Overhead Compass/Temp Fix

I had the same problem. I took a pair of Channel Locks and crimped the clip tightly against the plastic tab. I had to angle the Channel Locks a bit (first one way, then the other), because they were wider than the plastic tab. Once you get that clip tightly secured to the plastic tab, they will secure the overhead console. I tried crimping them with needle nosed pliars, but I couldn't get enough leverage. The Channel Locks worked much better. BTW, my truck is approaching 6 years old. It started giving me problems about 6 months ago, but I bumped it with the palm of my hand and it started working again and didn't give me any more problems until recently. Found this post and it's now working great (for about 2 hours now). Hopefully it will hold up in spite of my soldering skills.

 

Thank you very much for the information provided. You rule!

I agree with the last two posters, those clips suck. Only trouble I had with the whole repair were those clips. I wanted to make sure that it fit tight like it was.

Again, THANK YOU VERY much for this information. Just before 50,000 miles when mine went. Saved me $$!

Thanks again!

Z

 

popping out the overhead unit was mad easy. however im at a standstill because the torx bit i have is too big. anyone have an exact size on what that torx bit is? hopefully ima copp it tomorrow. thanks.

 

I just used an metric allen wrench. The screws weren't very tight, so it wasn't a problem. Worked great.

 

^ same

 

T-10

 

Just fixed my display!! Re-soldering the 510's did the trick! Even though they looked fine to the naked eye, I went and did it anyways and it actually worked. Feels great when it only takes a few minutes to save yourself a couple hundred bucks!! Thanks SecretSquirrel for the post.

 

Hi all,
I'm Greg...operate a popular service for repairing accessory meters (the compass / temp display unit). I'm not here to advertise. The only reason I do the repairs is because it drives me nuts that Toyota won't repair these out of warranty, and then charge so much to replace a $25 part. Plus, I hate throwing away a fixable piece of electronic gear.

So, I thought I would throw my .02 cents in as far as advice for soldering and other related activities. Feel free to ask questions, I will answer as soon as I can. If you have a question that might help others, please don't pm me just ask in the forum. Thanks!

***

Item 1: I've read a few posts that suggest putting solder on the iron tip and transferring it to the circuit board that way. For the love of Yoda, don't do that.

Do this: keep a clean, shiny iron tip at all times. Wipe it with a clean damp paper towel or sponge frequently. Never have a drop of solder hanging on it.

The iron's purpose is the heat up the parts so that the solder will flow freely. This is the only way the solder will wick properly and give you a structurally sound connection. Basically, you want to press the tip right down so it is touching board *and* component (resistor, in this case). Then, immediately push your 60/40 solder into the mix. It's ok to use the iron to start the solder melt.

Item 2: 90% of the meters I receive have broken plastic tabs (the tabs the hold the plastic cover on). Don't be another victim...use a small flatblade to gently pop each tab just over the release until *all 4* are done. Then the cover will come right off.

Item 3: if you use your old resistors to do the repair, it will likely fail again soon. If you want to do it right, go to radio shack and get a couple 51 or 47 ohm wire resistors and put them on. Your old surface mount resistors are oxidized, and solder won't adhere properly. Plus, the lead wires will help with heat management.

Item 4: when soldering, you want to get in and get out quick. If your repair isn't shiny when done, your solder is oxidized and won't adhere well. It means it was overheated.

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck!

 

Found the broken connections and re-soldered them, if happens again I'll replace the resistors.

 

finally got around to fixing this. stopped at radio shack to replace the resistor, but he showed me some that didnt look like the 510 resistors. impatient, i went ahead and just soldered it (having put this off for 2 weeks due to not having the t10 bit). absolutely simple to correct the overhead compass issue. good looking out and big up to the author and any contributions made to this thread.

 

Thanks to Unseen for reminding me to update a few items. First, the '510' surface mount (flat, rectangular) resistors should be replaced with something different if you are a DIY'er. Use axial lead resistors. These are what you will find at Radio Shack, as they are very common and easy to solder. Note that '510' means 51 ohm, not 510 ohm.



The above image is what you are looking for. The color bands are also correct: the first green band indicates a '5', the brown indicates '1', and the black band is the multiplier; essentially indicating a 'multiply value times 1'. The gold band is its tolerance, which we don't really care about in this case.

To summarize, buy two resistors that look like the above and solder them in parallel.

 

One more item: if you use our service to repair your accessory meter, you will get $5 back for every friend you refer.

 

I will stop by radio shack soon.

Thanks siliconemethod, full of knowledge you are rep

 

Shame the OP is no longer here....
​

 

Where did he go?

 

Great write up!! i just noticed mine wasn't working...this is what i'll be doing this weekend.

 

the squirrel can be found at www.tacomaoffroad.com

 

Hey Silicon. I went out and bought a pack of those resistors pictured. There were multiple options 1/2 watt and 1/4. I bought both. Could you be a bit more specific about how I go about soldering them on there? Which should i use, the 1/4 watt? Do I need to solder two for every chip that I remove? Or is it just one per chip? Kinda unclear when you say to solder them on parallel. Also you mentioned I could get the 51 or 47, since they did not have the 51 at RS I got the 47's, is this a problem? Sorry for the million questions , Im obviously no electrical whiz. Thanks!

 

"Hey Silicon. I went out and bought a pack of those resistors pictured. There were multiple options 1/2 watt and 1/4. I bought both. Could you be a bit more specific about how I go about soldering them on there? Which should i use, the 1/4 watt?"

Hey! Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I would recommend the 1/4 watt; those are more than enough power handling for this purpose.

"Do I need to solder two for every chip that I remove? Or is it just one per chip?"

It is a one to one ratio, so you will be removing two old ones and installing two new ones. Once you remove the old resistors, you will see four solder pads. They are rectangular in shape. Go ahead and put a little bit of solder on each one, just enough to tack the new resistor leads on. Once you have tacked both ends of both resistors, you can go back and solder them on properly...using a tool to hold the lead in place, as it will get hot quick (and it will try to move as the tack solder melts, so you need to hold it there)

"Kinda unclear when you say to solder them on parallel. "

All this really means for you is that when you look at the cruddy drawing I made of how the new resistor leads go: see how the lead wires of both resistors are drawn close to each other on either side? Well, it's ok if these touch. In fact, you could solder them together if you want to (you don't have to though). In effect, you are giving two paths for the same current to flow through. Just like putting a dual exhaust on a vehicle (a true dual, where the header is split), it gives half the resistance to flow. Which is why the net resistance across these two resistors is 25.5 ohm instead of 51 ohm.

Now on the other hand if you laid out your resistors end to end and soldered them in (like one long resistor) you would have 102 ohms of resistance. In this case, you would say the resistors are in series vs parallel.


"Also you mentioned I could get the 51 or 47, since they did not have the 51 at RS I got the 47's, is this a problem? "

No problem really. Your net resistance will be 23.5 ohm vs 25.5 ohm for 51s, so your display will be slightly brighter. I suppose this could burn out the display sooner, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon. I would expect the display to outlast the truck assuming you do a good job of soldering.


"Sorry for the million questions , Im obviously no electrical whiz. Thanks! "


No problem...let me know if you have any more questions!

-greg