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        General >> Problems >> The stereo has gone blank
        
(Message started by: dogma on Feb 20^th, 2007, 7:52am)

Title: The stereo has gone blank
Post by dogma on Feb 20^th, 2007, 7:52am

I recently bought a scorpio ultima 2.9 12v and it has a 7000 RDS-EON cd changer. Once I got her home I noticed the digital screen was blank :'(, the stereo works fine otherwise and the screen lights up in the dark but cant see what station or track or well, anything >:(. Does anyone know of a way of bringing it back to life or if it can be repaired. Big Thanks

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by Highlander on Feb 20^th, 2007, 7:55am

Its normally caused by dampness or the contacts on the front security panel needing cleaned.

Try putting the security panel in the house overnight in a warm place and cleaning the contacts.
I find running the aircon on a long run will bring it back too

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by dogma on Feb 20^th, 2007, 7:57am

Great, this car certainly keeps me busy lol, will let you know of the outcome.
many thanks ;D

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by dogma on Feb 21^st, 2007, 1:47am

Hi again, well I cleaned up the connections on the security panel and the air con was on for a while, then the heater but still nothing, wondering if i can get it repaired of if its half way to stereo heaven :-/

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by Highlander on Feb 21^st, 2007, 8:13am

Try taking the security panel into the house for the night

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by macroy on Feb 21^st, 2007, 11:15am

I have the same problem regarding the radio display.I have tried just about everything now including taking the whole unit into the house and leaving near a radiator for a couple of days,still nothing.My display never played up before and when I parked up this particular night everything was fine,but next morning there was no display and no sign of it since,I have even used the wife,s hairdryer and blown warm air through the tape flap,still the same.I am now contemplating an aftermarket unit,but I did not want to go down this route. :(Roy.

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by dogma on Feb 21^st, 2007, 11:34am

Hi Roy, not good my friend ???, seems like its a common fault with these, I looked on EBAY and there was loads for sale but again not cheap. A lot of people have said to try and clean the contacts on the security panel and try to dry it out which is my next step. The scorpio seems to be a nightmare with and water or damp, just last night i opened the driver window which allowed some rain water in, this dripped onto the memory buttons for the driver seat (on the driver door) and next thing i know the seat had a mind of its own and i was driving along at 70 nearly on my back lol :o. well hope you can sort yours out too, if i find anything ill let you ;Dknow

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by Mummra on Feb 21^st, 2007, 6:19pm

Hi I have just suffered a similar fate with my radio, ended up buying one off ebay and then tried swapping a few bits over to find the cause. The only thing that cured the problem was replacing the LCD. I have since put the radio with the faulty LCD in the airing cupboard to see if that will revive it but as yet have not tried it back in the car.

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by TiberiuS on Feb 21^st, 2007, 7:24pm

Mummra, that backs up what I found on my radio when it played up. Probed it with the scope and I was getting drive voltages from the driver IC but nothing on the display...proper fluorescent displays sup more power (need a heater filament supply like old radio valves) and are more expensive to produce but look far nicer and produce less problems ;).

It COULD (I mean could, not certain) be the carbon ribbon connector where it joins the LCD panel, as I remember it's held onto the pcb with a connector but just stuck to the LCD in whatever way they do it in the factory - maybe if you could seperate the cable from the LCD without destroying the tracks on the glass and put a new one on it'd solve the problem...

Can't see it being the crystal fluid in the LCD as it comes back too easily and doesn't appear properly if you press it, as it would if the gap between the glass panels increased with temperature...

Regards, Bruce :).

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by Mummra on Feb 21^st, 2007, 8:09pm

Bruce, you could be right about the ribbon cable, when I was driving around with the blank display it would periodically just start working for a few minutes and then disappear again.

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by mr._floppy on Feb 21^st, 2007, 10:24pm

It's possible to remove the fascia of the unit ( first removing it from the dash of course, you'll need those Ford wire things ) then remove the 6 tiny torx screws, remove the front, and disconnect the ribbon ( very careful it's fragile ) .

I warmed the back of the LCD unit over my living room radiator all night , at first when re-connected it was not much better, but over the weeks it has gone back to working 100% perfect.

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by dogma on Feb 23^rd, 2007, 9:56am

Hi all, dogma here, I was reading an interesting american car mag last night and it said that the LCD display in a car, be it stereo or any digital screen contains crystals similar to (if you know what i mean) the little packets you sometimes get in a box to stop an item getting damp, hence the crystals absorbing moisture, this may be a explaination as to why our stereo displays go blank, might be an idea, :P

Title: Re: The stereo has gone blank
Post by dannynic on Feb 23^rd, 2007, 2:52pm

I had this when I bought my scorpio. The bloke said the screen hadn't worked for months. After having the car a couple of weeks in the garage (heated because its got a radiator in it) the screen started to come back occasionally. Now I've had it a couple of months the screen is back completely so certainly in my instance it must have been damp.