Sorry for what will turn out to be a long winded novel.......

Background: My 2004 Excursion had the very common ailment of a dim overhead console display like many Ford trucks of this vintage. I searched the forum to find a very nice write-up to repair the display myself. I have 28+ years of medical electronics to rely on for my soldering skills.

I printed out the how-to, followed the instructions to the letter, re-installed my display then bingo! the display was a nice brightish green once again. But alas, the device reverted back to it's previous former self AND it lost it's calibration. Once again I pulled the rascal out, spent more quality time with the soldering iron and magnifying glass. Re-installed the display and once again all was good with the world. For three weeks. Drat!

At this point I figured I needed to send this devil into someone with a little more experience and tools to diagnose then repair. Trust me it was hard to throw in the towel. After more research on this and a few other trusted forum boards I decided to go with a company called MyAirBags out of Winder, GA. Many had positive reviews and they also sold through E-bay.

I took the plunge to purchase their repair service through E-bay with high expectations of a speedy repair. On March 12 I sent them my display. On March 18 I received notice they had my display. On March 19 they sent out notice my display was shipping out. They advertise 24 hour turn around.......nice!

I received my display on March 23. On March 24 I installed my newly refurb'ed jewel back into the Excursion. I have this routine down to a science now! A few minutes later, twist the key to On and..............nothing. The display is completely dead. Needless to say I went back to check all the connectors/fuses, but the end result is I am now the proud owner of a door stop.

Date stamp: March 24; I sent the MyAirBags folks an email (It was Sunday). I waited to see what would happen. On March 26 I received a reply, "We will have the technician contact you." Wait Mode: ON

March 27: I see a Fedex Ground truck pull up. Dude comes up to the door to tell me he has a pick-up order from MyAirbags. Gee thanks MyAirBargs technician for "contacting" me. I scrambled to pack the door stop, I mean display, into a box then hand it to the Fedex guy. Wait Mode: ON

March 29: I receive a notice, "Your package has been received!" Wait Mode: RESUME

April 4: I call MyAirBags to find out what is going on. I spoke to very polite and helpful Customer Service rep. She tracked down the technician then was told he "thinks" the door stop, I mean display, is ready to ship. She comes back on the phone to tell me the news. She also stated the technician will call me back. Wait Mode: ON

April 8: I received a notice, "Your package has been shipped!". Wait Mode: DITTO ( Whatever happened to 24 hour turn around AND my return call?)

April 12: I received my display, hallelujah! Back out to the garage to install this golden little jewel once again. A few minutes later, a twist of the key......still dead! Okay, enough is enough. I dug out the wiring diagrams to determine, and cover my donkey, if my Excursion is the cause or this troublesome little device. I thought of every aspect. I checked each wire, connector, ground, etc. just to make sure my 28+ years of electronics background was not a major waste of time. My motto at work is "never ignore the obvious". As best as I can tell this door stop is living up to it's nickname. Wait Mode: Eternally ON

April 15: I call MyAirbags once again to plead my case. To their credit the Customer Service rep. and their Supervisor were very helpful. They put the Manager on the phone who offered to refund my full amount I paid for their "service". They also offered to find a replacement for me. I thought what the heck, what do I have to lose? Wait Mode: Still ON

April 19: I received notice, "Your package has shipped!" You guessed it: Wait Mode ON

April 23: I received a pretty package with a brand new overhead console display! Imagine that, my luck is changing, right? Guess again.....the display they sent starts with P/N# 3C3T not 3C7Z....uh oh! The display they sent fits F-series trucks with no sunroof. No big deal? Wrong. The display is physically different and the connector is also completely different from the Excursion. Drat!

I once again called MyAirBags. Once again a polite Customer Service rep. forwarded me to the Manager. I was very hopeful I could resolve this in one phone call....ring..ring.."Hello you have reach the desk of..." Will this nightmare ever end? I left a very polite message with my new BFF to let him know the part he sent may be new but as useful as a door stop for my Excursion. Wait Mode: ON and ON and ON.

April 24: No callback from MyAirBags so I called yet again. Once again another very pleasant rep. on the other end. I once again explain my situation. Her reply was, The power is out I cannot look up your account or reference numbers. Please give me your phone number so I can call you back.? Arrrrggggghhhh!

So now let's see if she follows up on her statement.

****Update**** I finally got someone from this business to call me back! They asked me. "What exactly is my problem here? We tried to fix it...twice. Refunded your money then we sourced a brand new one at a cost of $200"

My reply, "You are correct, but what you sent me is a brand new piece of worthless crap for my application." After a few more minutes of conversation the representative told me they were going to issue a pick-up for the "replacement" part and contact the manager. Once that shiny piece of doo-doo is out of my house I am hitting up a few FTE supporters in hopes of scoring the correct part.

 

I got nothing to aleviate your pain, but that was a down right hilarious account. I'm still chuckling.

 

I assume when you hooked it back up, you hit one of the buttons in attempt to wake it up? Last time I fixed mine I had to hit the buttons a couple of times before it woke up.

 

Great question and assumption...Yes I pushed a button, then buttons, one then the other...then the other then the one and both. No worky. This is supposed to be a plug-n-play event.

The whole chain of events is so bizarre.

 

I am guessing that you haven't figured out that display is worthless for anything outside of telling the outside temp. which of course you can do by just rolling down the window.

DOE

 

Too bad you don't still have that "$200" replacement. YOu couldve sold it on the marketplace section and then bought a refurbished one on ebay for $50.

-The Great

 

I have figured out the compass display is handy when the wife is driving. The MPG calculation display is running within +/- 0.3 MPGs from real world calculations based on miles driven and gallons to fill-up the tank.

Outside temperature? It's worthless for that. On my Excursion the outside temperature is displayed on the HVAC controls.

I'm sure your response is a bit of sarcasm, but I like to have all the features on my vehicles work as they came from the factory

 

If I could have found a refurbished display on $50 on E-bay I would have started there. Trust me, I searched all over the web to find something cheaper than the $200+ for a new one.

I went down the repair service path in hopes of actually getting mine refurbished. Then this nightmare started and kept on going.

 

sarcasm, yes. I can't fault you for wanting it to work as it was intended. just keep in mind, they don't call it the "lie-o-meter" for nothing.

DOE

 

And the saga continues............

After I spoke to the nice service rep on April 24 I sent them back the shiny new, but wrong, display and included my now worthless original display they destroyed. They wanted to have the correct part in hand so they could make sure they sourced the correct one.

Fast forward to May 13..........I received a package from the "nice' folks at MyAirBags. Of course no one ever called to update me on sourcing a new, or a properly rebuilt, display. I opened the package to find my trashed display in the box. I knew it was my original one because I marked it. There was an packing slip with "F350 Display Repair - No Charge" inside. So I went through the well practiced routine of dropping the overhead console, plugging in the display, then finding it still does not work.

Of course none of this was a big surprise. I went through the paces to verify I have power and a good ground at the connector. This time I also rigged up a power supply in my office to see if the troublesome display would spring to life.....sadly it was still dormant and in "door stop" mode.

Once I again I started to sift through E-bay and a few CL ads to see if I could find a for-sure fit overhead display without a wallet biopsy. After a few hours of frustration I gave up on that quest.

I had a few other repair services bookmarked so I went back through them to find one that specifically states they fix other peoples' mistakes so I am now in the process of giving it one more try. I figured at this point it was worth a shot to get a second opinion before spending ~$200 for a new one.

Wait Mode: Still on and on and on and...

 

rla2005

I used a service like that when I first got my X 1 1/2 years ago and it has worked since. Dont remember the name but it was from Ebay and a place in Florida. Good luck

 

I used this one on E-bay this time: NFTPR Truck Parts Repair Service out of Ft. Lauderdale. I hope they can repair this beast

 

that might be the one I used it cost about 25-30 bucks

 

Sounds like the same one to me. I sent my door-stop display to them earlier today via Priority Mail. I hope they can salvage the damage the other "repair service" inflicted on this innocent circuit board. Electrons are a terrible thing to waste

 

Update: I received my repaired display in the mail today. Since I have the R/R procedure down to a 5 minute job these days I promptly went out to install my "door stop". Within a few minutes I turned the key to the On position.........and we have a display again!

Finally, someone who can offer a service and deliver a working display. Good riddance to those MyAirBags folks. I was so worried those folks ruined mine beyond repair. Now onto the next repair/upgrade.

Wait Mode: Off