Radio Display Fix

I've been having problems with my radio and HVAC display going out. Sometimes it would be blank, sometimes the contols wouldn't respond. It's happened very rarely, maybe every 6 months or so for the last couple years, and went away quickley. Last month the problem appeared and would happen every day. Every time the car was warm, the display wouldn't work. Once the car cooled down, it worked. Pressing on the faceplate would help sometimes. You can find more descriptions of the problem here...

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/stereo-and-ac-display-going-blank-wtf-137260p2.html?&highlight=radio+display+fix

 

I finally got the chance to check into the problem last night. I removed the stereo, then removed the face. The face is a separate part from the actual unit, and plugs in via two connectors, one black and one white. I inspected everything, and didn't see anything obviously wrong. I cleaned the connectors with air, and put overything back together, hoping it was just a bad connection at the plugs. It didn't, my problem was worse. Now the radio was blank, the hvac screen was jibberish, and the defrost and rear defrost lights on the buttons stayed lit. No controls worked. Somehow I made it worse. I pulled the stereo back out, and pulled the face off. Now the problem was obvious. The black connector pulled completely free of the circuit board on the face, and was still plugged into the unit. I brought the board down to a local audio shop, and they had it soldered back on in 5 minutes. I reinstalled everything, and it works as good as new. The connector that came loose has 10 pins on it. It is the one right behind the spot I could push on the face to get the display to reappear. It must have had a few pins that were broken loose, and just resting in the board. The problem was not obvious until the connector came off completely. If you are having problems with your display, it only takes a few minutes to take everything apart, and any electronics repair shop should be able to fix it.

Good find! Mine's gone blank a couple times now, and usually requires a restart of the car to get it to come back. Thanks for digging into the problem!

Good find! Mine's gone blank a couple times now, and usually requires a restart of the car to get it to come back. Thanks for digging into the problem!

 

Me too. And it hasn't screwed up in over a year so I'm just going to leave it alone.

Thanks for finding this. I'm glad to hear that you found a solution.

 

Mine does it ever time it's very warm out. I can push on the display and get it working again though.

 

This all started when I put in my Jazzy ipod adaptor. But, I wouldn't trade that for a little inconvienence.

I've been having this problem also. Were your stereo controls unresponsive at times too?

The guy I bought my LGT from mentioned this problem, but I have yet to experience it. He lived in Atlanta and I live in Seattle though....

 

 

Thanks for finding a fix!

Wow, this must be a bad design. It has happened to me twice as well. Good find!

Great post! Thank you!

happened to me three times yesterday. got the jazzy mod too... 103 degrees F outside... it's a bad solder?

Great post! Thank you!

+100, mine has glitched twice but not in a year now.

Next time I'm cleaning the cabin filter that baby is gonna get new solder joints!

Thanks for finding this. I'm glad to hear that you found a solution.

 

Mine does it ever time it's very warm out. I can push on the display and get it working again though.

 

This all started when I put in my Jazzy ipod adaptor. But, I wouldn't trade that for a little inconvienence.

 

I've seen this happen to another person. When they re-assembled the radio, they didn't push the radio faceplate to the stereo box properly, and the interface didn't get a proper connection.

 

Sounds a lot like that's happening for you too.

Fantastic.

 

Mine just died again, but this time the HVAC doesn't work at all!

 

Fortunately warranty is covering it, but I am happy to have a solution if/when this one goes.

How many miles were your cars when this happened? Mine is at ~33k and is happening more and more. Hopefully taking it to the dealer today and have them and hopefully fix it before the warranty runs out.

My girls car is experiencing this problem right now. Roughly about 37k miles on it. Its an '05 as well. The display is totally out but yet the blower is still pushing out cold air. Would you say this is the same problem as you all have? I'd rather not take it to the dealer and plus it will give me something to look at once I get home.

 

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Jesse

When I was experiencing this issue, I gave the area in the middle right above the climate display a firm push and it stopped the flashing of the displays.

Well, for the flashing of my unit it seemed to go away by itself and never replicated itself there after. The volume control haphazardly working was the semi-consistent thing. They couldn't figure it out at the dealer so they just replace the unit under warranty.

On mine, I finally figured out how to remove the faceplates and screws holding the radio in. I could find no loose wires or connectors, including the black one behind the faceplate. All looked good... until I spotted what appeared to be a burnt surface-mount resistor on the faceplate's circuit board. The resistor was blown in half and was unreadable. It was in parallel with another resistor that, though not blown in half, measured infinity (open) with an ohmmeter. These were labeled R938 and R940 on this circuit board. Both devices were smoked sufficiently to prevent me from reading the lettered value, so I did a W.A.G (Wild Afterburner Guess) and soldered in 2 1000 ohm resistors to replace the smoked units, figuring this value was high enough to avoid damage if they weren't the correct value. This means 500 ohms resistance at this point, and the radio AND display now work dandy with sufficient illumination to read in daylight. When I began to reinstall the radio, I noticed a clanking of something loose inside.... took off the metal case lid on the bottom and found a COPPER PENNY rattling loose inside. Thus suspecting a kiddo popped a penny into the CD slot and this likely resulted in smoking the resistors involved. Anyway, now working...... still praying with fingers crossed.

Anybody have an issue with the fan door stuck shut? Like the fans are on but nothing from the vent?!?!

Nice will have to check about this as well.. radio display is blank but works, HAVC controls work and the display works on that with no gibberish on it.

Im having this issue now with my car. Gonna pull it apart tomm and hopefully its a simple fix as well!

Had this happen to me for the first time ( I bought a used 05 LGT ).. owned it for less than two weeks

 

first cold morning (41F) and started it.

radio display blank but i push the radio power button on and off ( i could hear the static so i assumed it was turning on )

rear heater and rear defogger lights were blinking in sync with eachother

 

it came back on after the car was warmed up about 5 minutes later

 

if this becomes more frequent, i will look at this soldering solution

 

thanks