2001 S60 Dash/Instrument Issues

WarbirdPilot91 · Post by **WarbirdPilot91** » 04 May 2015, 21:02

Hello again, Volvo friends. My '01 S60's (Base model, 5 MT) DIM (Temp/Clock) has always been showing, well, dim. Also, the tach bulbs seem to have been out as well. When I bought the car back last June, I had noticed this. They told me that the console had been replaced (hence it showed a slightly higher mileage), and probably just needed some new bulbs, which they gave me. The issue has never really bugged me, and being the busy college commuter I am, I ignored it until graduating last week (LOL.)

Anyways, yesterday I replaced all the bulbs, and then NONE of the dash bulbs worked (except the SRS, Engine, Service, High-Beam, Turn Indicators, Etc...)

Door open and 4-ways on to show what worked/didn't.

Now, tonight as I was driving home, the tach bulb decided to start lighting up, and part of the fuel gauge showed to be lit as well. So, what could be the issue, here? I tried rotating the bulbs 180 degrees (was suggested to have been an issue over at ipd's fb page.) Also, I was told that the brass connectors in the bulb sockets could be compressed (and need to be pulled out), or corroded.

Lastly, I have been looking at instrument clusters on ebay, and found a few. However, would this be a "plug and play" sort of thing? Or, would this not work and cost lotsa $$$ to re-program?

Thanks a million, in advance!

Post by **precopster** » 04 May 2015, 23:15

On You tube lots of solder touch-up posts on early clusters. 99% of them have this problem. Buying another used 15 yr old cluster only increases the chance of getting another dud.

Remove it and send it to a tv repairman & ask him to touch up all the solder joints. Shouldn't cost more than $60

WarbirdPilot91 · Post by **WarbirdPilot91** » 05 May 2015, 18:10

precopster wrote:On You tube lots of solder touch-up posts on early clusters. 99% of them have this problem. Buying another used 15 yr old cluster only increases the chance of getting another dud.

Remove it and send it to a tv repairman & ask him to touch up all the solder joints. Shouldn't cost more than $60

Thanks for the info, is there a way to tell visually if the soldering has cracked/corroded? I mean, can it be seen easily?

Post by **precopster** » 05 May 2015, 18:13

People skilled in electronic board repair use a large magnifier or if a DIYer such as yourself you could use the Macro setting on most modern phones.

Soldering it properly is entirely another skill and best left to the experts

Post by **abscate** » 05 May 2015, 19:35

I think we lost TV repair shops about 30 years ago here. I have a jeweller friend who is a ham radio operator who does mine!!

Post by **oragex** » 05 May 2015, 19:53

Looks to me like burned bulbs or even bulbs making poor contact on the board. Very common. You seem to have three of them burned.

Just ordered a few of these for my cluster. Not yet installed and not sure the voltage is a match, so use caution (at own risk)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-1-LED-5050-S ... 2c8405f434

A little warning: when replacing or just touching a bulb, do not have the key in the ignition or an SRS message will go off ($150 at Volvo to erase the message)

Soldering this board, if needed, is strictly a job for skilled electronics, not an amateur job because of very thin soldering that require special equipment and skills.

WarbirdPilot91 · Post by **WarbirdPilot91** » 05 May 2015, 22:07

precopster wrote:People skilled in electronic board repair use a large magnifier or if a DIYer such as yourself you could use the Macro setting on most modern phones.

Soldering it properly is entirely another skill and best left to the experts

abscate wrote:I think we lost TV repair shops about 30 years ago here. I have a jeweller friend who is a ham radio operator who does mine!!

Good to know, thanks! I will definitely pass this onto a pro!

oragex wrote:Looks to me like burned bulbs or even bulbs making poor contact on the board. Very common. You seem to have three of them burned.

Just ordered a few of these for my cluster. Not yet installed and not sure the voltage is a match, so use caution (at own risk)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-1-LED-5050-S ... 2c8405f434

A little warning: when replacing or just touching a bulb, do not have the key in the ignition or an SRS message will go off ($150 at Volvo to erase the message)

Soldering this board, if needed, is strictly a job for skilled electronics, not an amateur job because of very thin soldering that require special equipment and skills.

I did not know about the SRS thing, thanks for mentioning that! Would a PC/Laptop repair place be able to get precise enough on this? Also, would you recommend changing the bulbs again first, beyond soldering?

Post by **precopster** » 05 May 2015, 22:33

Most PC laptop repairers know how to solder the power receptacle at the rear of the laptop when they snap off........not a job requiring great finesse in soldering. They use a screwdriver a lot more than they use an iron.

Hobbyists doing PC board building and robotic hobbies have more skill than the average board or module swapping techie these days.

Our local TV repairman closed his shop last year. No others around.

Post by **vtl** » 06 May 2015, 06:06

Cheap soldering station with hot air gun is ~$100..200 on ebay. You will need hot air gun with different nozzles to replace large SMD components or reflow soldering on chip pins. Don't remove high temp blueish compound, which covers those pins - solder melts just well under it.

Post by **oragex** » 06 May 2015, 12:22

precopster wrote:Most PC laptop repairers know how to solder the power receptacle at the rear of the laptop when they snap off........not a job requiring great finesse in soldering. They use a screwdriver a lot more than they use an iron.

Hobbyists doing PC board building and robotic hobbies have more skill than the average board or module swapping techie these days.

Our local TV repairman closed his shop last year. No others around.

I too had to shop around going quite a few TV repair shops and cell phone repair shops as well, finally got a TV repair shop who said no problem, took my DIM board, tested several components and fixed several solders for $50 like a pro. Better give a call and ask if they do SMT (Surface-mount technology) boards, these are the smaller soldering such as chip legs. Make sure they test properly several components, not just the chip legs. I had SMT resistors near the Motorola chip that were shot.

And there's Ebay for example
http://www.ebay.com/itm/99-00-01-02-03- ... 98&vxp=mtr