My wife has a 2011 exped ltd. the LCD slowly started going out till finally it only works for 2 sec after you bump it with your fist, just enough to see what aux your on. Sat down at about 10 pm just to do a bit of research, found this video and had the radio out repaired and in by 10:45, and it works like a charm. My wife is going to be stoked when she gets up. I went ahead and did all the resistors as well as the pins from the screen, i didn't do ant of the little ones or the ones at the bottom that weren't close to the screen, I used a little butane soldering torch from amazon that I keep in the camper for various things. Thanks Jerry!

The black spot on the display is actually supposed to be there, it is a vacuum indicator like on old tubes because when the glass is broke or cracked it lets the vac out and air in which burns it out. the dot turns white when the tubes integrity is compromised.

The black spot on the Vacuum Fluorescent display is normal. It is called a "Getter" and is a metal that is fired with an RF field after the tube is evacuated to burn up any oxygen or other contaminants remaining. You should be able to see, with the bare tube turned on, a faint red filament strung left to right, probably two filaments. If the tube power supply is not working it will be dark. Usually a capacitor problem. Also the radio gets a signal or voltage from the dimmer circuit for the instruments to adjust the brightness. If that is incorrect, external to the radio, then the radio will be dark.

This works great. For my 2011 super duty it was one or two of the 4 resistors all stacked up. I used a small dental pick to pry on each one to see what was loose because they all "looked" fine. One or two popped right off so I soldered all the resistors but am sure it was the 4 stacked up that was the problem. Thanks for the video, saved me buying 1000's worth of stereo gear.

Worked great on 2006 Ford Explorer, same radio and circuit board layout per the video. Added a touch of solder to each resistor and all good. Took 30 minutes start to finish installed.

Thanks for the video! I personally really appreciate it. I was just able to fix mine. I reflowed the solder joints with a hot air rework station (cheap Chinese one, 853D), pretty confident I got them all, and went out to test the radio in in my van without it all put back together - I just had the bare board plugged into the radio with a piece of paper to isolate it from the chassis, didn't have any of the black components put back together. it was working, but still all dim, the edges were especially dim, but I found while jiggling it around, I could get it to light up like new, and would work great for a bit, then fade back out again. So I got to looking at the ground contact. On the back of the face's board, there's a little spring contact that hits the radio's chassis. Mine looked kinda skanky on the radio side. I cleaned that contact tab, and the place on the radio where it makes contact with some sand paper and it works awesome now. I"m not sure if it's all from reflowing the joints, or if it was the ground the whole time. If it were the ground you wouldn't even need to pull that board out of the face. You can see the point where the tab contacts the chassis for a couple frames at 4:40 in your video, near the bottom right corner of the chassis. At 4:54 you can see the contact tab on the bottom left of the face's board. It's a J looking spring deal to the lower left of the black pin. I put a light dab of dielectric grease over the area where I'd sanded to keep it from rusting up. Hopefully it'll last awhile!

Great video thanks for showing the other possible outcome to this most people post success stories and it's just not reality some time. I agree its worth a try

I just did this on a 2014 Expedition SSV with a dead display. I based myself on this video, plus some of the comments to A) resolder all the display pins B) resolder all the black capacitors (flat rectangles) and C) lightly sand + clean the J-shaped ground spring on the display circuit board, then apply some dielectric grease to it. I did the radio casing side (where the J-shaped spring makes contact) the same way, as it had a black mark on there from rubbing / vibrations. I also bent the J spring out a little bit, to make sure it makes better contact with the radio casing. It worked like a charm. As soon as the radio was plugged back in, the display came alive! Thank you! 👍

Thanks, worked for me. One of the large resistors actually come completely off when I heated one end. Solder on the other side had apparently cracked all the way through. Two things: If the display is dead, gently pressing on the front panel while the radio is still in the dash may bring it back to life. If so, you KNOW it's the resistors causing this. Second, don't be concerned if you can't see the cracked solder at the resistors. I used a 10X magnifier and still couldn't see it. That's unusual, but it is what it is. Just go ahead and solder both ends, and hopefully it'll fix the issue. Thanks again!

Worked like a charm! Thanks for posting!

Mine is working now, thanks for the video

does any one know if there is anyway to fix a ranger screen blank but radio goes

Fixed my 2011 Expedition. Thanks!

Hi Great video. I have a 2002 Explorer Ford radio. THe radio keeps jumping into Seek and only stays on my chosen station for a few minutes, then it Seeks. What can I do, please?

mine was in the power supply on 2003 f150 a little different but same principle

I believe that the little black "burnt" circle on the lower left section of the display is a "tell tale" and is supposed to be there. if the vacuum inside the display is intact. the burnt circle is visible if the display has cracked or oxygen has gotten in the burnt area will disappear.

Good video,... it worked for me,... appreiciate the instruction,.... we gotta try....right....... take care........

Sir i have same issue in my Chevrolet beat music system ( black spot on display), is it possible to repair?

thanks.

It was a great effort you made. No one could have known a prior attempt had been made without taking the radio out and examining the board. I have a 2010 Expedition that has little or no illumination during daytime operation; in the USA our State does not require the use of Daytime Running Lights, as is common in Canada, but cutting on the headlights gives brighter dash illumination, which is the only way to see the information center on my truck. I have an older ('98) F150 that has had sporadic illumination of the radio display for years - the video I recently saw concentrated on the power supply solder joints for the fix, which may be a possible approach to the Expedition illumination issues. I'm no expert, but don't mind reflowing old solder joints and removing and soldering in new parts, as required, and will be pulling my F150 radio ASAP. Thanks again for this video and consider reflowing the power supply solder joints on your Expedition. (As a matter of interest to those who don't mind using a soldering iron, cold solder joints and blown capacitors are a common problem with certain older models of S__________ flatscreen TVs with undersized capacitors, an easy-to-spot issue when the picture turns to zilch, and expensive repairs seem to be required; however, first lay the screen side of the unplugged TV on a soft cloth on a kitchen island counter, work bench or table top, then safely remove the back of the TV and look at every tube capacitor - you can easily spot the bad tube capacitors, because they visibly swell up on the ends or burst open when they fail. - Amazon sells DIY kits w/all the possible repair parts for very little $$. High voltage is stored in functioning capacitors, which requires a little experience or guidance to discharge - Other YT videos show exactly how to make these repairs.)

Worked!

Bummer that it didn't work for you! What did you end up doing?

Thank you.

Where are you seeing that someone else tried to do the repair? All I see from those pins to the display is factory flux. Looks 100% stock unless I'm missing something.

❤

The reason it didn’t fix the problem is because the problem is in the connection of the resistors. They are the columns of black rectangular pieces. If you check each one with your finger I guarantee one was loose. All you have to do is carefully repair that connection.

Take the palm of your hand and give the display screen a good hit I saw this on tictoc my radio worked but no display I went out and did it and the display lit back up it worked for me what do you have to lose if your replacing it anyway

To much work! Just got to pick a part, there $50 and put a new one in!

Just sad all that work for nothing....You can always go get yourself a new one that will work & say FU to the old one!

I'd rather take it to the dealership and let them do that. I'd mess something up.

Hi Great video. I have a 2002 Explorer Ford radio. THe radio keeps jumping into Seek and only stays on my chosen station for a few minutes, then it Seeks. What can I do, please?