I've been having an issue, for quite sometime, with the display on my radio. 99% of the time it doesn't work at all. Everything else works fine, except the display. I've read that this is a common problem in Ford stock radios. Anyway, I took the radio out and got the faceplate off to check the circuit board underneath for any loose resistors or melted solder points. I really couldn't find any major problems so I just cleaned the circuit board the best that I could and checked to make sure nothing was loose. I did notice a burn mark inside the display though. Well, after doing this, I plugged the radio back in and the display magically worked! Then I slid the radio back in and locked it into place. As soon as I did that, the display went out again! I pulled it back out, and pushed on the front of the radio in a certain spot, and the display came back on. It's been on ever since and I haven't locked it back in yet. Why would the display go out, just from locking it into place? And why would it work when I push in at a certain spot? Could that mean there is something loose on there and I just didn't catch it? Right now, I have it almost all the way in but not to the point where it's locked into place. Any advice would be appreciated on this! Thanks!

 

Sounds like a short in the radio wiring harness.

 

It sux. I have an 88 Ranger, no display, a 98 Explorer, no display. I had an 89 Escort, you guessed it, no display. My '01 Ranger knock on wood has it's display. I can't help you with yours but you're right, it is a common problem. I resoldered the board in my 98 Explorer ( I did see cold solder joints) but it didn't help.

 

Look in our "Tech Info" thread, located atop this forums thread listing page & scroll down to the "misc" section & find a link to fixing blank radio displays.

 

I did everything it said and the best I could do is get the display to work intermittently. I saw some burn marks on the board and inside the display so I pretty much gave up on it. I went out to Wal Mart and bought myself an inexpensive new stereo and installed it myself. I like it better than the factory one, so I guess it ended up working out, and I still probably paid a lot less for the new stereo than paying someone else to try and fix the old one.

 

you should change out the speakers too...I put in a Dual 200W MP3/CD player in my ranger, and I guess those cheap old paper speakers couldn't handle the power.. it shredded them.. and I don't play my music THAT loud.