More Effective Overhead Console Temp/Compass Fix

Hey Guys, So when I first bought my truck my Temp/compass display was not working, I looked into it and I found that if you simply take it apart and re-solder the broken end of the 51O resistor it would come back to life. I did this and it did work but, after about a week it had gone out again... So I gave it another try thinking maybe I didn't put enough solder. This time I made sure I did and it worked again. Another 2 weeks passed by and it died again. Hopefully this will help some that might also be experiencing this problem.

I googled some more and found another way to go about this, His name is Mike but he is not on the forum from what I can find. I figured I would follow what he did and show you guys.

To begin, You will need 3, 1 Watt 150 Ohms Resistors. (That pack of 4 cost a $1.19)
-Three 150 Ohm resistors in parallel makes one 50 Ohm resistor that can handle three times the power dissipation of the individual resistors. 50 Ohms is close enough to the 51 Ohm value of the original resistor(Words from Mike).
(This also means there wont be only 1 resistor taking all the heat causing it to fail)

Next Use your soldering iron to heat up the existing solder then get a needle or something small to pry up the existing 51O Resistor.


Now Do a Little Bending and soldering to link the 3 resistors together. Leave one with longer prongs so you can solder it back to the soldering points,and it should turn out looking like this..


Once your done put back together and give it a try..Mine worked
I emailed mike to see how effective this fix was and he replied "It has now been 2 years and still going this might be a permanent fix!"


Hope this alternate solution will be last time you have to fix the display!
Thanks!

 

Where or who did you go thru to find these resistors?

 

Any radio shack should have them.

 

Right on thanks

 

I went to Frys electronics since it was close but yeah i'm sure radio shack has them.

 

Still going strong, Usually the resoldering trick would have gone out by now.

 

This picture looks like you're making a flux capacitor!

The math makes sense... when you repaired your initial repairs a few times did it look like the solder had come loose??

 

Doing this Tuesday... I broke a 510 resistor and have had mine in a drawer for about 8 months lol

 

I recently did the same thing, almost. I used a couple of 1 watt 100ohm resistors because that's what my local Radio Shack had. All for $1.49. It's been working for a couple of weeks now.

 

If you're going to be doing this with those through-hole resistors, you should pack it full of hot glue. Those legs are NOT meant to hold the resistors in that manner, and there is a good chance that they will eventually vibrate off, potentially shorting out something else when it does so.

If it were me, I would stick with the surface mount resistors.

I'll tell you what the problem comes down to;
1) lead free solder used by the factory,
2) badly programmed robot soldering it in place. I'll say one thing about robotic circuit board assembly... they're very consistent. When they make a slight error, they can repeat it a billion times in absolute precision.
3) poor soldering skills by those repairing it.

Lead free solder is a royal pain in the a**. It is more difficult to solder with, and doesn't bond nearly as strongly as regular old leaded solder. Now along the same lines, just resoldering it and adding a bit of lead solder may not work, since the joint is already filled will lead-free solder. You need to clean that out first!

So get yourself some nice old fashioned 60/40, some rosin flux, and desoldering wick.

You have the option of trying to reuse the old resistor, or replacing it altogether. I'll give instructions on reusing it, so if you replace it, just leave out those steps.

1) Use the desolder wick to clean up the board's contacts. You can add some rosin flux generously to the board when you are doing this to improve the efficacy of the desoldering wick.
2) Re-tin the board with 60/40. That means laying down some new solder on it. Lots of flux and be generous with the solder.
3) Desolder it again like in (1).
4) Clamp the resistor lightly in a rubber-padded vice, and follow steps 1-3 on one side of the resistor.
5) Flip the resistor in the vice and follow steps 1-3 on the second side.
6) generously apply flux to the board, and lay the resistor in place.
7) smear more flux onto the resistor ends.
8) get something in place to hold that resistor. You don't want it moving while you are soldering it. A helper can be helpful for this, or a 3rd arm.
9) apply HEAT (soldering iron) until the flux melts and the component (and board) heats up, then apply solder until you see the filet of wet solder, remove iron.
10) get rid of your helper, who will no longer be helpful.
11) repeat step 9 on the second side.

 

I've posted the same advice on the main thread for this fix...please follow my advice here:
https://siliconmethod.com/diy-tacoma-display-repair-guide/

Using axial lead resistors as opposed to surface mount components will work fine, but don't use large 1/2 watt ones....they are too heavy. Remember, the board mounts 'upside down' with those resistors hanging.

 

Thanks for the help.
I don't have a radio shack around my area, but I found these on Ebay. Will they work?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4W-25-Wa...ab369b04c:m:m9jHFDy7ugQuef3Jk2-1TfA:rk:2:pf:0

 

As long as they add up to 51 oms, whether you use the method shown in this thread (3 150's in paralell = 50 ohms), or the standard method using one 51 ohm resistor.