How to fix your e36 dim radio display

[fliplap]

(cross posted in the maintenance section)

The real how-to-fix your e36 Alpine headunit's dim display

Credit to http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/bimmer/2002/10/radio.asp and Arturo Gossage. That site just isn't detailed enough. But it would have been impossible todo this or to write this without that site.

This is easy. IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF. If you don't, its impossible.

There are actually a couple things possibly wrong. The bulbs under your LCD might be burnt out, kinda unlikey, or they might not be getting power at all.

What you'll need:
A soldering iron, preferably with a fine tip.
Thin solder
A smallish philips head screw driver
A flat blade screw driver
Needle nose pliers
A multimeter
The security code for your radio

I took pictures, yes. But unfortunatly I didn't take one of what you really need todo and I don't feel like disassembling my headunit again.However, its not really needed, as it is totally possible to descibe how to do it.

First of all you need to pull your radio from the car. There are little hinged tabs on each side of the radio. Pop them open. The screw in here has 5 sides, but you can make a hex wrench work fine. Unscrew as far they'll go and jimmy the head unit out. For those with an M3 you can substitute a hard 1-2 shift at the redline for the jimmying, the radio will slide right out. Ask me how i know. Disconnect the big black connector by following the disgram on the top of it. You'll have use some force with the screw driver when prying it up, it will make a real ugly sound when it pops off, but everything is fine.

Bring it inside and take the plastic cover off. There are 2 screws, one on each side, near the top, towards the front of the unit. Then there are tabs near the bottom that need to be pushed in as well as one on the top that also needs to be pushed. Everything else is kind of a prying exercise

Now we need to take the top cover off of the unit. Two screws in the back, toward the top need to come out. Then it just pulls off.

Next stop is pulling the display circuit board out. There are 2 screws attaching it to the tape player assembly. Then there are 2 metal tabs on the side of the unit that need to be pushed in. Make sure you disconnect the little socketed wires for the volume knob on the left side of the unit. There's a black piece of wire holding it in place that serves no other purpose and is safe to bend. Now you should be able to pull the displayboard clean out. Set it aside.

The tape player now needs to be removed, there is one screw on the left side near that beige plastic thing and one on the right side down a square hole. Then just pull the entire assembly up, set aside.

You have now arrived at the main board, the source of all your problems. Time to head back your car with the unit, the front display circuit board and your multimeter. Plug that wired volume button back into the main board, and plug the unit back into the car. Put your keys in and turn on the electrics in the car. Now push the volume button in to turn on the stereo. You need to figure out if those bulbs under the display are even getting any power,Toward the front of the unit you will see 2 red connectors. Looking at unit head on, the socket on the left and the last pin hole all the way to the left is the one that powers the bulbs under the LCD. You should get just under 12v on your multimeter from it. I pull up the ciggarette lighter connector and use the ground under it for my ground.


IF YOU DON'T GET POWER FROM THAT PIN (scroll down for instructions if you do)
Head back inside with your radio. Disconnect the volume dial again. Take a look between those 2 red connectors again. In between them you will find a couple surface mount resistors. They are litte black rectanges with the number "180" on them. These have cracks in the solder on each side of them too small for the human eye to see. What you'll need todo is just touch up these joints (4 joints total) with alittle solder.

Now repeat the above paragraph and make sure you're getting 12V now. Turn off the radio, reattach the display board, including plugging the pins back into those red connectors. Turn radio back on. Does your display light up nice and bright now? Good! You're done! ......if it doesn't proceed to the next section.


IF YOU DO GET POWER FROM THAT PIN
This means those bulbs under the display are likely burnt out.

Extra stuff you'll need:
Copper desoldering braid
2 8v microlamps available at partsexpress.com

You'll need to remove the metal backing from the display circuit board. There are 2 metal tabs holding it by way of holes in the circuit board, desolder these tabs from the board and bend the tabs back. The display board should come off fine now.

Now removed the actual LCD display, again, more tabs to desolder, 3 along the top of the LCD, one of which is through the circuit board. Then 3 more along the bottom, but these may not be soldered, you probably just have to bend them back, Removed the display and you'll see the bulbs. Desolder them and resolder in the new ones. Go out to your car and make sure they work. If they don't, I don't know what to tell you, this all worked for me, Very sorry.

If it did work, congrats, reassemble your radio and enjoy!

Hope this helps a few people!
Keywords: BMW e36 radio headunit dim display blank display problem fix

[LarryL]

YES! Thanks for the tips! :buttrock

I followed your directions, and now I have a bright radio display. It's easier than you think.

This thread deserves a sticky!

[BimmerDude18]

^

[Slick Willi]

sounds like alot of work but it may be a easy solution until i buy the new HU
Thanks so much for this, and i agree someone should make this sticky!

[atog]

this needs to be pinned

[dmw]

I have a related problem. The display is okay but the buttons on the radio aren't lit at all - none of them. Thoughts?

[SoonToBeM3]

Thank you! Finally, ill have to try this.

[jim66]

I have a related problem. The display is okay but the buttons on the radio aren't lit at all - none of them. Thoughts?

My display was dim AND my buttons weren't lit at all before doing this fix. Resoldered the two resistors and now the display is bright and the buttons are lit up.

[jim66]

My display was dim AND my buttons weren't lit at all before doing this fix. Resoldered the two resistors and now the display is bright and the buttons are lit up.

Scratch that.... it was the connection on the back of the unit causing my buttons not to light up. When I put the plastic holder back on, my buttons stopped lighting up because I had the holder cocked. Removed it and put it back on straight and they're lit up again.

[BRADSPEED600]

Awesome! i'm gonna try it

[Lex325]

I did this today and it actually worked!!! I am so happy....after just guessing what station I was on all these years I can finally see the display dammit!!

Mind you, I have never soldered anything before in my life and am not familiar with this type of work.

If you have this problem, try this fix.....it's alot easier than you all think!!!

Thanks again!!

[davester]

I just did it and it worked great! Two issues though: 1) Be careful when you put the faceplate back on or you will lock the cassette door closed and have to take the thing apart again; 2) Those two resistors are so absurdly tiny that it's very hard to solder them. I made do with magnifying reading glasses and a regular soldering iron, just poked around there with the iron and a bit of solder and got lucky. It seems to me that it would be very easy to damage them or the circuit board this way. To do a proper, more reliable job, the proper tool would be a soldering iron with a tiny tip, and it would be way easier with a more powerful magnifying glass...or just pick up the most powerful cheap reading glasses available from the drug store.

I didn't even bother testing the bulbs, since mine have been intermittently working (not very often though).

Thanks a lot for the great post.

Also, while the radio was out I installed the panavise cell phone dash mount. I'm combining it with one of the Pro clip phone-specific cell phone holders...fits very nicely and looks professional. Highly recommended.

[BavBB05]

Thank you for this post. It was also the resistors in my case. I agree that the soldering tip should be TINY if you want to play it safe. I used one that was way too big, but it still did the trick.

[EOSphoto]

Or you can just take it back to the dealer, pay 50 bucks for labor and they'll give you a new one.

[BavBB05]

Thank you for this post. It was also the resistors in my case. I agree that the soldering tip should be TINY if you want to play it safe. I used one that was way too big, but it still did the trick.

Is that right? Just fifty bucks?

[Pmack11]

Well, I needed this fix badly--I took the radio apart as described (great instructions)..The resistors were so tiny I didn't attempt to solder them, I just took a tiny eyeglass screwdriver and sort of scrapped the connections a little bit. I am still not getting any voltage from the LAST LEFT pin ?? I was getting voltage at both resistors tho (whatever)...the display was now nice and bright BUT the buttons are still not lit and Im not exactly sure where the light source for those buttons are ?.....There are two orange coated tiny bulbs on the face circuitboard that ARE lit that I thought would make all my buttons light when I put the radio back together but no luck there....next step: making sure the back connector harness is alighned correctly (seemed to solve it for another poster) and then maybe go back in and do the whole soldering deal.....are there other resistors for the button lights perhaps ?

[fliplap]

I'm glad to see people are still getting use out of this :-)

[kram328i]

great fix
i just did it
damn easy and saves alot in your pocket
thanks again for the write up

[krayon]

I just did it five minutes ago. :redspot

It was extremely easy and now I have a bright display :buttrock

However, I almost got screwed. I was using a soldering iron that was way to big and one of the transisters came off. I ended up just laying a nice blob of solder down where it once was and everything works fine. I thought I had ruined my deck, but no, I fixed it.

Now if I only knew the code. :(

the write up was great, thanks.

[hkk4235]

Guys,
The buttons on my radio display are on only intermittent. So, I embarked on my first diy on the 328.

I got the unit out of the car, and am unable to get the face plate out. I removed the screws, and pressed the tabs. The face plate came off a little bit out, but it seems the power/volume button is holding it back from coming off completely. There's a clear plastic piece behind the volume buttom (that lights up when the unit is on), that's behind the volume button.
Does the volume button come off before the face plate? Help please!

Thanks

[hkk4235]

ok, I got to the point of removing the cassette player. The display itself is bright, but the buttons come on only once in a while. Should I be looking at anything else?

Thanks

[wannaMMM]

Before you deck went dim did it go on and off randomly. Mine is mostly bright as it should, but once in a while (maybe once a month or two, not very often) and it could just be the soder cracking? and could look into this for a fix of that. Anythoughts?
-Evan

[volkl77]

Here is a possible fix for the radio BUTTON LED's and auto dim function not working. It was the solution in my particular case.

This is in addition to the repair info about the LCD display bulbs/resistors.

On the main board again, just a little behind and to the right of the 2 resistors that will fix the LCD display issue, is one more resisitor, marked "240". It is tucked in between the third blue capacitor to the right of center, and a bank of transistors.
Same problem as before, a cracked solder joint. touch this one up as well and you will have your button LEDs light up again.
I also noticed that the tape door & volume knob lamps brightened up as well.

Hope this helps some of y'all!

[FiveO540i]

Is there a fix for a radio volume knob that doesn't work? The button turns the radio on and off, but the volume control doesn't work. I can only adjust using my wheel-mounted control button.

Thanks

[bluebridge]

Many Thanks;
I had worked down to pulling the bulbs without success and your thread pointed to the problem. Other than lifting one of the 180's off the board and a delicate task of reattaching, it went well and I once again can see what I'm hearing!
cheers
Bluebridge

[clarkerussell]

Worked great for me... The only problem I had was getting the wiring harness off... I broke the plastic retainer off. Hopefully it won't matter too much since the plugs were VERY hard to put on so I doubt they'll fall off easily...

[randman]

Thanks for this writeup. I finally have fixed one of those annoying problems. The original post fixed the dim display, but my buttons would not light up. I tried the fix posted by volkl77, but that didn't seem to help either. I kept poking around on the circuit board and the fix for me was to resolder the resistor labelled "101" (I think - it is quite small) on the opposite side of the transistor as the "240" resistor as described in volkl77's post. I now have lights! I would recommend the smallest soldering tip and solder you can find and maybe a magnifier, these things are tiny. Be careful when undoing the connector on the back as it will break. I did grab the number off the connector clip if anyone's interested. AMP # 963025-2. There was also a BMW # (1 390 416), but I couldn't track this down. I'm not sure if it is for the entire connector or just the clip.

[Vossen10]

Great post. Thanks so much for the write up. Got mine fixed in no time.

[SleepRM3]

(cross posted in the maintenance section)

The real how-to-fix your e36 Alpine headunit's dim display

Credit to http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/bimmer/2002/10/radio.asp and Arturo Gossage. That site just isn't detailed enough. But it would have been impossible todo this or to write this without that site.

This is easy. IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF. If you don't, its impossible.

There are actually a couple things possibly wrong. The bulbs under your LCD might be burnt out, kinda unlikey, or they might not be getting power at all.

What you'll need:
A soldering iron, preferably with a fine tip.
Thin solder
A smallish philips head screw driver
A flat blade screw driver
Needle nose pliers
A multimeter
The security code for your radio

I took pictures, yes. But unfortunatly I didn't take one of what you really need todo and I don't feel like disassembling my headunit again.However, its not really needed, as it is totally possible to descibe how to do it.

First of all you need to pull your radio from the car. There are little hinged tabs on each side of the radio. Pop them open. The screw in here has 5 sides, but you can make a hex wrench work fine. Unscrew as far they'll go and jimmy the head unit out. For those with an M3 you can substitute a hard 1-2 shift at the redline for the jimmying, the radio will slide right out. Ask me how i know. Disconnect the big black connector by following the disgram on the top of it. You'll have use some force with the screw driver when prying it up, it will make a real ugly sound when it pops off, but everything is fine.

Bring it inside and take the plastic cover off. There are 2 screws, one on each side, near the top, towards the front of the unit. Then there are tabs near the bottom that need to be pushed in as well as one on the top that also needs to be pushed. Everything else is kind of a prying exercise

Now we need to take the top cover off of the unit. Two screws in the back, toward the top need to come out. Then it just pulls off.

Next stop is pulling the display circuit board out. There are 2 screws attaching it to the tape player assembly. Then there are 2 metal tabs on the side of the unit that need to be pushed in. Make sure you disconnect the little socketed wires for the volume knob on the left side of the unit. There's a black piece of wire holding it in place that serves no other purpose and is safe to bend. Now you should be able to pull the displayboard clean out. Set it aside.

The tape player now needs to be removed, there is one screw on the left side near that beige plastic thing and one on the right side down a square hole. Then just pull the entire assembly up, set aside.

You have now arrived at the main board, the source of all your problems. Time to head back your car with the unit, the front display circuit board and your multimeter. Plug that wired volume button back into the main board, and plug the unit back into the car. Put your keys in and turn on the electrics in the car. Now push the volume button in to turn on the stereo. You need to figure out if those bulbs under the display are even getting any power,Toward the front of the unit you will see 2 red connectors. Looking at unit head on, the socket on the left and the last pin hole all the way to the left is the one that powers the bulbs under the LCD. You should get just under 12v on your multimeter from it. I pull up the ciggarette lighter connector and use the ground under it for my ground.


IF YOU DON'T GET POWER FROM THAT PIN (scroll down for instructions if you do)
Head back inside with your radio. Disconnect the volume dial again. Take a look between those 2 red connectors again. In between them you will find a couple surface mount resistors. They are litte black rectanges with the number "180" on them. These have cracks in the solder on each side of them too small for the human eye to see. What you'll need todo is just touch up these joints (4 joints total) with alittle solder.

Now repeat the above paragraph and make sure you're getting 12V now. Turn off the radio, reattach the display board, including plugging the pins back into those red connectors. Turn radio back on. Does your display light up nice and bright now? Good! You're done! ......if it doesn't proceed to the next section.


IF YOU DO GET POWER FROM THAT PIN
This means those bulbs under the display are likely burnt out.

Extra stuff you'll need:
Copper desoldering braid
2 8v microlamps available at partsexpress.com

You'll need to remove the metal backing from the display circuit board. There are 2 metal tabs holding it by way of holes in the circuit board, desolder these tabs from the board and bend the tabs back. The display board should come off fine now.

Now removed the actual LCD display, again, more tabs to desolder, 3 along the top of the LCD, one of which is through the circuit board. Then 3 more along the bottom, but these may not be soldered, you probably just have to bend them back, Removed the display and you'll see the bulbs. Desolder them and resolder in the new ones. Go out to your car and make sure they work. If they don't, I don't know what to tell you, this all worked for me, Very sorry.

If it did work, congrats, reassemble your radio and enjoy!

Hope this helps a few people!
Keywords: BMW e36 radio headunit dim display blank display problem fix
I was successful despite these directions not being very clear. The most trouble I had was finding the 180 value resistor. I thought it was on the LCD display PCB, but in fact it was on the main PCB (under the tape player). My lights were intermittenly dimming, so I skipped testing the power supply with the multimeter, and went straight for the 180 value resistor. The other resistor was not marked, but was to the left and of the "180". I didn't have a fine tip for my soldering iron, but managed with a 1-mm diameter sphere of solder between the resistors. I'm pleased that I was able to fix the display problem. My local BMW dealer (Dreyer & Reinbold) charged $175 for the fix, and the radio would be out of my car for two weeks. As far as this being easier than the climate control resistor replacement--I'd say, "only slightly easier"...

[Cruzer]

I bought one of these units on ebay for my e30. It was a POS until I found this thread and fixed it. It works great now. Thanks! :redspot

[lbraasch]

Dunno if i'd say that that this was easier than the climate control capacitor replacement. These resistors were tiny, where a simple capacitor is in and out w/o much precision needed.

I too broke my plug retainer clip, or at least half of it. Still locks in though, and it hasn't seemed to be a problem yet. What a weird clip bmw decided to use on this. The one for the climate control would have worked just as well...

I also ended up removing one of the resistors on accident and had to re-attach it. Also, i didn't end up testing the the voltages before re-soddering, as it seems the cracked sodder is far more common, and I don't have a multi-meter in my house.

[daf664]

Well after sitting on my ass at work I came across this thred and seening that
I'm selling my car I gave this a try and it worked perfectly the secound time that is.
My deck was dim when I bought the car I just bought a deck two weeks ago just to sell it with everything working right but I sent it back to
Crutchfield after making sure this stay fixed for a couple days any way here are some pics for those who need it

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/JAN2007064Small.jpg
A good Match
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/4SCEWS.jpg
The fix pics: remove these screws pointed out here
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/JAN2007066.jpg
Pull black wire thingy here http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/JAN2007067.jpg
You have push in tabs on the bottom to get the display out http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/PROBLEM.jpg
Wiggle the tape player straight up to get to this point see red box
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/JAN2007070.jpg
Soder here at the 2 I used a large tip (not recomeded) like the thred says use a fine tip and it should look a lot cleaner this is alot smaller in person

[daf664]

Thanx FlipLap you saved me 160.0 bucks gota love Crutchfields return policy
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/daf664/Picture2163232Small.jpg

[aminah74]

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

[aminah74]

Retrack that last post, it worked like a charm!!! Thanks!!!!

[e21speed]

Hey,
I'd like to report another successful repair. My radio display is nice and bright now!

Thanks
Mike

[daf664]

I just reposted the pics for those who need it

[eckom]

Just like to say that after following the instructions here, my radio now lights up again.

Thanks everyone!

[turbo6bar]

You can mark me down as another success. The dim radio display is now crystal clean. Thanks a lot. Jurgen

[BMWg84]

So, according to everyone's replies, 99% of the problem are the cracks in the four "180" resistor solders

[missionhcky09]

works like a charm, although right after fix it lit up then went off, but now it works perfectly. saved me the expense of buying a new radio!

[popov666]

Another succes story
Thank you so much
Tip :(if cant get the harness out, take the fuse out !)

[jorbon]

Magic. Thank you. Between this and the climate control fix on both cars I've saved quite a bundle. Of course I dove into the radio fix before I scrolled down to see the pictures... I got it right the first time due to the excellent write-up.

[wannaMMM]

i tired it and i'm still having the problem, the lights come on once and a while so i know the lights are not burnt out... I'm going to try some more solder. Something i noticed, compared to the picture above my board is slightly different. If you look the resister w/ 180 on it is vertical, not horizontal. Can any one confirm compared to theirs?
-Evan
http://reqnet.org/DSC01655%20(Medium).JPG

[wannaMMM]

Thanks great write-up. I had to to it three times before it worked. The third time the resister came off and i lost it temporarily, but I reinstalled it, and now it works perfectly.

-Evan

[bitcore]

If you were also having trouble with the button LED backlighting as well as the LCD backlights, those two resistors don't solve the whole problem. Those do fix the LCD backlighting, but I noticed all the LED's behind the buttons on the face of the unit I have weren't lighting up. With the parking lights on, radio cover and tape module removed, I torqued the chassis of the radio a little, not sure what I was doing, but it bent the mainboard just ever so slightly enough to illuminate all of the LED's again. Apparently there is another component that is suffering from the micro solder cracks that lights up the LED's and the two little opaque orange bulbs.
So I whipped out my multimeter and started poking around and observing things. OK, so the multimeter didn't help me much, but the pointy probes sure did. I figured out that if I applied pressure to a specific location on the mainboard with my fingers, not very hard, but just enough to flex the nearby components and make the face light up, I could localize where the component responsible for the failure was. With the probe on my multimeter, I applied some pressure to a few solder joints, and I think I have found the resistor(s) responsible for the LED's. Though there is no difference in voltage when I play with the instrument light dimmer, and I really cannot tell for sure, my radio's lights have been working fine after I have re-flowed the solder joints on these few components.

Here's some pictures. The first one was taken before I re-flowed and added to the solder joints, the 2nd is afterwards & at a different angle.

Circled in red are the two resistors that fix the LCD backlight, and the other one or two resistors I believe are responsible for the LED backlighting. Circled in green are other components I re-soldered because they were in close proximity to what was causing the circuit interruption, and besides, it couldn't hurt to re-flow these joints anyways. The area around the 101 and 240 resistors felt like they were emanating heat, so it's my guess that those joints failed. (also, I realize that re-flowing the top of that transistor was probably pointless and doesn't carry current, but I felt like doing it anyways in-case it was some weird design and I don't care regardless)

http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_1_s.jpg (http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_1_l.jpg)
After re-flowing the solder:
http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_2_s.jpg (http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_2_l.jpg)

(click pictures to open a much larger one)

The radio is MUCH easier to get into than the OBC or the climate control computer.... (yes, my car has had all 3 of those things have something wrong with them. <3 BF.C members for figuring out what was the common problem for each of those!) Please reply back if re-soldering these resistors fixed your backlight LED's!!!.... Or if it doesn't fix the LED's!
Tip: I don't think you *HAVE* to remove the front panel, just the casette module. I didn't unplug the volume control header, it's not necessary to undo that to get to all these parts you need to fix (plus I hate unplugging those types of headers). Very easy DIY if you have a fine tip soldering iron and torx/hex bits that fit the locking latch screw thingies

[css28]

I had replaced my unit with another I got from E-bay about four years ago. The replacement unit went dark a month or so ago.
I decided to try this procedure on the original unit that I'd put away after installing the replacement. The operation apparently was successful as the display works now.

A few thoughts:

- Unlatching the front cover was quite challenging. I found that the two lower latches are on the sides, rather than the bottom. Aside from that, the top edge is gripped quite strongly by plastic latches across the top.
- You *do* have to remove the volume control knob to remove the front panel and it also puts up a good fight. The rubber cap actually came off and had to be remounted to the metal part of the knob afterward.
- If you're convinced that it's a solder joint problem and not bad bulbs, leave the front panel in place and just remove the cassette unit. I took some pictures but haven't yet figured out how to post them. Let me know if these will help.
- I managed to accidentally dislodge (and flip across the board!) one of the resistors. A good idea is to hold down the body of the resistor with a separate tool of some sort tool while heating the solder. I didn't add any solder--just reflowed what was there.
Thanks for the instructions. I had read the BMWCCA posting a few years ago but it's apparently gone now. Since I have two units total, after installing the first fixed one I decided to operate on the second while I could remember what I was doing.

Thanks again.

[bitcore]

- If you're convinced that it's a solder joint problem and not bad bulbs, leave the front panel in place and just remove the cassette unit. I took some pictures but haven't yet figured out how to post them. Let me know if these will help.
- I managed to accidentally dislodge (and flip across the board!) one of the resistors. A good idea is to hold down the body of the resistor with a separate tool of some sort tool while heating the solder. I didn't add any solder--just reflowed what was there.

Yah, you can do it with the screen still on but I found it much easier, plus it's only a couple of steps
Good tip using a tool to hold the resistor on - Once the solder melts, that thing will just fly off with the slightest touch of the iron. If you don't have solder, you'll fix it by just re-flowing it, but adding a bit more will help make it last

[bitcore]

I am now having trouble with the radio cutting out, apparently randomly, and requiring the code after you push the power button a few times, I'll try to figure this thing out - maybe one of the joints I re-flowed failed, an electrical problem somewhere, or there is yet another problem with my radio...

(Every display in my car has had problems. Radio, OBC, climate computer, and even the odometer, where only the top half of digits light up half the time)

[randman]

The same problem just happened to me. It seemed that one or both of the resistors close to the IC505 chip (see picture) were causing the problem. Of course I wasn't sure I would be able to fix it so I ending up getting the CD43. I can't say for certain this was the fix, but when I would touch the ends of these resistors, the radio would power up again.

http://images27.fotki.com/v994/photos/9/958856/5326979/C33_Board_Markup3-vi.jpg

[Ronnaferd]

Add another radio to the "fixed by this thread" list :buttrock

[///M3Vader4dr]

word

[Harv328is]

Got mine working today, my first DIY on the newly acquired 328is. Now I see that the backlit LED buttons aren't working, so I will take the HU out again to re-solder the remaining three transistors.

Great resource.

UPDATE 10:23pm PST
Soldered all transistors as recommended and my dashboard now looks sexy with all those amber lights! ;-)

[bitcore]

Sweet, I guess we found all of the problems with it except sound quality.
I'll mess with my radio later to see if I can get it to work all the time, but I have replaced it with a drop-in alpine CDA-7995 (blue lights are obnoxiously bright no matter what you do & it doesn't visually look right in the car at all, but it sounds infinitely better than the stock radio)
Good luck everyone, keep a steady hand.

[ignacio]

My headunit is also dim (but the button lights are just fine), but I also have another problem with it. Sometimes when I adjust the volume, it either does the opposite of what I want it to do, or it does nothing at all. On top of that, majority of the time I cannot use the radio. When I play CD's though, it works just fine. Do you guys think it still is the same problem that everyone else was having?

[acthad]

Thank you for your instructions and pics! No better feeling than saving money from going to the Dealer. Mine told me they would need to ship to Cali to Alpine for $200-300 to fix it. What a joke! Thanks again.

Bimmerforums Rock!

[Riick]

BUMP !!
My experience:

(1) Radio release from instrument panel - it's a Torx bit you need, I think it was someting like 1/32".

(2) Radio Rear-Connector comes off EASILY... just pry it up a bit, and keep pulling until you release it fully. Whoever busted theirs must hae been anxious.

(3) No need to remove front panel, points I needed to solder easy access w/front in place.

(4) Good instructions, photos *very* helpful in locating very very tiny resistors in PCB jungle.
I took my soldering iron and literally used a grinding wheel to hone it down to a point.
Then the point easily re-flowed the solder.

(5) Getting screws back in-place for casette can be difficult, but if you wrap a short bit of tape around point of screwdriver,
and attach screw-head to wrap of tape, it won't go anywhere while you place it in hole.
OTOH... if you have a tiny magnetized screwdriver....:redspot

My display was intermittent on / off. Will see if I did the job right.
Took hint above and held down resistors with screwdriver in other hand.

[SleepRM3]

Second time around for this little radio fix. The first time (in Jan), I did not have the pics, and the proper soldering iron tip. This time I had a fine tip, and the job took 30 minutes. Hopefully this will be the last time I do this job LOL :)

[Kramer]

Man. What a killer, simple fix. The toughest part was disconnecting the radio connector.

Thanks to all those who have contributed.

This one saved me, just like the climate control fix. I didn't add a spec of solder. Just let the stuff that was already there flow.

I love this place! "I love you, MAN!"

[bimmerles]

(cross posted in the maintenance section)

The real how-to-fix your e36 Alpine headunit's dim display

Credit to http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/bimmer/2002/10/radio.asp and Arturo Gossage. That site just isn't detailed enough. But it would have been impossible todo this or to write this without that site.

This is easy. IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF. If you don't, its impossible.

There are actually a couple things possibly wrong. The bulbs under your LCD might be burnt out, kinda unlikey, or they might not be getting power at all.

What you'll need:
A soldering iron, preferably with a fine tip.
Thin solder
A smallish philips head screw driver
A flat blade screw driver
Needle nose pliers
A multimeter
The security code for your radio

I took pictures, yes. But unfortunatly I didn't take one of what you really need todo and I don't feel like disassembling my headunit again.However, its not really needed, as it is totally possible to descibe how to do it.

First of all you need to pull your radio from the car. There are little hinged tabs on each side of the radio. Pop them open. The screw in here has 5 sides, but you can make a hex wrench work fine. Unscrew as far they'll go and jimmy the head unit out. For those with an M3 you can substitute a hard 1-2 shift at the redline for the jimmying, the radio will slide right out. Ask me how i know. Disconnect the big black connector by following the disgram on the top of it. You'll have use some force with the screw driver when prying it up, it will make a real ugly sound when it pops off, but everything is fine.

Bring it inside and take the plastic cover off. There are 2 screws, one on each side, near the top, towards the front of the unit. Then there are tabs near the bottom that need to be pushed in as well as one on the top that also needs to be pushed. Everything else is kind of a prying exercise

Now we need to take the top cover off of the unit. Two screws in the back, toward the top need to come out. Then it just pulls off.

Next stop is pulling the display circuit board out. There are 2 screws attaching it to the tape player assembly. Then there are 2 metal tabs on the side of the unit that need to be pushed in. Make sure you disconnect the little socketed wires for the volume knob on the left side of the unit. There's a black piece of wire holding it in place that serves no other purpose and is safe to bend. Now you should be able to pull the displayboard clean out. Set it aside.

The tape player now needs to be removed, there is one screw on the left side near that beige plastic thing and one on the right side down a square hole. Then just pull the entire assembly up, set aside.

You have now arrived at the main board, the source of all your problems. Time to head back your car with the unit, the front display circuit board and your multimeter. Plug that wired volume button back into the main board, and plug the unit back into the car. Put your keys in and turn on the electrics in the car. Now push the volume button in to turn on the stereo. You need to figure out if those bulbs under the display are even getting any power,Toward the front of the unit you will see 2 red connectors. Looking at unit head on, the socket on the left and the last pin hole all the way to the left is the one that powers the bulbs under the LCD. You should get just under 12v on your multimeter from it. I pull up the ciggarette lighter connector and use the ground under it for my ground.


IF YOU DON'T GET POWER FROM THAT PIN (scroll down for instructions if you do)
Head back inside with your radio. Disconnect the volume dial again. Take a look between those 2 red connectors again. In between them you will find a couple surface mount resistors. They are litte black rectanges with the number "180" on them. These have cracks in the solder on each side of them too small for the human eye to see. What you'll need todo is just touch up these joints (4 joints total) with alittle solder.

Now repeat the above paragraph and make sure you're getting 12V now. Turn off the radio, reattach the display board, including plugging the pins back into those red connectors. Turn radio back on. Does your display light up nice and bright now? Good! You're done! ......if it doesn't proceed to the next section.


IF YOU DO GET POWER FROM THAT PIN
This means those bulbs under the display are likely burnt out.

Extra stuff you'll need:
Copper desoldering braid
2 8v microlamps available at partsexpress.com

You'll need to remove the metal backing from the display circuit board. There are 2 metal tabs holding it by way of holes in the circuit board, desolder these tabs from the board and bend the tabs back. The display board should come off fine now.

Now removed the actual LCD display, again, more tabs to desolder, 3 along the top of the LCD, one of which is through the circuit board. Then 3 more along the bottom, but these may not be soldered, you probably just have to bend them back, Removed the display and you'll see the bulbs. Desolder them and resolder in the new ones. Go out to your car and make sure they work. If they don't, I don't know what to tell you, this all worked for me, Very sorry.

If it did work, congrats, reassemble your radio and enjoy!

Hope this helps a few people!
Keywords: BMW e36 radio headunit dim display blank display problem fix
Thank you so much. It worked! I would reccomend if the person attempting this is a novice to follow the directions to take apart the radio, buy the capacitor and then take the unit to a TV repair shop or computer repair where they are used to working on small solid state boards. My soldering was scary actually got one of the resistors stuck on the end of the soldering iron but manged to put it back and it all works. Can't thank you enough fliplap.

[forkd]

Here are some notes about how I went about it. I used a gas powered, not so ideal soldering iron, a phillips head screw driver, a flat head screwdriver, a piece of cardboard to protect my dash and a little bit of courage and crossing of the fingers.


I don't have my security code so I decided to swing for the fences and leave the radio connected.

After I slid the radio out I left it stuck in the slot about 2" in order to hold it in position. With the key off I removed the cover, had to hold it out of the dash to remove the two rear screws. With the Radio placed about 2" in the dash I removed the cassette assembly while carefully supporting the radio from the bottom so I wouldn't "tweak" the dash.

** I used a born up cardboard box and tucked a little of it into the dash under the radio to hold it in place and protect the rest of the dash during the few times I let the radio hang freely from the cables.

Now the two resistors I needed to solder are front and center and easy to access with my soldering Iron while holding down the resistor with a screwdriver.

I then just plug the cassette assembly back into its plug and turn the key on to see if it works. BINGO!! nice bright lights.

I then turn the key back off, replaced the 4 cassette assembly screws, replace the cover, clide it back into the dash and test one more time before securing it in the dash. Works like a charm.

[NoOneBetter]

great Thread!!!

[svart]

My headunit is also dim (but the button lights are just fine), but I also have another problem with it. Sometimes when I adjust the volume, it either does the opposite of what I want it to do, or it does nothing at all.

It's a rotary encoder which uses special contacts inside to send bits to the processor telling it what step to be at. Sometimes the contacts are dirty and a bit or two will be missed and the processor will confuse this as going in the opposite direction or not knowing what to do at all.

I also found that there are a bank of transistors on the bottom side of the mainboard that suffer from the same solder joint problems as the little resistors. I don't remember what their designations were but the PCB material around them was darkened from being heated over time. I resoldered those and my lights started working again.

[Duce735sanda318]

Great write up!!!! :redspot

[2disturbed]

Posting so I can find this thread later.

Thanks for the write up!

[ih8rainnc]

Thanks to all who posted here. There is absolutely no way I would have fixed this without this thread. This site rocks!
My radio lights started going two years ago and I could 'fix it' by slapping the side of the dash up until last year.
- No problems encountered (other than losing one of the d@md screws that hold the front to the tape player.)
- I found what was probably the cause to be the right solder joint of the right resistor because as soon as I touched the left solder joint the resistor came off.
- My solder work is not as neat as I'd have liked, but it fixed the problem.
If your radio is dark and you've got at least a high level amature skill with a solder iron, you can do this.

[ChitownzVIP]

Amazing!!! Very easily done and WORKS!! THANKS GUYS! I was in the market for a newed CD43 headunit to replace it with because of this, but now i save GREEN for other things :buttrock

[bgrunden]

For any of you wanting to fix your dim Alpine radio display, I have photos to follow the thread posted. Repaired 2 - 180k ohm resistors between two 10-pin connectors in front of radio. Did a few steps different, but the outcome is the same - its bright and functional - first time in 3 years.

Good luck, and thanks to flipflap and others. I can be reach

[skylar86]

Thanks for the info! In my case it just a matter of re-touching the solder joints on the resistors! Great thread!

[Paul Strefling]

I also did this: jcrowell.info/bmw-aux-in.html while I was in there. If you cut the trace to the "tape present" switch you don't have to use a fake tape.

[Paul Strefling]

Unfortunately the above hack did not result in very good audio quality.

[artikxscout]

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

[hrtfxr]

I have never done anything remotely like this. Electronics are a mystery to me.
I bought another radio off ebay just after getting my 328I because I couldn't stand not seeing my display (also, I thought that the weird volume knob traction thing was a malfunction, wrong). Now, 6 months later, the same thing was happening to the replacement. After reading your tutorial, I thought, I might as well try to fix my old one. I was successful. Now, I am thinking I may fix the other one and put it back on Ebay!
Thanks a lot,
Bob

[difeliciantonio]

worked for me, the only problem i have is that i doesnt change lighting brightness when headlights are swiched on sometimes now. oh well better than what it was. i was about to put my foot through my radio before i fix it. now iam happy

[jeffc313]

BUMP !!
My experience:

(1) Radio release from instrument panel - it's a Torx bit you need, I think it was someting like 1/32".

(2) Radio Rear-Connector comes off EASILY... just pry it up a bit, and keep pulling until you release it fully. Whoever busted theirs must hae been anxious.

(3) No need to remove front panel, points I needed to solder easy access w/front in place.

(4) Good instructions, photos *very* helpful in locating very very tiny resistors in PCB jungle.
I took my soldering iron and literally used a grinding wheel to hone it down to a point.
Then the point easily re-flowed the solder.

(5) Getting screws back in-place for casette can be difficult, but if you wrap a short bit of tape around point of screwdriver,
and attach screw-head to wrap of tape, it won't go anywhere while you place it in hole.
OTOH... if you have a tiny magnetized screwdriver....:redspot

My display was intermittent on / off. Will see if I did the job right.
Took hint above and held down resistors with screwdriver in other hand.
@ Riick a few quick pointers for those who follow your steps. What you did _will_ work, but there are a few things that I would not want others to follow.

1) do not, I repeat do _NOT_ grind down your tip of your iron. this will expose the center of the tip, not the outside layer, if you expose the inside of the tip, the heat conductivity is much lower and the tip will last not nearly as long. I suggest investing on a ~60 dollar station and a few tips of different sizes/styles (bezel tip, point tip, 45 degree angle tips) the hakko 936 is a station that I would recommend.

2) there are much better ways of holding down an SMD component than with a screwdriver, Tweezers will give you a better grip and less chance of damaging anything. Some people like tape to hold down SMD things, I like tweezers.

I dont mean to bash anyone, what you did worked, and there is no reason to be worried about your work. Just for future reference, it is better when you have proper tools and technique when working on something small. (Trust me, I know, I had a bad experience installing a chip in a gamecube with a 40 watt cheapie soldering iron)

[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 (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104639&cp=2032058.2032236.2032314&parentPage=family)" 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!:redspot

[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 (http://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,

[SniperC4007]

I also did this and it fixed my dim display. I fixed the lighting as well, but when I go to show my girlfriend the radio (with a cassette aux adapter already inserted) I just got a blank screen. The eject button did not eject the tape although it made a noise. So I turn the engine off and try it with the radio off and the tape ejected when I hit the button. When I got back in my car an hour later, same problem except the screen was blank (lighted up of course) without the cassette inserted. So I unplug the radio and replug it, enter my code, and INVALID?? I just got the code from the dealer and it worked but now it doesnt? how is this possible?

[Waterguy]

Thanks for the help! I just completed the task also and now its bright like Christmas! I had the trouble as another noted with the tiny resister coming off. If one makes sure they have enough solder to cover the IC board line, it can be a little crooked and still work!

[blwjeepbart]

had the same problem as krayon but with little solder the unit is bright as it was when I bought the car thanks blwjeep

[blwjeepbart]

Thanks for the great post and instructions. After doing the fix the dim display came back to life. Its great not having to guess what station I"m listening to.

[BimmerSito]

i had mine working and got the buttons to light up, then i unplugged it to put it back together and then i plugged it back in and it didn't work at all. the little red light that is supposed to blink does not blink and it seems like the radio has no power.. does anyone know how to fix this?

[noahd42]

I had the dim radio and i soldered the 180 resistors but when i went to plug it all back in the display was full lit up (like all the pixels and letters) but now wouldn't change to ask me for the code etc so i just put it in and the radio started playing but still the display wasn't functioning properly. Anyone have any ideas of what I must have knicked? Also the casette door doesn't go down properly either....

[BimmerSito]

anyone?

[noahd42]

anyone?
i second this sentiment.

[trschin]

Thanks for the Great info!
yet another success story

Gotta love that soldering iron and this forum!

[Wayson99]

I completed the repair as described and the display lights up and says "Code Wait" the screen goes out after about 1 minute and there is no power at the pin. If I turn it on again it does the same thing. I measured the power at the pin and I only have six volts and not 12volts. This is probably the reason for the screen shutting down however I cannot find a reason for only having half the voltage. Both the resistors marked 180 that I soldered test out properly. Does anyone know what might cause this drop in voltage? Thank-you for any assistance you may be able to provide

[Roofus]

Props to the OP and the dooders with the pictures on page 2. I re-soldered all the connections for the LCD and LEDs.

Worked like a charm and lit up fine.

HOWEVER, after a few minutes the right side started to get dim. It's still readable, it's just not as bright as the left side. I take it this indicates one of my bulbs is probably going bad and not putting out enough lumines for the correct lighting.

Would that be the opinion of others who have dealt with this issue?

[trl106]

Hello all!
Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have an important question regarding this topic. I am currently having a problem with the display on my head unit and was psyched to find this forum & solution. However, after resoldering the resistors I realized I still had the problem. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I don't have the same problem that the OP was solving and perhaps one of you out there can help clarify this for me. At this point I can somewhat see my radio display but it's just not very bright at all and virtually impossible to see in daytime, but technically speaking it's not completely "dead".

Could somebody please help clarify if this the problem that requires resoldering the resistors or does my unit require new bulbs? Thanks so much (in advance) for any and all help!
Sincerely,
Tom

[Zeppelin420Fan]

My radio display has been ultra dim for the past 6+ months. Found this thread, followed the DIY and finally! A display I can see during the daytime.

Hardest part (for me) was getting the wire harness detached from the back of the head unit. Required a lot of force prying with a long screw driver, and after getting over my fear of breaking the clip I finally applied enough force to pop it off doing just what it displayed on the black connector.


Hello all!
Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have an important question regarding this topic. I am currently having a problem with the display on my head unit and was psyched to find this forum & solution. However, after resoldering the resistors I realized I still had the problem. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I don't have the same problem that the OP was solving and perhaps one of you out there can help clarify this for me. At this point I can somewhat see my radio display but it's just not very bright at all and virtually impossible to see in daytime, but technically speaking it's not completely "dead".

Could somebody please help clarify if this the problem that requires resoldering the resistors or does my unit require new bulbs? Thanks so much (in advance) for any and all help!
Sincerely,
Tom

Same exact thing I was experiencing. I just did the DIY, soldered only the two "180" resistors at the four connecting points. Works fantastic now.

Just put a little ball of solder on each end of the resistors. Should make 4 little dots of solder total. Be careful not to move the resistor. I got one of them hot enough and the whole resistor moved out of place! I quickly put it back and soldered it into place. Hopefully you did not do the same thing. Hope this helps.

[trl106]

Thanks for the feedback ZepFan, I will try re-soldering the "180" resistors again. I also ordered the new bulbs since they were only $1 a piece, and this way I hopefully only have to take my radio out 1 more time... -Tom

[waxfree]

recently did this DIY and it worked great, but now im noticing my climate control unit seems dim compared to my very bright radio display.

does anyone know where in the climate contril unit i could apply some sodder to brighten up the display? climate control unit works fine, I would just like it to match the brightness of the radio now.

[GQ_Style]

I noticed that you guys were able to fix your C33 head units with this fix. Has anyone tried it with a C43 business head tape unit? I'll attempt this later this week. Great thread.

[CirrusSR22]

Another one fixed! My display was just totally dead. I reheated the two "180" pieces, plus two more just "above" (in the pictures) the blue capacitor labeled "E813".

[cl8oncl8on]

Has anyone applied this concept to the multi-function display? I have similar backlighting issues in my MFD as well as my radio and was wondering if anyone has done this to their MFD.

[Metzroth]

Is it possible to purchase replacement LCDs for the C33 anywhere? Might be a stupid question, but it's worth asking IMO.

[trl106]

Well, I guess I'll post my results since they were quite interesting. I was real enthusiastic at 1st about trying this radio display fix when I first discovered it here. So I followed the instructions to the letter, took my radio out, unassembled it, I resoldered the resistors, reassembled my radio and reinstalled it into the dash. Only to find that it didn't work, display was still dim. Bummer. So I figured I must not have done it right and made a 2nd attempt to resolder the resistors.

This time it was much more "messy" and I accidentally completely desoldered 1 of the resistors and actually lost it for a short while. Thankfully I located it and resoldered it to the board but it all just looked like a big mess. So I reassembled again and reinstalled, but to no avail, still dim.

So naturally I'm thinking now, either I really messed up the resistors or maybe it's the LED bulbs. So I go thru the hassle of disassembling the entire display to get a look at the bulbs. When I saw they were thru-hole mount I hesitated in removing/replacing them given my previous soldering experience. So instead, this time I took my disassembled radio to the car and plugged it in to see if the bulbs would light at all and they did, only very dimmly (my original problem still).

So finally I just said "f*ck it" and decided to leave well enough alone and not tamper with the resistors any further at the risk of ruining the radio altogether. So I re-assembled it 1 final time, re-installed it, all the while praying that I didn't do something detrimental. Once installed, thankfully the radio still worked, but sure enough the display was still as dim as when I started this whole process. Fine. Well fast fwd about 2 weeks, I come out to my car this morning, start it up and ..... VOILA! The radio display was as bright as ever! I guess those electrons just needed some time to re-find their way? I don't really need or care to know why it's working now but not right away. All I know is that I'm going to be thankful to the good Lord, enjoy it while it lasts and summarize this whole experience up as "all's well that ends well"!

Thanks again OP, and good luck hackers!

[egebhardt]

Alright! It the 2 "180" re-solder trick worked for me. I tried to draw 4 lines on the bottom of the image to show where I soldered.

[macninja77]

i cannot pull up the diagram to get the radio fixed anyone have the pictures?

[bimmeupe36]

:) I was sure the problem with the dim display was because of those little red connectors that mate the main PCB to the display. I had touched up all the connections, seemed to work a while then went dark again. Found this post http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251722 (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251722) and touched up the “180” resistors. At first it didn’t work, no voltage on pin 1, went back for a second touch up and voila, it worked!
“Wet” a very tiny solder tip and just touch the ends of the resistor and PCB, not too long as the resistor will come off and can be a pain to get back in place. Using a magnifying lens/lamp proved very helpful and take your time.
Thanks again to Fliplap for the original post from Arturo Gossage! :buttrock

[havcomp]

accidently put in wrong code instead of returnning to "code_ _ _ _ _ _", the unit shows "code waiting" as a display dose anyone know how to clear the code wait, I do have the correct code>

[advertisehere]

Wow, this worked perfectly for me, my buttons ha stopped lighting up, and i just took it apart and resoldered all the little resistors in the area.
Now I can see what button I'm pressing at night!
Although I did almost lose a resistor when it came off the board.
The first post should be updated with the pictures that have been posted, they were really helpful.

[mp66226]

I just did this, resoldered all the stuff from this page, and page 2 or 3 I think. Lights up great, but now waiting for a code and pressing the buttons to enter the code doesn't seem to do anything. Any help?

....found the problem. When I re-installe the face circuit board, I bent one of the pins on the connector and it wasn't inserted. Straightened that out and re-assembled. PIN code entry worked, radio came on and played OK. We'll see if it holds up...I pretty crappy at soldering.

[ethereal45]

Just thought I would bump this thread and say thanks for these instructions. They were pretty easy to follow -- make sure you check the pictures on the following pages, those helped alot.

My circuit board was also of a slightly different design (1998 328i) but the two resistors marked "180" were in the same place. There was only one thing different about my board from your instructions -- I had to remove two screws to take out the cassette player.

Thanks again!

[mkrazit]

Appreciate the write-up. My display was dim in the cold, normal when warm. My left-most pin for the display LCD was reading 8.8 V. I also noticed the socket end receiving the pin appeared "relaxed"; the 2 metal tabs that place tension on the pin sending power to the display had lost their spring tension, obvious when compared to the other socket tabs. I bent them back to resemble the rest, reassembled, and now my radio display is normal again -- no resoldering needed.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but I'd encourage others to check this.

[tour96se]

followed the instructions, resoldered the two resistors and now all is good! i love this forum!

[allengator]

had no display + no lights. did everything ppl said and now it all lights up!!

btw for those that suck at soldering, i simply just put a ball of solder on the gun and then used a small screwdriver to sort of "spread" it onto the board. a lot easier then trying to put the gun to the board.

good luck!! thanks for the write up!

[dahz3]

I just wanted to say thanks for the post.

First, I couldn't tell that those little brass screws were actually what I was looking for to get the radio out, but put my hex key in there and the radio popped right out.

I didn't have a way to test the power, so I just decided to go ahead and solder the little resistors (after finding them with a magnifying glass). I did make a mess, popped one of them off accidently, appeared to have burned one of them, but kept on and put it back with a tweezers. Globbed on the solder and hoped for the best.

Anyway...put the radio back in and INCREDIBLE...I can actually see what station I am on.

Thanks again. I really appreciate the instructions!

[Gentleman K]

Just fixed my display as per the directions on the first page! :alright

Only problem now is to fix the tape deck portion and I'm good to go.

Though, on second thought, since I only use the tape deck to play music from my phone, I might consider wiring up an aux port based on a tutorial I found while googling my former problem.

[1bemdblu]

Just signed up to say thanks!

I just bought my car and there were a few things the previous owner didn't bother fixing. This was one of them.

[Misaiato]

Guy - this thread has been immensely helpful, but I am stuck on a step.

I have an E90 with a cd player exhibiting the exact same symptoms as described.

Getting the a/c unit out was a bit different, but in general you pull off the cd unit the same way you pull off the cd-player.

The circuit board is completely different, and try as I might to locate the troubled resistor, I could not.

There is a white ribbon connecting the main board to the PCB pushing the LCD on the face. What we found with some experimentation is that this ribbon is faulty in my case. There is an ever so small nick on the plastic casing exposing one of the wires, and with some precise jiggling I found that I could light up the display to original factory brightness but I couldn't keep it that way for more than a split-second. I achieved this three times in a row, so I'm sure it wasn't purely a fluke, but I cannot get it to stay lit no matter what.

The cable has the sumitomo mark on it, a Japanese company I'm familiar with in my work. Trouble is I either didn't see the part printed on the cable or it really wasn't printed.

What I'm looking for:

1. This white cable in perfect condition from an otherwise broken HU in any state - I will buy it and pay shipping if you know anyone with this part.

My HU is not broken, I'm sure if I resolve this component failure the display will be back to normal.

I soldered a number of resistors (1st time - did pretty well!) to no effect. I couldn't find the 180 chip so the board has changed significantly. I looked for similar components where a capacitor sat near the ribbon connector as in the E36 the capacitor sat near the red connections.

I'm shooting in the dark here guys. I have a multi-meter and the crappy thing was that every resistor I checked reported just under 12v as the OP said they should.

I'll be damned if it isn't the cable that some lackey nicked after inspection or some weird thing. My cable had a bit of white paint or something on that side of the ribbon.

The cable is white, maybe 12 pins, blue ends which are both male, more like circuits printed on paper than an actual PC cable with a connector. It plugs into two brown female components which have a small lever that rotates 90 degrees to lock it in each side.

Thanks for any help in advance. I recognize this is the E36 thread, but a similar thread on this site with the same problem on an E90 got the classic "you need a new stereo bro" reponse which is just lazy :P

You guys are far more interested in solving the actual problem I thought.

A little perseverance on the 'Net pays off:

Sumitomo Flexible Flat Cables (FFC) (http://www.buycheapr.com/us/result.jsp?ga=us12&q=sumitomo+cables)

That is definitely what this looks like. Now I have to take out the radio once more to check how many pins it has...

[ssbuchanan]

+1 to thanks for this thread!
I dragged up my old soldering iron (unused for about 15 years) and managed to fix this. Didn't do the '180' at first, display was still dim, did the 180 and it was bright as ever.

Now my volume control is still busted - I'll try some contact cleaner, but does anyone know about what sort of replacement pot to get incase that's no good? I don't have a multimeter to test the resistance.

... and then on to the 'aux' port mod :)

[Roofus]

+1 to thanks for this thread!
I dragged up my old soldering iron (unused for about 15 years) and managed to fix this. Didn't do the '180' at first, display was still dim, did the 180 and it was bright as ever.

Now my volume control is still busted - I'll try some contact cleaner, but does anyone know about what sort of replacement pot to get incase that's no good? I don't have a multimeter to test the resistance.

... and then on to the 'aux' port mod :)

I have a great recommendation. Buy a new working one on eBay for $20 shipped. :P

[ssbuchanan]

I have a great recommendation. Buy a new working one on eBay for $20 shipped. :P

Thanks for that :silly

Volume is more or less fixed, lights are bright, and I've got an aux port for the iPod and a brand new multimeter for the next DIY job. And the dash still looks OEM.

[Brandon455]

sounds like alot of work but it may be a easy solution until i buy the new HU
Thanks so much for this, and i agree someone should make this sticky!

__________________
http://www.mboxmusic.info/jh2.jpg
http://www.mboxmusic.info/2.jpg

[sasquatch4]

FIXED! Thanks you guys!!

[kenneth87]

sounds like alot of work http://www.liuhecai88888.info/7.jpg

[IHeartE30s]

Customer is happy, pulled radio and tried this as a first step. . .second step is replacement. It worked! Of course I said it will need to be replaced if it acts up again.

Its not hard at all assuming your decent with a soldering iron.

[white96]

another success story here. very very easy if you use a fine tip soldering iron. now time to fix the climate control

[aaronsdropzone]

Add me to the list of grateful people who were able to fix this problem because of this thread. I wish I'd come across it years ago.

Thank you!

[aaronsdropzone]

Add me to the list of grateful people who were able to fix this problem because of this thread. I wish I'd come across it years ago.

Thank you!

[turboawd]

i just wanted to say thanks. worked like a charm.

[greentree]

Thanks. I simply resoldered the two surface mount 180 ohms resistors at the middle of two red connectors.

[Phil G]

I've done the test. At first I had 0.30V and after I resoldered the two 180 resistors.
I'm getting 6.5V right now. How I can get more close to 12V?
Some solder are more conductive than others?

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd364/philgelinas/IMG_0772.jpg

[mrf]

^I too only get about 8V. Should I get almost 12v? My radio lights up, but it's dim.

EDIT - The two 18.0ohm resistors definitely had a cracked solder joint each. I put it under a microscope and was able to slightly move the resistors with forceps. I resoldered them and now the radio is back to its original glorious amber. Thank you very much for this thread!

[All Motor]

Did this today, my screen and backlights were out for over a year, now working like new again!

[Riken]

Thanks for the tips, I did this one today and voila, lights are happening again. I didn't take the front cover off because I had trouble getting past the volume control knob, it didn't want to come off so I left it. I used a brand new soldering tip to ensure easy transfer of the solder onto the connections. I also used a solder that was lead free and contains flux. Been waiting to do this one for a long time, was getting tired of not being able to see the stations but I noticed on sunny days with the sunroof open, the display can be seen even though I know it is dim. If you guys are having an issue where the lights come on once in a while really bright but soon dim again, it is most likely those two resistors, just touch them up with some fresh solder and you are good to go.

Awesome write up, there is also a thread with some pictures if you need it if you go here: http://www.frontiernet.net/~papi/e36_Radio_Display.html

[R2Hoog1]

Wow, I can't believe this worked. My radio was dim, I soldered the two little parts, and now it is bright! Now, I just need to figure out how to get the buttons to light up.

Thanks for the instructions!

[SirataXero]

Thanks! Just did this today and resoldered the two 180 resistors. I can finally see the screen! Its still occasionally dim, but usually comes back to bright after a little while.

Now I just have to fix the volume knob pot...

*Update*: well it looks like I didn't solder properly. My display went back to being dim. However, before it was completely off, but now it's just a bit dim. One of the two resistors must not have been soldered properly. Guess I have to take it apart and do it again. Maybe I'll work on making a aux cd changer cable as well while I'm in there...

[IgotBMW]

Subcribing

[Skyline19GR]

Does this fix work only in C33 units? I own a cd43 business cd and the screen has a failure, don't know how to describe it exactly.

This is how it looks like:
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/47/nhrx.jpg

any ideas?
Should i look for 180 resistors?

[Riken]

If you were also having trouble with the button LED backlighting as well as the LCD backlights, those two resistors don't solve the whole problem. Those do fix the LCD backlighting, but I noticed all the LED's behind the buttons on the face of the unit I have weren't lighting up. With the parking lights on, radio cover and tape module removed, I torqued the chassis of the radio a little, not sure what I was doing, but it bent the mainboard just ever so slightly enough to illuminate all of the LED's again. Apparently there is another component that is suffering from the micro solder cracks that lights up the LED's and the two little opaque orange bulbs.
So I whipped out my multimeter and started poking around and observing things. OK, so the multimeter didn't help me much, but the pointy probes sure did. I figured out that if I applied pressure to a specific location on the mainboard with my fingers, not very hard, but just enough to flex the nearby components and make the face light up, I could localize where the component responsible for the failure was. With the probe on my multimeter, I applied some pressure to a few solder joints, and I think I have found the resistor(s) responsible for the LED's. Though there is no difference in voltage when I play with the instrument light dimmer, and I really cannot tell for sure, my radio's lights have been working fine after I have re-flowed the solder joints on these few components.

Here's some pictures. The first one was taken before I re-flowed and added to the solder joints, the 2nd is afterwards & at a different angle.

Circled in red are the two resistors that fix the LCD backlight, and the other one or two resistors I believe are responsible for the LED backlighting. Circled in green are other components I re-soldered because they were in close proximity to what was causing the circuit interruption, and besides, it couldn't hurt to re-flow these joints anyways. The area around the 101 and 240 resistors felt like they were emanating heat, so it's my guess that those joints failed. (also, I realize that re-flowing the top of that transistor was probably pointless and doesn't carry current, but I felt like doing it anyways in-case it was some weird design and I don't care regardless)

http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_1_s.jpg (http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_1_l.jpg)
After re-flowing the solder:
http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_2_s.jpg (http://www.bitcore.org/stuff/bmw-forums/radio/Radio_2_l.jpg)

(click pictures to open a much larger one)

The radio is MUCH easier to get into than the OBC or the climate control computer.... (yes, my car has had all 3 of those things have something wrong with them. <3 BF.C members for figuring out what was the common problem for each of those!) Please reply back if re-soldering these resistors fixed your backlight LED's!!!.... Or if it doesn't fix the LED's!
Tip: I don't think you *HAVE* to remove the front panel, just the casette module. I didn't unplug the volume control header, it's not necessary to undo that to get to all these parts you need to fix (plus I hate unplugging those types of headers). Very easy DIY if you have a fine tip soldering iron and torx/hex bits that fit the locking latch screw thingies

I did the re-soldering today to get my front panel Buttons to light up again. I am not talking about the front display panel that tells you what track or what station is playing but JUST the buttons that you use to select stations and which cd you want to play from your changer. I already re-flowed the solder on the 180 resistors that control the display panel about a year ago but recently, the buttons blacked out so it was time to go back in and find the source of that problem and thanks to Bitcor from the above instructions, I managed to find the problem. It was the resistor label 101. To find this little guy, look for Q841 on the board just to the right above the 180 resistors then just below the Q841 is the 240 resistor and if you look to the left of the 240 resistor on the other side of that black rectangular plastic piece sits the 101 resistor....that is the one I re-soldered and it did the job. Now all the lights are lit up again.....Thanks to everyone that helped out with this up to this point...I love this forum.

[blizzard424]

Another satisfied customer of this DIY. My solders were pretty messy too. I basically just covered the 180 resisters with big globs of solder. Worked like a charm!

[LivesNearCostco]

Yes just bought a '97 M3 and did this repair to get my display to light up. Thanks! (Not even sure if my buttons light up, I think so...)

[Smithrc1]

Great post. I found this today and had my radio fixed in less than an hour after living with a display that would come and go depending on the outside temperature.

[98E36NH]

I have been lurking around here for the last couple of weeks as I bring a 1998 323iC back to life after several years of neglect, a leaking top, and (the dreaded) mice. :-\ I just completed resoldering/reflowing the SMD resistors to restore the backlighting to my LCD display. Success! Many thanks to fliplap for his post, 11 years ago(!), and the others that posted pics and additional info. You made this easy. :wave

[manuelmontero13]

Hello forum! I'm having a problem with my RDS radio that I hope someone could help me with:

When we bought the car back in 2009 it had an Alpine aftermarket unit because the previous owner got an Ipod converter stuck in the cassette player. Fortunately the car came with the original Philips RDS radio on a box and a few months later I had a stab on putting it back after taking out the stuck tape.

After a couple of months some of the pixels of the display where getting dim on a vertical pattern. I noticed that if I press the screen they would come up again. With some investigation I took apart the radio and gently but firmly tightened the clamp that holds the LCD and the contacts together. No more dead pixels
Fast forward to this year I was noticing that the display was acting up again, but it wasn't like before. Some of the letters suddenly changed. For example if it should say "FM 99.9" sometimes it would change to "#M 99.9", of even to " M 99.9". Other symptoms where a blank screen (iluminated, but without the pixels showing anything), total gibberish (similar to Skyline19GR CD43 unit), the buttons would not work except for the on/off knob or the volume would go up to the max for no particular reason.

Assuming that it was a bad contact on the components I took the radio out for closer inspection. Not being able to find anything obvious (those resistors that the Alpine units have that everybody solders) I put it back together and when I reinstalled the radio the screen was blank. The backlight worked, but I didn't have any pixels illuminated.

I took it out again and disassemble it completely. As you can see I took the front cover and the cassette module to have a better acces to the main board. I poked with a stick each of the components hoping to resume the contact and see the "CODE ----" on the display, but nothing. The thing is that if you blindly type the code the radio works! You can change the station, volume, set it to AM/FM and select the presets, but the display doesn't show anything.

I tried everything I could to locate the problem without success. I also was looking for a service manual, if such a thing exist, to get the schematics and with an osciloscope I might be able to isolate the problem hoping its just a bad resistor or capacitor.

This is the unit on the bench:
545216

This is the front display with the radio turned on. The backlight works, but the pixels don't:
545217

This is a shot behind the radio:
545218

The underside. Note the black marks on each component indicating it was poked:
545219


Has anyone had problems like this? I really don't want to change the unit back to the aftermarket one because I prefer the stock look.

Thank you in advance

[Lukitas]

Just did this to my car and it works like a charm. My radio was really dimmed I just resoldered the 2 180 capasitors and it worked.

[kagebista]

Hi dear friends.
Can some help with the volume issue? Is there a way or threat how to fix this.
My other problem is i-bus connection on the steering wheel controls! They work perfectly with CD43, but with the alpine c33 the wheel controls does not operate the radio volume and other stuff. C33 is given with multy steering wheel support - am i write? But i cannot control the volume with the steering wheel and with the knob an this is very annoying.
I done this retrofit in bmw E36 with multi steering wheel like it must be done properly. Even cruise control is retrofitted, but this alpine c33 is a pain in my @ss to make it all work...

[nowakja]

I fixed the radio in my '98 M3 with this thread. I can confirm Riken's post (#155 above) regarding the 101 resistor to the left of Q841 fixing the button LED backlights. In summary, touch-up the solder on the 180 resistors between the brown connectors to fix a dim or blank LED display and the 101 resistor to the left of Q841 to fix the LED backlights under the buttons. This is applicable to the BMW C33 business radio in E36s.

[bizarre]

Great thread! Tacking on here with an issue that arose for me after doing this fix. I've re-flowed the two 180 resistors, and now I have brightness back. However, the entire pixel field now glows permanently, and not displaying any information. It will sometimes flicker and actually display information as it should for a few seconds, and then will go back to a fully glowing screen. Has anyone else experienced this and fixed it? My first suspects are the two sets of contact pins from the main board to the frontal display board - I'll give them a cleaning and see what happens.

684690
684691
edit -all functions work though - entering code, radio, etc.

[bonoz]

Just wanted to give my 2 cents here. This totally worked for me as well. But it took me a while to do the solder job. My unit's main issue was the 180 resistor on the right. I could tell that was the one with the issue because when I tested it (with the unit opened up) in the car.. the screen would go from dim to bright if I just used the tip of my multimeter prong and pressed gently on the resistor on the right.

So I did the solder job on both ends of the resistor on the right but this didn't fix the problem. I was still having to 'press down' on the resistor for it to work again. So what I did then was I actually soldered off the resistor from the board completely. I did this very carefully so as to not lose the resistor altogether. I then used a qtip soaked in vinegar to really clean the corrosion off the resistor and its surface mounting points on the circuit board. I also used qtip soaked in alcohol and dapped it on those contact points. I basically just cleaned the area off really well and let it dry.

I then put two dollops of solder on the board and then seated the resistor and did the solder job again. This did the trick! The display was super bright and it wasn't having the issues of intermittently going dim again.

711578

711579

711580

[GregBBall123]

Instructions on getting the front face off were somewhat misleading but once i figured out it doesnt come all the way off to do this it went super quick.

Mine backlight problem was intermittent until it was permanent recently so I just heated up the 180 resistors and got a little new solder in. Put it back together and were all good!