Overhead Compass/Temp Fix

Fixed my display today after seeing this thread, thanks.

 

I'm not sure if this has been addressed earlier in the thread, but... I took mine out as per the instructions, and after a considerable/unfortunate amount of time and confusion, I found no damage to the resisters. I ended up taking it in to my local electronics repair guy and after taking a look under his microscope he found a considerable amount of corrosion on one of the other connections. Cleaned it off and sure enough worked like a charm! I hope this helps anyone who has a similar problem and prevents them from spending 100$+ trying to fix it!

 

The 2nd time around, as my resistors were coming undone again, I noticed the display would dim as I was driving, but the compass/temp still seemed to work correctly. So I'm going to assume the resistors that fail only deal with illuminating the display.

 

My turn I guess. A few months ago, my overhead display stopped working. Then as if by magic after playing with the on-off button a few times to see if I had inadvertently shut it off, bingo, it worked. I assume I had pushed the off button. So it worked fine for a few months. Now a few days ago, I got in my truck and merrily went on my way. I had a bit of a load in the back so I went to adjust my mirror and off went the display. Hummph? So as I cruised down the highway at 70 mph, I started playing with the mirror. After a few moves of the mirror the display went on. I played with the C-F selector and so forth and everything worked OK for a few minutes. Then it went off again. So I pulled off the little cover for the wires up into the headliner over the mirror and jiggled that wire bundle. The display went on for a few minutes. Then after a couple-few minutes it sort of dimmed for a very short time (seconds) and off it went, never to work again. I found this thread and took the whole thing apart. Good instructions. Looking at the 510 resistors, everything everywhere looks fine, no loose anything, no corrosion on any connectors, no nothing out of the ordinary. So I now assume either the resistors need soldering or something else (I have an 09) is shot. Seems mine lasted a lot longer than other folks'. Finally, here's my question: I looked through a lot of the posts (12-15 pages) and there are lots of comments about soldering the 510 resistors. I can't find any pics of how folks did that. Those suckers are small (< 1/4 inch by something smaller). I am not concerned about beauty but does anyone have a photo of how/what/where they did the soldering? Or describe it? I figure at this point its worth a try. Just as other people noted, everything in my board looks fine but it doesn't work.

 

Fixed it today. After a close as I could see inspection with a magnifying glass, it looked like maybe one of the 510 solder joints was iffy. I saw a couple of YouTube videos and gobbed on some solder as neatly as I could Plugged everything back in and presto. Thanks for all the posts. Toyota ought to be ashamed of their neglect for issues like this.

 

FWIW: After my solder repair, it appears the display is brighter. Maybe I am crazy but my wife commented it looked brighter and I think I agree. Is it possible that a 'failing' solder joint would cause dimness? At any rate, the repair has held for a couple of days so I am happy, and my wife had to admit I am very clever. I have come to believe that there is almost no problem that someone has not solved. The trick is to find the person who 'went there before you'

 

TW membership is a sure ticket to get the 'tricks'

 

Success. Harbor Freight soldering gun $3.99 and a youtube crash course in soldering and I know the temp and direction I'm heading again!

 

yah, mine did that too, I found that the one end of the resister had come unsoldered and was slightly moving on and off of where its suppose to go, it needed resoldering.

 

Great fix. Unfortunately my soldering is terrible and I've had to redo it 4 times. Can't get it to work on the 5th attempt.

 

I had to redo mine once so far, now I just leave it off by default and then just switch it on when I want to see the temp and then back off again, that way it dont build up heat and come undone again.

 

Sent mine to this guy after a few months success of my own repair it failed again turns out the conductive ends of my resistors were all but burnt off for 16$ fee it was not worth the frustration for me to fool with it, He replaced the resistors and did a much prettier job than I could dream of doing myself, he was very nice as I called him to ask a couple ?s and it was return shipped the following morning after he received it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2005-2006-2...-REPAIR-/142178993793?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

That was my situation when I found Toyota offered an updated circuit board. See my post #1922

 

I had mine repaired a year ago. For $16.00 I couldn't go wrong.

 

Tell me more. Can't find that post

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/overhead-compass-temp-fix.18497/page-97#post-15020407

 

Like xJuice said
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/overhead-compass-temp-fix.18497/page-97#post-15020407

 

With this thread being so old, do you still have the pics ? I'm pretty sure I have the jest of it, however, in step #7 can you tell me what clips you're referring to, or are they hidden? Thanks for the info. Just bought this TRD 5 days ago, and this and the mirror's is the only thing wrong with it.

 

I sent mine to the repair guy on EBay last year... $16.00 well spent. When you pop out the upper sunglasses holder there are 2 small silver clips. They will probably fall out after you pull down on plastic. There is a video on his repair site on removal.