hey i have the radio that has all of the problems too with the display. i took it to the electronics class and they have been working on it, but the teacher would like a diagram, or skanamic SP?? for the inside of the radio. if anyone knows where to find one or has one, i would greatly appreciate it so i can get my radio back. sucks having no display, but sucks even worse without a radio while there fixing it.

 

Thanks much to everyone posting info about the Radio Display problem. I have a 1999 Explorer with the same problem.
Re-slodering the power board didn't work for me so I ordered the new ones from Speed-O-Tach (price has gone up to just over $100). I only had to replace the one board (it seems a waste to have to buy 3 ckt boards when only one is bad but it's worth it) and it's FIXED!
Thanks again.

 

Additional information about my experience fixing this problem on the radio with CD player and RDS feature (this radio is shown on the shareamemory.com web site).
Initially I had an intermittent problem that most of the times would go away when pressure was applied on the radio faceplate. Eventually the problem became solid and no amount of pressure would make the display reappear. Based on this symptom I was pretty sure the problem resided physically close to the faceplate,
I opened up the radio removing the faceplate first and I looked for the "narrow display power board" as described in other threads, but I could not find it, and at any rate I did not think my problem was in a board that was physically separated from the faceplate, so I concentrated my search on the faceplate board on the opposite side of the faceplate.
I used a pick (similar to a dental pick dentists use) to gently (very) pry each side of the discrete surface mount componets. I did the same for the integrated circuits gently sliding the pick over the pins listening for sound disparities and watching for any movement of the pins. The integrated circuits were solidly soldered, however one of a pair of resistors, labeled R164 and R165 (I think 130 Ohm resistors) had a loose terminal. I resoldered all 4 terminals for these two components and the problem wes resolved.
The shareamemory.com web site describes the tools you'll need for this repair, namely the 15/30W soldering iron, the Torx bits T8 and T10, and .015 or .022 rosin core solder. You can get all this at Radio Shack for <$30.
Hope this helps. Cheers

 

Go to here ; Radio display problem - Ford Explorer Ranger Enthusiasts "Serious Explorations"®

 

Hello, this is Brent at 1 Factory Radio. The best solution for display lights going out in Ford Explorers is to get a new DC to DC Converter, because this part was usually responsible for display malfunctions due to its own inherent deisgn flaws. We offer our own brand of DC to DC Converter for Ford Explorers and many other Ford vehicles from the late 90's to the early 2000's. Pioneer no longer makes these parts, but ours are 40% less expensive than the ones that Pioneer was selling. These are high-quality, newly manufactured pieces which have been specifically engineered to correct the design flaws which caused the originals to malfunction prematurely, and they come with a full-color instruction manual for easy installation. You can purchase them from our eBay site, Truck Radio, iPhone Input items in Car Radio store on eBay!, and also on the 1 Factory Radio website, www.1factoryradio.com.

 

I had success with gotsolder at gmail.com. He fixed mine for a very fair price. No need to buy a new one. My truck is too old for new parts

 

Thread is old like many on radios. I did not see any with later dates without lots of time searching. Quick tip for those who resolder cold solder joints. I have repaired and modified hundreds, if not thousands, (nope, not millions!) of MB/CB's. Many had those very small components. I found it worked much better, especially on really small joints to use a tube/can of paste (rosin core. Not plumbing ACID core!) Put a small amount flux on the end of a wooden toothpick and apply it lightly to the joint first. That allows the cold solder joint to flow without having to heat joint up enough to make the flux and solder on the roll flow to the joint. Applying some flux paste to the iron tip and wiping on a small wet sponge helps clean the tip (weller soldering station) Plus you dont have to wind up with a glob of solder that may flow to close joins or excessive heat to the component. sometimes a small alligator clip can clip to the component to help absorb heat away from component. Yes, small soldering iron (I used a weller soldering station for years). Most circuit people probably already know this. Surprising how many do not.
Hope this helps !!

 

I recall talking to gotsolder@gmail about simply re-flowing the solder. That is a short term fix - YMMV. For it to last, you really need to remove the components, clean off all the old solder and re-solder new components with longer legs which fixes the heat dissipation issue. In addition, there's several other surface mount components that are really tricky for a novice to re-solder because they are so small.

 

Yes, the best is to remove component and clean tracing, If it is not feasible to simply apply some flux paste then how is it to do all this ? Soldering small components is beyond what most people want to do, or can do, especially on older vehicles. I have done many, many (did I say many ?)circuit boards (had to work with a desk mount/lighted magnifier because of small size for most of them). I can tell you that resolder will work in 99 % of the cases. It is possible to resolder and minimize heat to the component. Some small resistors do not have legs to insert through circuit boards, They only have end caps that are pretinned to solder to the tracing. Applying paste to the board first greatly reduces the time the iron is on the connection and keeps from puddling that usually occurs when just using solder with a flux core. In fact, applying paste to a cold joint most of the time does not require any more solder, it will allow the solder to flow. If this gets too complicated then it probably is more feasible to just buy a new board for 85 bux (I saw a board for 85 bux somewhere in a post).