Overhead Compass/Temp Fix

Found the thread and it worked just like described. Thanks so much! Easy repair and the images helped so very much. I would encourage annyone to give it a try!

 

Great post, did this fix today, only thing is the 510 resistors look a lot bigger on these pictures than they are in person!

 

I just had mine go out on my 08 TRD Sport. read this and tried it. Took Maybe 5 min. and it’s working again! Thanks for the write up!

 

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Just it again, on a friends Tacoma. She said it has not worked in over a year. She told me that Toyota said it would be a couple hundred to look at it and then probably a few hundred to fix.
It takes longer for the soldering gun to heat up then it does to do the fix. I love it! J

 

Are you kidding me? I'm clueless with stuff like this, but I did it in 15 minutes and it WORKED!!!

Thanks to everyone for being willing to take 30 seconds and pass on information to other owners to save them BIG BIG money ... This was INCREDIBLE!!!

 

Mad Props to the secret squirrel!! saved me dough and the annoyance of looking at a busted OAT gauge all the time!!!

 

Ok so I just did the repair again for the second time and again it works. However I did break off one of the 3 plastic clips that holds the device in place, I think they become brittle with age and heat. Speaking of heat the next time I have to pull the console out I'm going to stuff insulation between the roof and the circut board because I think it gets extremely F'ing hot in that area and that is causing the resistors to pop loose.

 

It can't get hot enough bettween the circuit board & the roff to melt the solder.
I think the problem is the heat given off the circuit board itself.

I don't think putting insulation between the board & the roof is such a good idea.

63/37: melts @ 361 °F
60/40: melts @ 361–374 °F
50/50: melts @ 365–419 °F
Lead-free melts @ 482 °F, depending on their composition.

 

Mine quit last week, took apart and the 510s looked normal - no separation of solder that I could see.

I re-did the joints on both 510s anyway and it worked perfectly.....thanks for the write-up!

 

If they're using RoHS-compliant solder, it might be a combination of heat from the 51-ohm resistors, and the natural brittleness of RoHS lead-free solder. Over time the joint may weaken and 'go bad' electrically.

 

Followed the instructions to the letter and it worked on the first shot back in the truck. Sorry I wasn't able to verify the 100+ temps around here but I'm pretty happy it cost me absolutely nothing to correct this.

Thanks to everyone that wrote this up and took pictures. This was about as easy as it gets.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if yoda's sub-contractors are using lead-free solder. A very large number of consumer and industrial electronics manufacturers have switched, especially in California. Lead-free is difficult to get right. That would explain the wide-spread problem with the solder on the resistors on the circuit board working for awhile, then failing.

 

I had the same situation as Natroknot. I took it out, could not find anything wrong, but soldered the 510's anyway and it worked. Toyota wanted $147.50 for the part, and after struggling to solder the tiny 510 chip it started to sound like a deal. I am glad I did it myself though. Great write up again. This site is awesome!

 

Thanks! Worked great

 

I'm new to this forum, as a matter of fact, this compass/temp problem is what actually brought me here after researching this issue.

I have a 2006 and the display went out a few months ago, so I visited my local dealer. What a complete waste of time. He informed me that he's had several with this problem and it would require a new unit to the tune of about $1,100. Obviously, I didn't jump on that deal.

So, I ran across this forum and after pulling my console down and inspecting, I found one of my 510 chips was completely off. Luckily I found it and soldered and viola', good as new.

Just wanted to sincerely thank everyone for this forum and help, what a great resource. Maybe someone should require the Toyota service managers to be members, they just might learn something instead of simply replacing parts at the expense of their customers who are unfortunately becoming victims of a great company reputation and degrading quality control.

 

Thanks to All. Another 2007 Taco fixed.

Thanks for the pics ... great help.

Took 15 minutes

 

Repaired my '06 TRD Sport SWB just a few minutes ago. Many thanks to the original poster, and to all who offered additional advice.

Took maybe 10-15 minutes total... 6 minute disassembly, 2 minutes soldering, and 4 minutes to reassemble. Worked first time, and I re-soldered all 4 connections. I did break one of the tabs getting the cover off, though... :^[

My local dealer wanted (get this) $1,600.00 to replace it. So I think I'll take my wife out for dinner tonight with all the money I saved... ;-]

 

Worked for me thanks!

 

Fixed this in april and it just stopped working again. It could be the 100+ degree weather that we've been having lately. I resoldered and it works fine but does anyone know a more permanent fix? maybe a different resistor. And would turning off the display when not needed help preserve the soldering job? I'm not too savvy with electricity but would the resistor still be used if the display is off?