Digital Dash Repair 89-94 Maxima

We repair digital dash that are dead or slow to come on. Visit

formatting link
for more info. Clocks and dig. climatecontrols too!

Reply to
Tom
Loading thread data ...

pass this one by news group persons, you can do all of this yourself .

just spend some time searching the net, the answers are out there

Reply to
NissTech

This is basically what happens to most. This is a fix for the 300zx's digital dash amp but this "cracked solder joints at the connector" is what causes most digital componet failures.

formatting link

Reply to
Steve T

Does this repair work for an intermittant climate control display in a Maxima 93 GXE.

Al Moodie.

Reply to
Al Moodie

Very likely will. The cables vibrate and transmit this vibration to the solder joints on the board where the conector pins attach. Honda fuel pump relays do this same thing, except on them it stops the car from starting!

Reply to
Steve T

Steve:

Thanks for your comments on this condition. Now, let's see if I understand it -- and I have a question.

I have a 93 Maxima GXE -- named, of course, Max. Max has the automatic climate control with the display that shows temp, fan speed, and mode (blowing in your face, on your feet, whatever). 3-4 years ago the display started acting up -- it would not come on, it would come on. It was temperature sensitive (would not come on in hot weather), then it was not temperature sensitive. Sometimes is comes on, most often it does not, frequently when it comes on it is dim, maybe gets to normal brightness.

I know about bad solder joints, vibration, and the like and I have thought that perhaps I need to pull out the display, check it carefully under my big lighted magnifier, and touch up the solder joints here and there -- I have temp controlled soldering pencil with a variety of tips and I have done a lot of soldering, even on SMT devices..

So -- is this what I need to do?

And, for the big question: How do I get the temp control display out without ripping up the dash?

THANK YOU.

Reply to
Joe S.

Yep, I'd just reflow every joint to the pins that conect to the cables/harness even if you don't see anything, can't hurt and that is where the problems always are.

Reply to
Steve T

I have the same car and the exact same problem. I took out the climate control module a couple of years back. Here's part of a message I wrote to this newsgroup:

-------------------------------------------------------------------- My car is a 93 GXE, ABS, Bose CD/Radio/Cassette, Climate Control.

I also had an intermittent clock display so decided to fix that at the same time.

It took me a couple of hours to gain access to the climate control display/control unit. It's black plastic with a face approx 8" x 2" and "L-shaped when viewed from the side.

I took it to my work bench and took it apart. It consists of two circuit boards:

Board (1) with LCD/liquid crystal display unit, with large integrated circuit below. This board is connected to

Board (2) by soldered cable connector. This board has multiple electronic components plus the snap connectors to connect to the wiring harness.

I examined ALL solder joints with a magnifying glass under strong light but could find no faults. There were no components showing any signs of failure other than the LCD/Liquid Crystal display itself (3" x 1" x 1/4" glass encased) which had what appeared to be a heat discoloration on the top right corner.

I do not have a circuit diagram, sufficient electrical knowledge, or a source of replacement components so all I could do was clean the snap connector terminals and reassemble the unit and replace.

Sad to say no improvement. Start the car and the display is OK, but dims to unreadable after a few minutes. Turning the CC off and on again makes no difference. However stopping the motor and restarting usually brings the display back.

Called Couresy Nissan this morning, they quoted $668.97 for a replacement CC unit, out of the question.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Didn't know at the time that it was the connector pin solder joints that needed resoldering (if in fact that is the problem). Maybe I will take the unit out again and try resoldering, but t\it is a lot of work to get access.

From memory, proceed as follows: Disconnect battery Remove trim around steering column Remove trim below dash below sterring wheel Remove trim around front of gear shift Remove radio Disconnect cables from CC unit and remove

If you get it fixed let me know, that will motivate me to do mine.

Al Moodie.

Reply to
Al Moodie

The "cracked" joints I've had around the conector pins are so small many times I can't see them even knowing where to look for them and I have excelent close up vision. I always reflow every joint that is related to external cables and 99% of the time it fixes them. I think sometimes if this goes on for too long the componets get damaged and this repair doesn't work but most times it does.

Reply to
Steve T

Al:

At the end of this article you list the steps necessary to removed the CC digital display -- that's a lot of work. Can you not just pull the trim plate that surrounds the radio and appears to go up and surround the CC display? I don't understand what the relationship is with the trim rings around the steering column. Of course, I've never done this before, either.

Thanks.

Reply to
Joe S.

Sorry but I can't remember the details, it was a trial and error effort on my part and that was over 2 years ago.

Al moodie.

Reply to
Al Moodie

Thanks. Yes, I am familiar with the trial and error method -- just keep taking parts off until you get to where you want to be!! My problem is that I always have parts left over when I put it back together :-)

Reply to
Joe S.

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.