JPR
Full Access Member
Not sure if this is a common problem, but my 96 factory radio has not had the buttons light up in a couple of years. Before some one asks, I wanted to keep the factory radio. My truck gets taken to places that having a factory radio minimizes the chances of breakins.
After checking the series of incandescent bulbs, I determined the problem was on the main board. So I decided to jumper power straight to the display. This is what I did on mine, it is a quick 10 minute fix.
After removing the radio, remove the bottom cover with a T8 Torx screw driver.
You will find the solder connections for the display cable at the driver's side front corner of the radio. Looking at the second row of solder joints, you will be connecting two solder connections closest to the driverside. See picture, yellow circle. You will need to scratch through the two traces the used to feed power to the display prior to soldering the jumper leads. I used two leads from a CAT5 pc network cable.
Now connect one lead to ground and the other to the dash light power. See the black circles. The dash light connection is the fourth connection counting from the center of the radio. Polarity is not an issue if you scratched through the traces on the board in the first step and these are incandescent bulbs not LEDs.
After checking the series of incandescent bulbs, I determined the problem was on the main board. So I decided to jumper power straight to the display. This is what I did on mine, it is a quick 10 minute fix.
After removing the radio, remove the bottom cover with a T8 Torx screw driver.
You will find the solder connections for the display cable at the driver's side front corner of the radio. Looking at the second row of solder joints, you will be connecting two solder connections closest to the driverside. See picture, yellow circle. You will need to scratch through the two traces the used to feed power to the display prior to soldering the jumper leads. I used two leads from a CAT5 pc network cable.
Now connect one lead to ground and the other to the dash light power. See the black circles. The dash light connection is the fourth connection counting from the center of the radio. Polarity is not an issue if you scratched through the traces on the board in the first step and these are incandescent bulbs not LEDs.
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