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Airbag light...sometimes. Console problem?


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Do we need to be disconnecting the neg. terminal of the battery when doing this? Also, I took a look at it, and I dont see a way of getting the circuit board out of the car. Are you guys doing this soldering in the car? Does it tend to drip? Another thing, the connections that would need soldering are very small. Do you need to use a very thin solder here, or is all solder the same diameter? I know these are very basic questions, I know nothing about soldering, and hate the idea of paying a couple hundred bucks to replace this part, when all it needs is some solder. Edited by candt
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I ended up bringing my car to a Subaru dealer and paid $272 to have them replace the lamp assembly map. I'm not handy and I have two children under the age of 13 so I wanted to be absolutely sure it was done right. So far I haven't had any warning light issues.
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Do we need to be disconnecting the neg. terminal of the battery when doing this? Also, I took a look at it, and I dont see a way of getting the circuit board out of the car. Are you guys doing this soldering in the car? Does it tend to drip? Another thing, the connections that would need soldering are very small. Do you need to use a very thin solder here, or is all solder the same diameter? I know these are very basic questions, I know nothing about soldering, and hate the idea of paying a couple hundred bucks to replace this part, when all it needs is some solder.

 

It's always a good idea to disconnect the battery when working with anything electrical, that being said I didn't but I like to live dangerously. The circuit board is removable, you need to take all 4 screws out and disconnect the gray plug going to it and it'll be free. I certainly wouldn't want to solder it in the car, I don't like to live that dangerously :lol: It would be nice to have a fine tipped soldering iron, but I just used a normal one and it worked OK. I'm no pro at soldering either so I wouldn't worry too much about it, just keep the solder off the board to the best of your abilities and it'll work fine.

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picked up my used subaru a few weeks back and it's happening already.

 

I found a super quick fix for me alone.. shut the car off and turn it back on. but it comes on 40% of the time. annoying beyond belief but i'm sure when I start taking my car apart i'll fix it. Thanks for the insights to all. Wish that a 'great' company this is would make this fix themselves other than keep it there for years on end.

 

cheers

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I'm been getting the airbag light 80% of the time in the past couple months. This weekend I took the overhead panel apart and soldered the little board back together. No light this morning on the way to work!

 

Edit: I snapped a few pictures while fixing mine, for anyone who worries this repair is beyond them.

 

1. Remove the map light cover (pry on the sides with your finger nails)

2. Remove the two philips screws holding the panel to the roof.

3. Remove the panel (it has 3 prongs that hold it against the headliner on the front edge)

 

4. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/crazy_pilot/2008%20Legacy%20Spec%20B/IMG_1214-1.jpg

 

5. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/crazy_pilot/2008%20Legacy%20Spec%20B/IMG_1213.jpg

 

6. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/crazy_pilot/2008%20Legacy%20Spec%20B/IMG_1210.jpg

 

7. Re-solder any other components you feel like. I did D1, R1 (the 511 guy), and all the resistors on the other side.

 

8. Put back together!

 

You don't need much experience soldering to take care of this, I've only done it a few times myself. Let the iron heat up, melt a decent amount of solder onto the tip, shake/tap to remove the excess, and then place the tip against the joint you want to fix. Once the board heats up enough the solder will flow down. I basically filled the corners with a nice little dot of solder on each one.

 

Second edit: I'm sorry if that last picture is sideways, Photobucket shows it straight and then upside down if I use the "rotate" function. Meh.

Edited by Crazy_Pilot
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Excellent photos. They helped me out big time. I did this yesterday. First, I only soldered the 511 resistor, then put it back in, and it didnt fix it. Then I took it back out, resoldered the rest of the resistors on that side of the circuit board, and put it back in, and still nothing. I then took it out again, resoldered the resistors on the other side of the circuit board, and put it back in, and while driving to the store and home last night it worked. I am not convinced it is completely fixed yet, because it was kind of hit or miss before I worked on it yesterday. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didnt. If it continues to work correctly for a week or so, I will be convinced. The job itself is very doable, especially with the excellent photos. I just purchased my soldering iron last weekend, and had zero experience, and it was rather simple. It doesnt need to look pretty.
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I used the real thin stuff that showed a pic of a circuit board and found it pretty difficult to see it flow. If you have a staionary magnifying glass, it might be doable with the thin solder. The points to solder are much smaller than they appear in the pics so you might want to see the area you're working with first. I hope I don't have to do this again, but if I did, I'd go with a bit thicker solder.
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You probably don't even need to add solder, simply reflowing the existing solder is good enough. The existing solder will be a lead-free compound.

 

Fine gauge solder is ideal, and a fine tip soldering iron. Touch the iron to the pad, and quickly touch the solder to the pad next to the iron and you should get a quick reflow.

 

The hardest part about SMT rework is usually holding the circuit board firmly so you can use two hands.

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