How to fix your e36 dim radio display

[jeffc313]

man, one of the 180 resistors came off. How did you guys get them back on? The Solder keep sticking onto the welder.

the resistor is just an 18 OHM resistor. you can get a regular film resistor and solder it on. if you cant get it on, I think someone said that they had success with bridging the connection. This is not recommended, but should work in a pinch. As for point 2, solder flows from cold to hot. the proper way to solder an SMD part is to heat up the pad with the iron, then apply a small piece of solder to the pad, solder will flow and fill the pad. Dont use the iron to carry solder where you want, just let it flow instead.

[randomy]

I use a cold heat soldering iron, had for about $20 from thinkgeek, it works impeccably well for soldering on boards and you do not deal with the solder sticking to the tip, as it does not ever get as warm as the contact point. I'm also un-skilled at soldering, further making it a nice tool for a novice.

[TheJesse]

Add another working radio due to this fix.

Let me add a few observations.

1) You can definitely make-do without taking the front off

2) To those worried about the screws, may I suggest loosening all 4, pulling up a little, then loosen again. It's possible to take up the tape deck only removing the front-left screw (the one with the built-in washer)

3) being quite adept at soldering and hearing everyone's "use a smaller tip" and "it's only a cracked joint" warnings...I was very conservative with my joint repair. It took 6 tries before I had enough solder. I'll say my joints look more like those "mistakes" pictured in this thread than the clean joints I tried at first.

4) Be careful with those security screws. They're soft. I stripped my right one with only a little pressure.

[TheJesse]

One more note. For those of you who have a "resistor stuck to my iron" issue, that's because you didn't properly tin your iron.

You need a coat of solder on the tip. Wet the sponge real well and burn off the gunk. Use a wet rag and wipe the tip clean. Wait for it to dry. Then take some solder and lightly tap it around the tip. Your tip should like like new aluminum. If you do this, you won't have a component stick to the tip.

[carlmeyer]

+1 worked for me! total electronic novice and it took me less than an hour. woo hoo! i can finally see what I'm listening to!

[babarn]

Worked like a charm! Thanks!!!!

I also had the other famous volume control problem. While I had the radio apart, I got my can of Precision Electronics Cleaner from Radio$hack (64-4345).

I not only sprayed the post, but took a small brush to the area making sure I spin the post while scrubbing. Pic with red arrow points to the location.

I also sprayed some cleaner into the little box that the post is connected to behind the circuit board. Pic with green arrow points to the location.

[yuridge318i]

My unit will not come back on after I removed it. It acts like it's getting no power. Please help me.

Same here, does anyone know what's going on?

[BLS]

My Daughter's '95 318i had the dim display, but the head unit was a little different. No resistor with 180 and things were in a little different configuration. So not all e36 radios are the same. I inspected it quite closely all around the area where the LCD plugs into the main board and just couldn't see any problems. I think I'll re-flow the solder on a few of the pins and pads and see if that fixes it.

My problem was that since this radio was different I wasn't able to locate the correct pins to test for power.

Pretty cool that almost everyone else was successful.

[Hungaroring]

Chalk up another satisfied customer! I didn't think I'd be able to do this. I was sure I messed up the soldering. I told my wife I either fixed it or destroyed it as I walked out to the car. What a great suprise when the display came on bright and bold!

Thanks!

[bestPal]

+1 for random power on and off fix. Thanks a bunch!

[fullhouse]

cool! thats really helpful!!!

[amdspitfire]

just went through this worked fine for one second then went dim again, what should I do? Repeat?

[gingervitys]

--> Some Pointers. <--

#1 I used a small 20-watt iron on those resistors. Even at that low power, it's easy to overdo it. I touched up one side of a resistor and the whole thing came loose. Be warned that these are surface-mounted; there are no wire leads to hold them in place. If you melt the entire solder joint, the package will come loose. Then you'll have hell trying to get it held in place while you tack it back down. I had to use a magnifyer and small screwdriver in one hand- to hold the resistor in place- and the iron in the other hand. But it worked. My lights are back on.

#2 When your futzing around with the head unit all opened up in your car- doing the voltage test step- be careful with the ground strap lead that plugs in the back of the unit. Mine got loose against the power supply board and blew the 7.5 amp fuse. So, don't unhook that thing until you've unhooked the multi-pin jack.

[mdemange]

This seems to have worked. However, it's too soon to tell. My display was intermittently dim in the first place. I'll give it a week before I declare victory.

[scruzphreak]

Another satisfied customer.

I bought a "Helping Hands" unit at Radio Shack. it has a soldering pencil holder with sponge, large magnifying glass, and two alligator clips on articulated arms. For this project, it was super helpful to have a large magnifier, and then I could apply some light pressure with the point of a small screwdriver while I applied the tip of the soldering pencil to the joint. I held it until the solder got shiny, then I removed the pencil.

The Helping Hands was $17 - money well spent.

Next project: replacing cupholders and a strange crack in the speaker trim on the passenger side door.

-ms

[jah1984]

This post is awesome! Another satisfied customer!

[layzell]

I've got the lights dimmed out on my obc. Anyone have any advice for that?

great thread, btw

[Ckyo5]

Yet another successful owner! Followed every direction in the write up, and took about an hour all and all.

My radio is now brighter than my obc!

[Sharp]

Another success thanks for the great post

[DeanDome]

Gonna do this soon

[hammackl]

I don't have the code for my radio. Where do I get it from?

Nevermind, I found another thread that talks about this. Have to get serial number from radio and call/visit dealer for code.

[naui16865]

My C33 radio display is once again good-as-new!

Thanks very much to Flipflap for cross-posting this thread to Bimmerforurms way-back-when, Daf664 for the great photos walking thru the repair steps and, last but not least, Aturo Gossage credited with the orig post on www.boston-bmwcc.org. The orig post on their site seems to have been erased.

[hammackl]

My daughter's 97 BMW 328i has had a dark radio panel every since we bought it 6 yrs ago. I followed the instructions and disassembled the radio. I went to radio shack hoping to get a micro-soldering kit, but they don't sell them, so I got a small soldering iron with the smallest tip I could find and the smallest solder. When I soldered the connections, the solder was bigger than the resistors. I thought "no way this is going to work," but when I put it back together it worked.

By the way, for those who don't have their radio codes (as we didn't), just call the dealer and give them the serial number off the back of the radio. It worked for me.

[Euro 323is]

dam!! it worked! lol but one of the resistors came off i just put it baq on and it worked =D just like he said the resistors have a small crack.. very common on e36 just do it n ull be fine thx!!

[Gulfstream]

Thanks for the help! The radio display is working awesome,and saved me from shelling out cash.

My next request is with the cd changer in the rear. Has anyone experienced any problems with the unit not working. I can hear the cd's changing but no audio.

Thanks in advance,