Start by removing the three knobs on the front. After you remove the 12 screws around the perimeter of the front face you just need to pry on the corners a bit to pop it off.

 

Follow along the steps to get to the bad board.

 

Just a few more steps and lots of little screws.

 

I have no idea what is wrong with the nav CD board, but swapping in the board from the other radio solved my problem. To re-assemble, just reverse the steps and avoid the pitfalls that I noted.

 

Thanks for the diagrams. I had a blank screen with buttons bottom and right inoperative. Stripped the unit and the nav card is now repaired and working normally.
Regards Ron

 

Awesome job, I hope I never need this... But, bookmarked!

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

 

Great write up, and thank you for putting this together! My REC screen is finally going all-blank so will be pulling everything apart very soon to take a look. I'm hoping it's just a problem with the ribbon connector, but if not, I should be armed for the task. Much appreciated :2thumbsup:

 

Do you happen to know the make and model of that control board. I'm looking to see if it can still be purchased without having spend the big money a new or gently used replacement REC system.

 

Here's mine from a '07. 5064184AL

 

wookiee Did you get a replacement board and where? $$? My radio glitches out regularly. 2008 WK Limited w BA premium sound. I think it's a RER radio? (3/26-edited to RER from the build sheet)

 

wookiee Did you get a replacement board and where? $$? My radio glitches out regularly. 2008 WK Limited w BA premium sound. I think it's a REC radio?

After talking to the tech at Factory Radio Parts we determined it's the control board. The black one above the dvd reader. - They don't have any.

So, I 'reflowed' it. It works!!!

I followed the directions from http://www.computerrepairtips.net/how-to-reflow-a-laptop-motherboard/ especially the comment from a guy who does it professionally.

I have a 2 hour drive coming up to really test it out.

 

Nice writeup, great pictures.

 

DO NOT USE YOUR HOUSEHOLD OVEN FOR REFLOWING.

If you wish to reflow properly, you need a reflow oven. You can make one, or find someone who has one. https://www.whizoo.com/ - or you might even be able to get away with just a toaster oven, if you don't care about heat curves and actual temperatures. But that toaster oven should NEVER see food again.

Please do not do this in the same oven humans cook food in.

You would be better off taking a jewelers loupe and looking at the connections to determine if you are dealing with tin whiskers or a broken solder joint somewhere on that board. Then just reflow that with a soldering iron. Likely not tin whiskers if you can reflow at tin/lead temps.

 

What's wrong with using household oven?

I just did mine about a hour ago, in my household oven lol. I had this issue but wasn't due to the heat component failure, it just gave up totally so had to have been a faulty solder joint. Preheat oven to 390, put board on foil sheet on baking pan, wrapped all plastic parts, antenna, and bigger components, popped it in with door closed for 10 seconds, shut oven, opened door, and let cool. Put radio back together and it worked like a charm.

 

Let me put it another way.

What renter or owner would want anything more than a zero point zero zero percent chance of lead exposure from their oven? And then let me ask you why are you putting your lead-laden PC board in your oven where you cook your food.

 

Rdm2 Well ok, but what did you do exactly other than "stripped the unit". And let us know if it develops a second wave of infection, or if you find there's a new normal. Covid references free of charge.

 

rdm2


Been over 2 months now and everything is still working fine.

 

does this just replace the board or the dvd drive also? One more question, i have an 05 WK with the REC radio, bottom right button is MUTE. I found an 07 Aspen REC radio for $20 at the pick and pull but when i replaced mine i get the black screen with no right side or bottom buttons working. I do notice the Aspen radio the MUTE button on the WK is TIME button on the Aspen. Will this radio even work in the WK if i pulled the nav board out of my WK radio? My WK radio has inop drives (CD and DVD).

 

I wish I could help. I'm stumped with this issue and unwilling to throw money/time at it with other issues with the WK. I'm wondering how to do a dump on the hard drive, or whether I can just disconnect it, might be contributing. When I get a free afternoon I'm going to tear it out /apart and closely inspect suspect boards for heat and bad connections hoping to find something I can resolder. Plus if covid goes away, I could get a toaster oven at a garage sale and reflow the boards. But it works 2/3 of the time so...

 

rdm2 did you reflow the board(s) or ? Pls describe what/how you did, temp etc- tx

 

rdm2


Yes board reflow as per described in this thread

 

buy a disposable toaster oven please.

 

Have to report that fault re-appeared yesterday. The reflow obviously was only a temporary fix. Disappointed that the fault has returned and have no interest in stripping down again as cant get a replacement board anywhere to date

 

I have a proper reflow oven. I'm happy to reflow your board, with the appropriate reflow curve for your solder type.

I've stated before that I believe it is fairly difficult to properly reflow a board without a reflow oven. Lead-based solder can be done in a toaster and a watchful eye and clock. But it's difficult to properly reflow lead-free boards.

I'd also suggest that if reflowing really works, the defect should be visible under magnification. Which, if you could locate the defective solder joint, the repair would be more precise.

The other possibility is that the board is growing tin whiskers. Which, would be visible under mag.

 

Brent, what power mag do you recommend. I have a headset type mag, maybe 8X, or should I be using dad's microscope around 40X?

 

Short answer, it depends

You'll get pretty far with 8x. It depends on what kind of failure we're dealing with. But if you spent some time under 40x, you could probably learn a great many things

Hit google images for "solder joint fracture magnification" to develop an eye for what you're looking for. Chances are, all the devices are failing the same. So zeroing in on the faulty component would be nice, as it might lead to less oven contamination It's probably fixable with an iron.

I suspect it would be a solder joint fracture, given the environment and age.

I'd be happy to take a look if you can get some well-lit images (several) with an iPhone or better camera. Different angles, flash on and off.

 

I would argue that the REC radio is just antiquated by today's standards. It's worth replacing if you're going to keep the rig.

So many double DIN radios today that are feature-rich and also tightly integrated with your mobile phone.

Heck, getting Waze on my dash via CarPlay alone has been worth the hassle. Crowd-sourced LEO and hazard reports on my dash? Yes! And, it's not a very difficult install, with the harness and adapter kit you buy for the steering wheel controls.

I understand wanting to keep your WK stock, but at some point you'll appreciate the ability to more.

 

Thank you Brent-m and JeepRonibo for taking the time to respond and help. This gives me motivation to redouble my efforts. Brent, what Zip code you in for shipping pls? I will "tear down" the unit in the next week or 2, inspect boards closely. Hopefully I find a fractured joint and can point others in the right direction.
Brent, what radio did u buy? I have 2008 GC Limited w BA Premium sound. So it needs to integrate with the factory Sub amp. I agree with upgrading to new, hell you don't even need a tuner with bluetooth streaming off the phone etc. Not sure, can the phone stream tunes and run Waze simultaneously?
This factory radio is so unreliable, I feel like just reflowing the whole thing in a frypan on the campfire lol.

 

I'll PM you my zip.

Here was my bill of materials.

Sony XAV-AX5000
PAC RP4-CH11 Wiring Interface
Metra 99-6510 Dash Kit

Under $500 shipped.

That was all bundled in the Crutchfield deal. I sought out a better dash kit as the Metra kit was too glossy black to match the dash. This one matches nicely and looks classy IMO. https://www.ebay.com/itm/05-07-Comp...nd-Cherokee/351901765788?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I think the most difficult part of the install is the connecting the two harnesses. And by difficult, I mean tedious. It's just matching wires, stripping, and in most cases, crimping. I opted to solder and heat shrink, to keep the bulk of the bundle small. But properly crimped butt splice connectors will work just as fine.

Yeah, basically in CarPlay mode. Your phone becomes your car entertainment system. So Waze in the foreground with all the alerts, and your favorite music stream in the background. Spotify, iTunes, or whatever your pick.

The only other thing you'd need is a SXM module, if you want satellite radio. I purchased one, but did not connect the service.

If you go this route, I can help you intercept your factory backup camera and your factory satellite antenna.

 

^hey it's the middle of winter and i'm getting tired of my heater glitching my radio with, you guessed it: Heat! I've got time to pull the radio now and i found the above vid that clues us in on what we need to do. First buy the reheat gun on amazon for $39, then get to tearing the radio apart. I'll be back after the heat gun gets delivered and i'll post an update...Very Excite!

 

Heat gun arrived. Radio on the bench after 4 hrs clearing off the bench lol. I’m terrified. I see at least a dozen motherboard-looking chips, going to inspect more closely, then reflow them all probably. Terrified it will be useless when I reassemble. Must remember it’s a POS so full speed ahead. Back at it tomorrow.

 

Heat gun arrived. Radio on the bench after 4 hrs clearing off the bench lol. I'm terrified. I see at least a dozen motherboard-looking chips, going to inspect more closely, then reflow them all probably. Terrified it will be useless when I reassemble. Must remember it's a POS so full speed ahead. Back at it tomorrow.

I'm still willing to reflow those in my oven if you'd prefer. Sorry I faded on here... but offer stands. If we can do it without melting those plastic connectors. But I think we can cover those components with heat tape (reflective + kapton) for the oven.

I will say this, after looking at your bare boards. There is quite a bit of conformal coating on a portion of the board.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet the problem is under there.... Odd that they didn't conformal coat the entire board. Is that the front or the back of the unit? You'll want to try to clean that conformal coating off the best you can with acetone before you reflow. That stuff is extremely toxic if reflowed (boiled and inhaled), like everything else on that board is.

If you do decide to go it alone, and "spot" reflow. Consider an inexpensive IR thermometer gun from amazon to monitor the temperature of the areas you are heating, and do your best to approximate the reflow graphs for your solder-type. You might have one already from the pandemic.

Do it outside and be sure to wear a respirator while using painting-supply acetone and removing that conformal. And also reflowing.

 

It also wouldn't hurt to test your heat gun on an inexpensive piece of computer garbage.

I'm not sure how fast the air is flowing, but some of those components are tiny. And when you blow hot air by them, while the solder is flowing, the can shift or be blown of the board entirely. You'll think everything is going swimmingly, and then a resistor will flip over once the solder flows.

At least this way, if you're also monitoring with an IR thermometer, you can pull the gun back off the board and let the area gradually warm up. And be patient and let the heat do it's work. Without some feedback telling you what's happening on the board, you're likely to have some of these issues where you get too close to the board and blow components off.

 

Tx Brent. What does the conformal coating do, is it like a flux? It is a two sided board with more chips on the underside, which scares me because I made a hack preheater w a ceramic heater and I’m afraid the components will melt and fall off. Was trying to avoid a week or more with the radio down, but sending the boards to you certainly seems a safer alternative. Can you PMYour ZIP Code, I am in Cleveland Ohio. Alternatively, see attached pic, can you point to what might be a suspect component for a spot repair. I inspected everything visible at approximately 200X with dad’s inherited microscope, While interesting and nostalgic I couldn’t see any signs of heat or fractures. Couldn’t visual chips with the recessed pins, I doubt I could affect a spot repair anyway. Pics are both sides of one board.

 

Btw. If reflowing, won’t the chips fall off the underside?