, just mail it to them, could not be easier.

 

[Terberta]

How do I get to this Trevor? Link don't work for me>

 

[gijoecam]

How do I get to this Trevor? Link don't work for me>

Hmmm... his site seems to be down, although it was working as recently as a couple of weeks ago... Don't know what happened... Maybe try an e-mail?

trevor@pacificaudiotech.com used to be his e-mail address...

or sales@... Both used to go to him...

 

[eXcali]

Hi,

Any photos of repair and/or radio disassembling.

Thanks.
Marcos

I have searched and searched for pictures myself and never found any. I went ahead and snapped a few myself. Sorry I didn't realize the camera focused on desk calander rather than board. I found this out after I reassembled and installed Radio.

First picture is the location of the Board in Question. You do have to remove the entire radio, the problem does not exist in the face plate as some guides instruct.

You want the board on the left with the blue wires connected to it. There are two holding tabs that need to be bent back with long nose pliers the first is up front on the left next to the blue wire connectors. The second will be in the sort of half circle opening in the metal shield in middle of the board. Board will pull right out after these and the screw in the rear of unit are removed.



After you have removed the board flip it over and look for the areas I have circled in RED, these are the most common solder breaks, it's best to use a magnifying glass to inspect these. For the sake of getting the job done on the first try go ahead and remolten each end of these.

Also in yellow you will see a couple posts for resistors on the opposite side of the board, hold your solder iron on them and apply slight pressure to push them further away from the board. This will move a heat source further from the board.


I did this fix myself and I have noticed a HUGE difference, #1 the display stays on, even with heat blasting thru the vent right above unit, #2 the display is brighter than I have ever noticed it before.

I hope this helps and clears up a lot of misconception where people think they have to use Soldering on the back of the face plate.

 

[fredscott]

Removing the radio

I am having this same problem and want to give this fix a try. My problem is way more basic at this point: how do I get the radio out of the dash? It is a 2000 Explorer Limited. It has the four holes on the face of the radio, two on each side. I think it has something to do with them, but I don't know the technique. Thank you for whatever help someone can give.

 

[fredscott]

removing the radio, part two

Please disregard my question about removing the radio, sorry. I did some further looking around and found the answer in the manuals section of this site.

 

[doughboy_2011]

I have a '98 sport edition and NONE of the lights on my dash work.. is this why? or is there something else wrong?

 

[eXcali]

I have a '98 sport edition and NONE of the lights on my dash work.. is this why? or is there something else wrong?

This is only specific to the Radio/clock display.

If you are having problems with your console lights I would check the bulbs on the back side of your gauge cluster.

 

[curt1007]

Great service, did mine a few weeks back and is working good

Very nice info...for what it's worth, I've now fixed 6 radios for family and friends, starting with my own (both in Explorers and Nissan Quest mininvans - same radio). I used the Save My Sanity swap program at www.shareamemory.com/radio (you can also get to it at www.FixYourRadio.com). It's cheaper than buying the board from Pioneer, and if the board is not your problem (I ran into this once), they will let you return the board for a complete refund (no hassle)! It's been great using the service and you don't have to ship your radio anywhere. You will get the board in about 2 days and install and return your old one. Great, GREAT, Service!

 

[diolma]

Fixed it!

Fixed mine using the experience of others on this site. Also got real good at removing and re-installing the radio. On the final attempt (final because it worked) I re-soldered every connection including the shield. There were blatantly obvious bad solder joints but rather than hunt down a specific joint as the problem, I took the shotgun approach and re-soldered everything. I work as an industrial electronics tech so surface mount components aren't difficult for me. If you do this, be careful and make sure to avoid solder bridges between components that shouldn't be connected. Thanks for all the great posts. Couldn't have done it without you.

 

[RickMcF]

Thanks!!!

I'm new to this site. Wow, amazing info. Thanks so much for your help

Finally the answers after days of searching:


Quote:
1
I had the
same problem in my 98 Explorer. The problem is with the display power
supply board getting too hot and cracking the poorly solder joints.
You have two options if it's not under warranty. One, you can try to
re-solder the joints. Two, you can replace the board. I tried to
re-solder the board with no luck. I had to replace the board. I will
include information at the bottom of this posting on where to buy the
board. It took me a long time to find someone who sold the parts.
Here are the instructions to re-solder the board. They were posted in
a Ford radio news group.

To try to re-solder the board....
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A LOW WATT SOLDERING IRON AND SMALL SOLDER.
~~~
Here's the directions that helped me...Good Luck:
By opening up the radio you will find a narrow display power board
With in the left side of the radio (faceplate toward you). This board
has a metal cover soldered to it, with a toroid (wire wound doughnut)
inside on one side, and a bank of surface mount resistors and
capacitors
on the bottom side. One end of the board (SCR heat sink) is screwed
to
the heat sink at the back of the radio, the board is secured with 2
metal bend-tabs, and it has a white mini connector on the other end
which connects to the faceplate. Remove the board from the radio.

On the bottom of the board look for surface mount components
R1057/C1071/R1058/C1083/R1064. The colder these resistor/capacitor
chipsets get, the brighter the display. I left the car out in the +5f
degree weather and the display worked until it warmed up a little.
That
is how I was able to track it down to these temperature sensitive
parts. Freeze-it also helped after I narrowed it down to a few
components.

Here is the contact information for vendors who sell the replacement
board.

2
I have traveled this road. I have a 1998 Ford Explorer with a blank
radio display cd\cassette\am\fm. I tried to re-solder the components
on the display power supply as suggested on previous posting with no
luck. I looked on ebay but didn't see anything worth buying. I again
tried to re-solder the board...still no luck. So this is what I have
learned. If you can't fix it with the re-solder posting, or don't
want to try it, you will need to replace the display power supply.
Most radio shops I called said they only do component level repairs
starting at $100.00. Then I found a few shops that have the circuit
boards for sell. The board comes in a 3 board set, a new power
supply
board and two new tuner type boards, sold as a "compound set". Here
are the shops I found that have it.
Speed-O-Tach, Inc. they sell the 3 boards for 73.95 + shipping (5.00
ish)
Auto Radio & Electronics PART NUMBER HWM0043
Corporate Office
4090 Pike Lane
Concord, CA 94520-1227
Toll Free: 1-800-442-4491
Tel: 925-691-4090
Fax: 925-691-4101
or
speedometerservice.com 3 boards cost is 82.82 6.75 shipping
Phone number
1-800-332-1827 Georgia Watts
1-800-241-2385 National Watts

I found other sites but the price jumped to 215.00!

The board is very easy to swap. Pull the radio out, take to 2 black
screws off the side of the face plate (1 on each side. Face the back
of the radio, now remove the screw in the top right corner. Pop the
front and top cover off the radio. Unplug the blue cable that leads
from the display to the display power supply. There are 2 tabs that
hold the power supply in. One is next to where the blue cable plugs
into the power supply. To find the other tab, look inside the half
circle on the tin heat shield. The board is painted white where the
tabs are. Now straighten the tabs with a screw driver. Pull straight
up on the tin heat shield. Now you have it out swap it with the new
one and put it all back together.

3 (*** this helped me ***)
I have a '00 that just developed the blank display syndrome. From all these good inputs, locating the display power supply (the small board mounted to the left side of the CD chassis and connected to the display by a small cable consisting of blue insulated wires) was not much of a problem. Examination of this board from the bottom side showed some heating and with a 5X jewelers loop a person could see broken solder joints. Soldering these joints, especially those associated with the surface mounted components took very a sharp soldering iron (taking a standard Radio Shack type, 25W and sharpening the point so that taper starts about 3/8" to 1/2" from the tip worked very well). After re-flowing, and adding solder in some cases the display works as new.

Now then for the fix: Obviously the display power supply is running at a high enough temperature to damage the solder joints but not so high as to damage the components. Solder will remain structurally sound to about 230 degrees F. any substantial increased temperature will weeken the joints allowing the mass of the component, thermal expansions and contractions and residual stress from the original soldering event to tear the joint apart. Or in other words the newly soldered board will fail in a month, 6 months, or maybe if your lucky several years if steps are not taken to cool the board. At www.pricewatch.com several vendors advertise fans as small as 1" square. With file a 1" square fan will fit at an angle from back to front over the front of the power supply board. Using a little 5 minute epoxy the fan can be secured to the chassis and connecting the fan power between the ignition on power (at the radio connector) and ground (the chassis) will cause the fan to run any time the ignition is turned on. The drawback to this fan is, it can be heard when the ignition on and the engine not running.

 

[compdoc777]

Those who don't want to invest in $100's in the repair. I replaced mine in my 98 EB with the mach system.

I went with a Dual HD radio with CD/USB/and I-pod for $134 and wiring kit for the mach system and a SWI kit which plugs directly into the radio that gives me steering wheel control (Not that ever use it). Stereo is awesome and jams now. HD radio is so much better than Sirius and XM and you can listen to it in the garage under cover without interuption. It will even hook up to bluetooth so you can talk on your phone through the radio as well.

My EB came with the Cell phone hook up so I have a little fold out that comes out of my center console that I use to hold my I-phone/I-touch then I can serve up the tunes from that with ease.

Now my old 95 EB has 2000 watt stereo that I need to move over to the 98 EB and move the mach over to the 98. I'll keep the Dual in the 98 though. I might even buy one for my Expedition HD radio is the shiz!

 

[SilverBullet]

I did this yesterday to my radio. At first it started fading in and out, then it just wouldn't come on at all. The instructions in the first post were a bit confusing, I thought the area I was looking for was on the electrical board that's actually mounted to the faceplate, but its on the radio itself, to the left of the CD slot.

We took out the piece, had my buddy resolder it for me, and just like magic my radio display works again!!!!

 

[socksy]

Finally the answers after days of searching:


Quote:
1
I had the
same problem in my 98 Explorer. The problem is with the display power
supply board getting too hot and cracking the poorly solder joints.
You have two options if it's not under warranty. One, you can try to
re-solder the joints. Two, you can replace the board. I tried to
re-solder the board with no luck. I had to replace the board. I will
include information at the bottom of this posting on where to buy the
board. It took me a long time to find someone who sold the parts.
Here are the instructions to re-solder the board. They were posted in
a Ford radio news group.

To try to re-solder the board....
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A LOW WATT SOLDERING IRON AND SMALL SOLDER.
~~~
Here's the directions that helped me...Good Luck:
By opening up the radio you will find a narrow display power board
With in the left side of the radio (faceplate toward you). This board
has a metal cover soldered to it, with a toroid (wire wound doughnut)
inside on one side, and a bank of surface mount resistors and
capacitors
on the bottom side. One end of the board (SCR heat sink) is screwed
to
the heat sink at the back of the radio, the board is secured with 2
metal bend-tabs, and it has a white mini connector on the other end
which connects to the faceplate. Remove the board from the radio.

On the bottom of the board look for surface mount components
R1057/C1071/R1058/C1083/R1064. The colder these resistor/capacitor
chipsets get, the brighter the display. I left the car out in the +5f
degree weather and the display worked until it warmed up a little.
That
is how I was able to track it down to these temperature sensitive
parts. Freeze-it also helped after I narrowed it down to a few
components.

Here is the contact information for vendors who sell the replacement
board.

2
I have traveled this road. I have a 1998 Ford Explorer with a blank
radio display cd\cassette\am\fm. I tried to re-solder the components
on the display power supply as suggested on previous posting with no
luck. I looked on ebay but didn't see anything worth buying. I again
tried to re-solder the board...still no luck. So this is what I have
learned. If you can't fix it with the re-solder posting, or don't
want to try it, you will need to replace the display power supply.
Most radio shops I called said they only do component level repairs
starting at $100.00. Then I found a few shops that have the circuit
boards for sell. The board comes in a 3 board set, a new power
supply
board and two new tuner type boards, sold as a "compound set". Here
are the shops I found that have it.
Speed-O-Tach, Inc. they sell the 3 boards for 73.95 + shipping (5.00
ish)
Auto Radio & Electronics PART NUMBER HWM0043
Corporate Office
4090 Pike Lane
Concord, CA 94520-1227
Toll Free: 1-800-442-4491
Tel: 925-691-4090
Fax: 925-691-4101
or
speedometerservice.com 3 boards cost is 82.82 6.75 shipping
Phone number
1-800-332-1827 Georgia Watts
1-800-241-2385 National Watts

I found other sites but the price jumped to 215.00!

The board is very easy to swap. Pull the radio out, take to 2 black
screws off the side of the face plate (1 on each side. Face the back
of the radio, now remove the screw in the top right corner. Pop the
front and top cover off the radio. Unplug the blue cable that leads
from the display to the display power supply. There are 2 tabs that
hold the power supply in. One is next to where the blue cable plugs
into the power supply. To find the other tab, look inside the half
circle on the tin heat shield. The board is painted white where the
tabs are. Now straighten the tabs with a screw driver. Pull straight
up on the tin heat shield. Now you have it out swap it with the new
one and put it all back together.

3 (*** this helped me ***)
I have a '00 that just developed the blank display syndrome. From all these good inputs, locating the display power supply (the small board mounted to the left side of the CD chassis and connected to the display by a small cable consisting of blue insulated wires) was not much of a problem. Examination of this board from the bottom side showed some heating and with a 5X jewelers loop a person could see broken solder joints. Soldering these joints, especially those associated with the surface mounted components took very a sharp soldering iron (taking a standard Radio Shack type, 25W and sharpening the point so that taper starts about 3/8" to 1/2" from the tip worked very well). After re-flowing, and adding solder in some cases the display works as new.

Now then for the fix: Obviously the display power supply is running at a high enough temperature to damage the solder joints but not so high as to damage the components. Solder will remain structurally sound to about 230 degrees F. any substantial increased temperature will weeken the joints allowing the mass of the component, thermal expansions and contractions and residual stress from the original soldering event to tear the joint apart. Or in other words the newly soldered board will fail in a month, 6 months, or maybe if your lucky several years if steps are not taken to cool the board. At www.pricewatch.com several vendors advertise fans as small as 1" square. With file a 1" square fan will fit at an angle from back to front over the front of the power supply board. Using a little 5 minute epoxy the fan can be secured to the chassis and connecting the fan power between the ignition on power (at the radio connector) and ground (the chassis) will cause the fan to run any time the ignition is turned on. The drawback to this fan is, it can be heard when the ignition on and the engine not running.

I had a problem with my stock radio. It would show you the time but it would let you hear anything i tried to replace my speakers but that never worked so i had to go out and buy a whole new head unit. What do you think caused that to happen?:

 

[torqlox]

Radio Display Fade

Thanks for your insightful thread on this common problem. My newly purchased 99' Mercury Mountaineer suffers from intermittent display problems and I plan on using special aviation grade 400F+ solder plus the fan mod. I just need to know which cable from the radio harness is the ignition power. Would you happen to know which one it is? Thanks for your help!

-JT

 

[mike60510]

I'm amazed that mine is not the only radio with this problem. Ill try the suggestions listed in the posts

 

[eXcali]

I'm amazed that mine is not the only radio with this problem. Ill try the suggestions listed in the posts

Good luck with it. It took me a couple tries with resoldering different points but the fix has held 7months now with no looking back!

 

[torqlox]

Well I managed to remove the display board, and brought it to work where we have an electronics/avionics shop. The lead tech found the actual display power supply solder lead joints broken! He is going to solder them back up with his precision equipment using Aerospace grade solder (95/5) that can withstand heat up to 495F. I hope this works!

-JT