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HELP - '99 Eddie Bauer - Radio LCD display

The radio is the MACH audio system with AM/FM Stereo Cassette/Single CD. It has has a CD changer but I don't think that plays into the problem.

The radio LCD no longer works. It doesn't display the time, radio station, mode (CD/AM/FM), etc. A few weeks ago, I noticed when I started up, the LCD did not illuminate. After driving it for a minute or two, it came on and worked fine for a few days. Then it went out and hasn't been back on since. The backlighting on all of the buttons works fine, it's just the LCD. Also, everything else about the radio works fine.

I took the radio out of the vehicle, removed the front display panel from the radio and removed the LCD from the front panel. I noticed in the very bottom right corner of the display, there is a small spot that looks burnt. I am guessing that is my problem but was hoping to have someone confirm that this makes sense. If so, any idea what caused it and can I buy parts to fix it instead of replacing the entire radio. If it helps, I wrote down what appeared to be the part numbers that were on the 2 circuit boards (which are soldered together). The circuit board that is behind the radio power button is CNP4547-F and the larger circuit board behind the LCD is CNP4344-F.

Thanks in advance for all help,

Chris

Reply to
Chris Hendley
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Sounds to me like you have a burnt out bulb. My radio (which has an LCD) "went dead" on me the same way a while back. Everything worked fine, but trying to tell what station it was on, see the time, etc. was hopeless. Sometimes it would come on and be visible, other times it was dark. Occasionally, I could thump the dashboard and get it to come on for at least a short time, but sooner or later (sooner on bumpy roads) it would crap out on me again. I got sick of that and opened the beast up, and after some way-more-than-casual-level disassembly, I found that a tiny little "grain of wheat" bulb had burned out. Getting to it to replace it was the fun part, since several parts (including the LCD module itself) were held together by interdependent "snap-tight" style fastening devices, all of which came back to one piece (36 pins... Ugh! What a soldering mess to have to deal with!) that was soldered down and acting as the "keystone" to hold everything else together. Once I worked up the courage to desolder that piece, I was able to get everything apart, and find that the tiny little bulb was toast. Replaced it (parts cost at radio shack: under $3.00 for a pack of 5 of those little bulbs) with another, and it's been working fine ever since. With mine, it was

*COMPLETELY* dark, since there was only one bulb with a "light-pipe" carrying the light to the places it needed to be. Yours may very well have separate bulbs for display and button lighting.

For yours, you may be better off taking it someplace to be fixed, or you might be able to do it yourself, depending on your skill/confidence with a soldering iron. Either way, chances are high that the labor (yours, theirs, or whomever) will cost more than just going and getting a new radio... For my nickel, it was a learning experience, and a way to kill some "excess" time, so the trade-off was worth it. Whether it'll be worthwhile for you to try to fix it yourself is obviously something that only you'll be able to decide.

Of course, the possibilty exists that yours isn't using "light bulbs", but some other method of lighting - LEDs, flourescent tubes, or whatever

- if that's the case, sorry, but I'm gonna have to flee in terror, loudly proclaiming my ignorance as I vanish into the distance! :)

Reply to
Don Bruder

I don't think you are alone in this problem. In fact I am certain of it because my Mach radio LCD panel backlight has been going on and off for over a year. To make matters worse, this was the second radio in that vehicle. It was a '98 and replaced in '00.

I see the same burnt spot in the lower corner of the glass. It doesn't look reparable to me either as the tiny bulbs are between glass that appears to be epoxied together. Its a bad design. The entire LCD panel has a p/n on the back: CAW 1359-A. However, I can't find this anywhere.

eVisteon makes a Mach MP3 player but I am not 100% sure if it can be altered to replace the one that is in my '98.

Reply to
MrFixIt

I don't know about newer Eddie Bauer radio's, but I used to have an eddie bauer back in '90 and the bulb was replaceable in it. I would call a local dealership and ask where they send their radios for repair, then call that company and talk with them. Thats what I did when my radio backlight went out. I got the bulb from them for under $3.00. Hard part was pulling radio out of dash.

good luck.

Reply to
Eddie A

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