Overhead Compass/Temp Fix

Redo it after I fixed mine it broke again. Redid it and worked again. When you redo it add a little more sodder to all the connections

 

Re-did the "510"s and it works again, one of them looks like shit though. I understand the concept of heating the metal then melting the solder on but its such a small metal surface to heat for that connection. Maybe I just suck at it.

 

Great thread! Fixed mine.

 

I wonder if using some thermal paste and a small heatsink would stop the issue from happening again.

 

I will be trying the paste.

 

Using the radial type resistors would take care of the issue of heat as they are larger in heat capacity than the SMD resistors from the factory. A healthy glob of solder along each side does aid in cooling too.

 

Woohoo! Just pulled my truck out of 3 year storage and mine wasnt working. Never soldered in my life but fixed it!

 

Noticed mine wasn't workong the other day but couldn't remember how long it had been broken.. Googled & found this topic on the forums, even a video on YouTube.. Bought a $5 solder iron & some solder, spent 5 minutes removing console & circuit board, then soldering & it works again! Awesome tip!

 

my display doesn't work as well, would there by anything else that would cause the temp/comps to not work? just asking before i start taking things apart

 

Most likely both resistors need a bead of solder along each side.

 

Attempted to re-solder mine today. No luck. It's been over 10 years since I've soldered anything though. Seemed like I was getting the old stuff to melt, but it would just harden without making a connection. I ended up sacrificing an old RAM stick for one of the ceramic chips to keep pressure on the two 510 resistors. I'll see how long this 'fix' lasts.

 

Pulled mine down to fix it. Unfortunately, one of my "510"s is gone. Off to silicon method it went.

 

If you can't find the right resistor to replace a "510" 51 ohm resistor, grab a 1/4 w 47 ohm resister at radio shack and solder it in. See my photos on p 68-69 here. Repair good and going on two years now.

 

Just did both of mine, what a pain in the ass.
One resistor was completely detached, I guess I was lucky to find it. It was pretty tricky getting it to stay in one place to solder the first side, but I managed to hold it with a piece of rubber left over from my leaf spring gasket and a clamp.
Those things are so tiny, soldering job ended up looking like shit but it was solid and effective.

 

Thank you very much for this info!! My 2008 tacoma just did this. I'm going to try to fix it
Thanks again

 

Gonna add one more vote that the right way to permanently fix this resistor problem is to remove the two surface mount 510s, cleaning off all the old solder and replace with two of the standard axial style ones. The ones with wires on each end. This will get the resistors up and off of the board plus they probably will have a higher rated heat/power disipation limit. The Radio Shack 47 Ohm ones mentioned previously do.

I believe that the member on here offering to fix these for a nominal charge is doing exactly that and his is very reasonable price for someone like me that is not experienced with soldering.

In my case, a friend who is a master level electronics technician fixed mine after I had gone through the quick fix twice. He even replaced the 2 510s with 3 x 75 ohm resistors (yielding the same 25 Ohms as 2 x 50). So that splits the total current three ways for even greater margin.

 

I fixed the one I have with this tip. Thanks!!! When I was looking for a bad solder I could see a bad connection. So I soldered the 510 resistor anyway. So , even it if seems fine, hit it with the soldering gun anyway. Thanks so much!

 

Just did the fix for the second time on mine after (had some practice with soldering the second time). Worked for a day, then went out again. I know I have a good solder joint. Not sure why it went out for good... again...

Can the resistors go bad or something?

 

I believe they can after a while. Pretty sure one of mine was bad because we couldn't get a good Ohm reading through it and it was darker looking on the outside. From what many others have said above, the 510s are very marginal heat capacity for the amount of current being put through them with this circuit design. Evidenced by many folks reporting they get VERY hot.

Sounds to me like best case, for almost everyone reusing the original 510s, is the solder joints come loose again and again. I know mine did at least twice with me and I also found evidence the previous owner might had taken the display out at least once.

 

I have a couple of 47 ohm and 52 ohm
I guess I should use the 47's?