LCD Problems

[glanrichbex]

Hi,

Not sure if this has been on here before.

A fading or partially fading LCD display / or missing segments on the display on the dashboard was casued by dry solder joints on the back of the main printed circuit board on the rear of the instrument unit.

When you give the dash a wallop they come back or get worse - quite random depending how many time you hit it.

An easy 2 minute resoldering session on the rear of the instrument panel rectified the fault and all is now well.

The solder joints is where the LCD displays connections to the main printed circuit board are. They are quite easy to identify, just heat each one up and re-apply solder.:thumb2

 

[firebobby]

I had that problem with my 2001 model but the 05 doesn't seem to be playing up...at the moment

 

[arcascomp]

Ah, the joys of the mk1, so little technology - good old fashioned wavy pointers on mine! :clap

 

[96terrano]

What is a dry solder joint:nenau

 

[arcascomp]

What is a dry solder joint:nenau

It's what stopped my drivers electric window working!

In case you're question was a genuine request for info, instead of a dig at those unfortunates with more dry joints in their dash than a skeleton;

A dry joint is where the solder has not properly bonded between the two parts in a circuit (or has been shaken lose as I think is usually the case here) resulting in the circuit only working when the two parts drift close enough to make contact. Hence the need to hit things to make them work! :thumbs

Dry joints usually look a bit duller than a good joint and often you can just make out a hairline crack between the 'puddle' of solder and the circuit board. Well it's always a puddle by the time I've finished

A quick reheat with a wee soldering iron and fresh solder flowed over the joint and all is well again.

 

[gazterrano]

Hi,

Not sure if this has been on here before.

A fading or partially fading LCD display / or missing segments on the display on the dashboard was casued by dry solder joints on the back of the main printed circuit board on the rear of the instrument unit.

When you give the dash a wallop they come back or get worse - quite random depending how many time you hit it.

An easy 2 minute resoldering session on the rear of the instrument panel rectified the fault and all is now well.

The solder joints is where the LCD displays connections to the main printed circuit board are. They are quite easy to identify, just heat each one up and re-apply solder.:thumb2

yep ive got same problem been like it over 7 mths now cos i was told cost £140 to replace , i have taken it out before thinking it may be bad connection but no ....thanks for your advice gonna get soldering iron remove it again forgotten how the thing works been that long since ..nice one:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs

 

[glanrichbex]

It's what stopped my drivers electric window working!

In case you're question was a genuine request for info, instead of a dig at those unfortunates with more dry joints in their dash than a skeleton;

A dry joint is where the solder has not properly bonded between the two parts in a circuit (or has been shaken lose as I think is usually the case here) resulting in the circuit only working when the two parts drift close enough to make contact. Hence the need to hit things to make them work! :thumbs

Dry joints usually look a bit duller than a good joint and often you can just make out a hairline crack between the 'puddle' of solder and the circuit board. Well it's always a puddle by the time I've finished

A quick reheat with a wee soldering iron and fresh solder flowed over the joint and all is well again.

That's about it in a nut shell :clap
Dry solder joints are a product of poor design where the mechanical connection is stressed by either the current flowing through it or the physical stress placed apon it e.g a heavy component supported only by its connections into the board. The joints may well have been good leaving the factory but this problem tends to develop over time.
There is a definitive layer between the solder and component leg, if the surface area is not sufficient the solder becomes more resistive to the flow of current and heat builds up causing the solder to break down at this point. Sometimes the surface of the component leg becomes tarnished especially where high voltages have been arcing across the bad connection and cleaning the connections before reapplying new solder may be necessary.

When you reapply the new solder, the oxidation in the old solder comes to the surface of the joint - some TV repair engineers insist on removing all the old solder first to inspect the joint surfaces before re-applying new solder.:thumbs

 

[rustic]

It's what stopped my drivers electric window working!

In case you're question was a genuine request for info, instead of a dig at those unfortunates with more dry joints in their dash than a skeleton;

A dry joint is where the solder has not properly bonded between the two parts in a circuit (or has been shaken lose as I think is usually the case here) resulting in the circuit only working when the two parts drift close enough to make contact. Hence the need to hit things to make them work! :thumbs

Dry joints usually look a bit duller than a good joint and often you can just make out a hairline crack between the 'puddle' of solder and the circuit board. Well it's always a puddle by the time I've finished

A quick reheat with a wee soldering iron and fresh solder flowed over the joint and all is well again.

This is the main problem with soldered joints and vibration, this is why crimped connectors work better than soldered connections.

Often components develop dry joints with the solder, and you often see a circular crack around the component leg, and if you grip the component, you can see the leg move.

The advice above is as good as it gets, so follow the advice.:clap:clap

 

[houfe2206]

oddly display on my 2000 t2 is spot on , however dials are on a permanent wobbler,im doing 110 mph stood still and revving at 9000 rpm, is there some sort of speed sensor on the gearbox which might be causing this or are my clocks fubarred as well?

 

[geoffdown]

oddly display on my 2000 t2 is spot on , however dials are on a permanent wobbler,im doing 110 mph stood still and revving at 9000 rpm, is there some sort of speed sensor on the gearbox which might be causing this or are my clocks fubarred as well?

the rest of my dash works well its just the speedo sometimes it works fine sometimes it stays at a set speed maybe its got dry joints will have alook soon

 

[houfe2206]

had a look at the back of my clocks, all seemed fine just want to know how fast(or slow)i'm going ,although not an mot fail.

 

[geoffdown]

had a look at the back of my clocks, all seemed fine just want to know how fast(or slow)i'm going ,although not an mot fail.

it will be now as new things came in after 1st of april:thumbs