[V8] be glad (NAC)

[dsaad at icehouse.net]

for this list...

My explorer (1998) has developed what appears to be a very common problem where
the radio display is erratic - slow to come on, dim, blinks off, etc. Of course
I searched the net for clues - and found a web site where some dude sells the
fix for this and all sorts of other repairs for $20 a pop. For only $20 you get
gems like "to fix un-stable idle, clean the IAC valve".

In the radio case, the DC-DC converter board that drives the fluorescent display
overheats and melts some solder connections. The repair is obvious. Look for the
brown spot and resolder connections - replace resistors with higher wattage if
you want to avoid doing this job again. Pretty simple and obvious to anyone who
has ever wielded a soldering iron - right?

Well - the kicker here is that people who have tried to post their repair
success stories online have been threatened by this guy pretending to be a
lawyer. It seems to work for him because there is very little info available
anywhere that I could find. Grrrrr.

Side note is that the local Ford designated radio repair shop does lots of these
for $125 a pop. My repair time was about 1 hour and cost nothing.

Dave