97 explorer radio lights

's a 7 year old radio. Maybe it's time to retire it. Bill Funk Change "g" to "a"

Boy it's been a while since I posted here.

It's a common problem most of them quit working right after the warranty expired (my 98 died a month after). Search on the net there are places that will have you ship it to them and they will fix it and return it for a price. Also some jerk out there has figured out the fix but instead of posting it here like most of us would he want to charge $$ for it.

This has been my little fight with ford and I lost.

HTH Steve

Well, he was smart enough and motivated enough to dig into the radio and figure it out. Just because he also uses the internet doesn't mean he's obligate to act as a public charity. You are confused about who is the jerk. Ford charging over $200 to fix it, that's being a jerk (you probably thought I was going to point a finger at you, didn't you?). The truth is, anyone who would possess the tools necessary to make the repair probably has the capability to fix it without needing somebody's write up about it.

The web site in question is

If you'd like another option to fix this, you can check out this link: This has been discussed in this forum many times. Google it and you'll find other links as well.

I don't want to sound too negative again, but there are a lot of very smart people that are on the Internet. Just because one person sell the information doesn't make them wise. A lot of people (llike myself) are frustrated enough that the radio displays died, and then to have someone post answers for a cost - it just bugs me. Some of the people that I respect the most are those that give you advice for free. Admit it, most of you have been in some store where you have asked someone a question and they have helped you - for free. What if they charged you just because they have the answer and you don't. I don't think we as a society would go far if everyone charged for what they know and then kept it to themselves.

Anyway, here is the information that helped me most:

======================== By opening up the radio you will find a narrow display power board within the left side of the radio (faceplate toward you). This board has a metal cover soldered to it, with a toroid (wire wound doughnut) inside on one side, and a bank of surface mount resistors and capacitors on the bottom side. One end of the board (SCR heat sink) is screwed to the heat sink at the back of the radio, the board is secured with 2 metal bend-tabs, and it has a white mini connector on the other end which connects to the faceplate. Remove the board from the radio. On the bottom of the board look for surface mount components R1057/C1071/R1058/C1083/R1064. The colder these resistor/capacitor chipsets get, the brighter the display. I left the car out in the +5 f degree weather and the display worked until it warmed up a little. That is how I was able to track it down to these temperature sensitive parts. Freeze-it also helped after I narrowed it down to a few components. The fix that worked for me was to re-molten the solder for each end of these surface mount components. Be very careful if you try this, as a big soldering iron, or a lot of heat will destroy the components and board. And don't do this with the radio plugged in. If you're not comfortable doing this take it to a friend who is. So far this fix has kept working for a week, I hope it is permanent. ===========================

The part that I had to do was to un-solder and then re-solder the connections on this board. It really doesn't take long to do. Just do both steps and it will save you from having to re-do it like I did.

Good luck

Yeah, know what you mean. I went to the doctor with this cough. The bastard wanted to charge me for diagnosing it as bronchitis. I can't tell you how many times people have told me, hey that sounds like a bad cough you should take some cough syrup. I mean, THEY never charged me anything for their advice.

The world is a crazy place.