Radio Display is out, Please Help.

[mtg82814]

Do the aftermarket radios make use of the steering wheel controls? If so, which models?

Thanks,

Mike

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Here's the link to steering wheel controls for the aftermarket receivers.

Dead Link Removed

 

[jwgeetar]

yup me too on my 98 xlt. i will try to take the mach system out first and check it over. but this gives me a good excuse to get my cd/mp3 player in there. i really want the satellite radio to but toooo much moolah for that one.

BTW,i took the two screws off under the radio and removed all the buttons. does the plastic molding around it all come off first? man that thing is tight. i didn't wanna scratch it up too bad. any suggestions?jw

 

[rob41185]

cd player

if anybody wants one i'm selling my factory cd player off of my 99 and it is in perfect shape. I'll sell it for $100

 

[chenelleh]

radio lcd

My lcd lights just went out--42,ooo miles--I have emailed ford with a complaint----dealer says $650.
I believe I paid too much for this vehicle to have to buy it again---I think everyone should e-mail Ford on this problem and maybe we will get some results--they need to recall this and fix it--it is obviously a mass problem with their radio lcd.So e-mail, e-mail, email!!!!Please!

 

[chenelleh]

radio light

I just spoke with ford and before they will recall (if they do)these radios- they have to have thousands of complaints---please complain--I think they have a responsibility and we need to make sure they hear from us!!!!

 

[boilermakerfan]

I've actually contacted Ford twice about this problem, once by phone, and once online. By phone they basically said see your dealer, we don't do radios, and online they said that they already talked with me about this problem, so they aren't going to address it again. VERY frustrating. I'm sure that they have had thousands of complaints about these radios. I was rather skeptical of everyone who kept saying that around 40k-50k miles the radio display goes out, but almost on cue, at 44K, my display went out. I searched this forum and the net for a solution, as Ford wasn't all that keen on doing anything about it at that time. I tried the cleaning of the power supply board, and that did work for a little bit... (perhaps a few days?). After reading this thread and the post pertaining to the place in NY that will fix the radios for 78 bucks, I figured it couldn't be THAT difficult of a fix (their hourly fee is $78, so it takes less than an hour). I found another thread/post that talked about re-soldering some of the components on the board. I figured if I couldn't get that to work, I'd pester my dealership some more and see if they would replace it for less than $78. Well, the new fix has been working for four days now (which I think is longer than the original 'fix'). So, if anyone wants to try it, the addy is: http://www.shareamemory.com/radio/

I actually resoldered more than the page says, but I think you'll get the general drift. I'll keep track of how long this lasts, and post if something changes.

Hope this helps!

-Andy

 

[ck_surfer]

Well count me in on the display problem. I'm going to try the tips above and hopefully I'll have some luck

 

[davjamison]

Well, the dead radio display issue didn't go away in the 2000 model year, 'cuz mine went out as well. As I am addicted to the radio controls on the steering wheel, I'm going to give the solder fix a shot this weekend. I'll post the results...

 

[KennyR]

Radio Lights Out

I have a 98EB and my radio lights have been out for sometime. I did remove the radio and looked for broken components but didn't find any. Now my sub woofer is blown, I should replace to whole think but I like the fact that I can control the radio from my sterring wheel.

 

[mtg82814]

steering wheel contols??

as someone mentioned above, there are after market products that will allow you to still use your steering wheel controls.


Dead Link Removed

i would be curious to know how well these products work. anyone got them?

-Mike

 

[boilermakerfan]

Anyone else have success?

I'm just curious if anyone else has tried to re-solder the power supply boards on their radio. I am happy to report that the re-solder fix is still working on mine. To be honest, I didn't think it would last nearly this long! I'm wondering if the problem lies with a bad radio design, OR perhaps a bad manufacturing process (soldered joints shouldn't be able to go bad like that). I think its probably a little bit of both.

Anyways, I'd like to hear from others that tried the fix, and whether or not it actually worked for you.

-Andy

 

[GR899V8]

Mine went out 2 days ago at 60,000 miles. I took it all apart and resoldered all I could (except the chip) and it worked. Now, at 60,060 miles it's out again! I think I'll look for another brand of stereo. I really don't like how the CD's will almost burn you when ejected, as heat kills electronics and I think it's a piss-poor design.

On the other hand, we're all talking about the factory stereo, have any of the aftermarket stereos had similar problems? Are there other brands that have other problems we might run into?

UPDATE:
I had nothing to lose so I yanked it out again last night. This time I unsoldered the metal shield from one side, bent it over for access, and unsoldered the 2 watt resistors. I moved them away from the board about 1/4", there is that much extra leads on the resistors. I also see where I missed a couple of the small components, so I again resoldered them. Back together and it works fine again. Time will tell... The a/c duct is right above the HU, and there are holes in the top of the HU, so I may try to duct a little into the stereo after I put a foam "filter" over the holes (I don't ever have warm air at those vents).

The problems with replacing the stock HU are I a) need to pay $70 for an adapter to used the steering wheel buttons, b) lose the function of the factory sub and amp, and c) can't control my factory CD changer (this is what I was told by Crutchfield). So if that's all true, I'm going to have to pay for alot of items I already paid for and are in good condition.

 

[ck_surfer]

Update on my HU. I looked for the fuse to pull but didn't know which one. So I unconnected battery for more than 20 min. Hooked it all back up and the display came back on. I was told something like the thing has to reboot itself???? Well it has been working for a day now so time will tell. If that doesn't work I'll pull it and resoder since that seems to work for most of these problems.

 

[GR899V8]

I had the same thought, if (when) mine goes out again I'm just going to disconnect the plugs for 20 minutes, replug and see what happens. Maybe the resolder trick really hasn't worked and all I'm doing is rebooting.

 

[Hollowpoint]

Well add me to the list. Damn. It was working fine until this morning. And all I did was unplug my battery, clean my MAS and throttle body and reconnect the battery. Now it no work. Bah!

 

[davjamison]

dead radio display

I chickened out on soldering the board myself; these modern multilayer boards do strange things when overheated with a soldering iron. And I do not have a light touch with the old iron. I used the same place the Ford dealers here use called Speedometer Service in Marietta, GA - that's the north side of Atlanta for all the Yankees out there ;-) .
They usually charge around $250 -$300 to go through a radio and fix whatever is wrong and warranty the whole thing. However, if you ask nicely, they will fix the display only on these Ford units for a flat $100, with a 90 day warranty on the display only. They turned mine around in a day. They also offered me a killer price on the in-dash 6-disc Visteon stereo/CD-changer, but I couldn't swing it. I've only had it back about a week, but it is still working...
If you're interested, here is the guy I dealt with:
Hamp Smith
Shop/Parts Manager
www.speedometerservice.com
770-569-8255
1-800-241-2385
h.smith@speedometerservice.com

 

[RichC]

Another Radio Display Fix

OK, so you can add my name to the list of X owners with no display on my HU.

I have a 98' Sport with the Mach sound system, and my display went out at around 50K miles(this was about 18 months back). I lived with the problem for about 6 months when I was lucky enough to stumble upon this board and find this thread... So, after popping out my system and cleaning the display driver board, this fixed my display... For a while...

About 2 months ago, the display died again.. I decided to try to find a more "permanent" fix. After calling Ford and Visteon I was able to learn that the Mach system's Head Unit is indeed manufactured by Pioneer. I found a telephone number for Pioneer's parts center off their website, and was able to order a replacement board. I received the board about 3 days later, installed it in my system, and it has been working fine for about a week now...

If you'd like to order the part from Pioneer, their parts center # is (800)421-1404. You will need to give them the Pioneer model number off your HU for them to cross reference the part. This model number is located directly underneath the Ford Part number on the label underneath the unit. For example, the Ford part number on my radio is F87F-18C868-BD and the Pioneer model number is FH 2116 ZF, so look for something in that format. The part(s) that you will receive is a "kit", which includes 3 circuit boards. This included not only the display driver board, but also 2 other small boards, one of which contains the rear connectors for the radio and another small board located close to this(they would not sell me the display driver board separately). The part number for this kit is HWM5469 (at least for my radio model). I only replaced the display driver board, which was VERY easy to do, and this fixed my display problem. To replace the other 2 boards, you would need to completely disassemble the radio and make at least 20 - 30 solder connections. I didn't suspect these boards to actually be bad in my radio, so I didn't think replacing these would be of any benefit (and it could be very risky if you're not adept with a solder iron). With shipping and handling these parts cost me about $95, much less than my Ford dealership and most repair shops wanted to fix it. If this permanently fixes the problem and prevents me from having to dismantle the radio every 6 - 12 months, it should be worth it!
By the way, two differences I noticed on the replacement board:
1) The 2 watt resistors on the top of the board located under the shield are mounted about a half inch above the circuit board. I’m guessing Pioneer realized the design flaw of placing components that generate that much heat directly next to other sensitive components.
2) The quality of the workmanship on the replacement board is significantly better than the original board. On the original, you’ll notice very poorly soldered connections on the bottom of the board, and A LOT of excess flux which was never cleaned off the board. I consider this as a contributing factor to the original failure.
With that said, I STRONGLY URGE anyone who has had this display problem to contact Ford’s Customer Relationship Center at 1-800-392-3673 and report it. I spoke to them on several occasions trying to get this issue resolved, and they denied any knowledge of the problem. They did state however that if enough owners complained about the problem that they may consider implementing some sort of program to cover it (e.g. extended warranty on the radio). It really disturbs me that I paid approx 30K for this truck back in 98’, an extra 1K of this for the sound system, only to have it die 3 years later and have Ford completely deny that there is a problem. I spoke to two different Ford dealerships, and several radio repair shops, and THEY ALL stated that they see this problem A LOT. I would think that a company with the motto “Quality is Job 1”, would be interested in resolving a “quality control” problem that effected a large number of customers.

Anyway, sorry about the rant at the end, I certainly hope this info helps somebody out there!

-Rich

 

[boilermakerfan]

just a thought

Has anyone suggested to their local media (TV, radio, newspaper) to do an investigative report on Ford and their quality control, particularly on the radios? Do you think this would have enough interest to even pursue? I don't think Ford will ever change their stance on these radios. Also, does anyone know how to formally complain to the NHTSA (is this the correct association?) about the ford radios? The broken displays aren't really a safety issue, so perhaps that's not the correct place to submit a complaint. I have contacted Ford many times about this issue, and they pretty much keep telling me that they have already dealt with the issue (go see your dealer...we don't do radios). Just my 2 cents for today...

 

[RichC]

Personally, I was thinking about contacting Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs to see if they had any suggestions on how to handle the issue. Since the radio and vehicle are out of warranty, I'm not sure what kind of liability Ford would have at this point, aside from wanting to make their customers happy.

I'm sure that in a case like this, Ford performs some sort of cost benefit analysis to see if it is more beneficial for them financially to fix the problem, or simply ignore it (let the customer fend for themselves). So one option may be to file a class action lawsuit if we can find enough consumers willing to do so.

Seems kind of silly for something as trivial as a radio display, but in my dealings with Ford I received the same run around as Boilermaker. They did not want to admit to a problem, were unwilling to do anything for me (I was simply looking for a source for the repair part), and basically told me to stop calling and e-mailing them. If they would have been willing to help in some way (not financially), I would have been happy.. But when a company treats me, a paying customer, with that kind of attitude, well, now I'm not gonna let it go....

By the way, I just want to say I'm very happy I found this board, it's a great information resource for X owners!

Take care,

-Rich