Ok...everyone says how easy this is to do. I would like to know how you were able to solder these very small chips. What is the technique in this small space?

 

Hi. Reference the overhead console display chipsets that need soldering to repair a dim display. Do the smaill chipsets have solder across the entire end or are there individual posts that need soldering? I found one end of a 680 chipset loose and pushed it down where it felt like it snapped into place. It worked for awhile but went dim again after about 10 miles. I do not see any sign of wire posts on the backside of the circuit board. I could use a more detailed explanation of just how to solder them in.
Thanks.

 

The 680 chips appear to be little resistors without leads. A sloppy but solid cold solder joint was enough for me to correct the problem - for 1,000 miles or so now.

Note that it was useful to take my fingernail and flick on each of them to find if they were borderline "loose". Yes, six (6) of them flaked right off. It may be best to give 'em all a flick and (re)solder ALL of them to the surface of the conductor. Your mileage may vary.

 

Well...after cruising around without mine working for a couple years now I decided to fix it. 10 minutes start to finish. Should have done this a long time ago. Thank you for the write up.

EDIT:

I should also mention that one of my 680 chips was missing. I soldered the other two that were loose back in place and left the other one missing and the overhead console still works fine.

 

Well after deciding the soldering was too difficult without the mysterious "soldering pen" I sent mine out. It was returned to me in exactly one week. As soon as the temperature in SC drops below 100 I will go out and reinstall the display and see how it works.

Let you know.

 

The chip's legs needs solder individually. I used a soldering pen which has a very small point so I didn't spread the heat out to places not needed or get the chip to hot. Something very close to this.
Amazon.com: Weller SP23LK Marksman 25 Watt Soldering Iron Kit: Home Improvement
Ever since I fixed mine at the beginning of this thread, I have had no issues. (knock on wood)

 

Thanks for the info on the soldering Iron/Pen. I sent mine out to Auto Clock Repair. They sent it back repaired fo $34.95. The temperature outside dropped a hair at 5:30 PM so I went out and reinstalled the display. Voila! Everything works again and the display is bright.

I probably could have done it for half as much if I bought the soldering iron and the solder and had a steady enough hand to make the connection. It just seemed too delicate for me to make a good solder joint on these small chips.

Thanks to everyone for the info.

 

Thanks to BenLowers for the reply. I had a TV tech look at it today and there is some question about a capacitor also plus one of the resistors fell completely off. I decided to sent it to the speedometer guy in Winona, Mn. for a quick repair. FTE looks like a great place to mingle but this is my first time to do a forum. Sure don't know what i'm doing.

 

i went to pull it down today while i was stopped at a street light and after the first 2 clips came undone it started working so i just pushed that bad boy back up and called it a day!! hahaha

guess it needed a little kick start!!

 

What goes up will come down...when it fails again. Track down a soldering pen or plan on spending $35.00.

 

I'm trying to pull it down right now but I can't find the 2 L clips inside the storage compartment can anyone gimme a idea/ heads up on where they are

 

As I recall the big thing is the hold down screw in the center of one of the compartments. I think the clips are only in the front sides.

 

I have an '05, there is 1 screw inside the "sunglass compartment".
Once you take the screw out, pull down on the BACK of the overhead,
there is 1 clip back there. Then you can pull down on the FRONT
of the console and get the 2 up front to unclip.

I put some pictures in my Album/Gallery.

 

Thanks I'll try that as soon as I'm done sweating from just walking inside. Lol

 

I second the sending out to Auto Clock Repair dot com. I am a computer geek, but an electronics solderer I am not. I sent it to him for the lower price of his option, $34.95 and it cost about $7.00 to ship it to him. He had it returned in less than a week including the weekend. The second plus was he guarantees it for life.

This was my first tip that I took away from this forum since I have been lurking around in here before May of this year while I was looking for my new-to-me Ex. All of your pictures and stories made me really jealous. I then joined after I purchased my Ex on May 10th, 2011!!! There are many more things that I want to take away from the forum but got to let the cash flow settle down a tad bit after the initial purchase.

Thanks in advance to all of the ideas that I am going to take away from here... which is a lot!