Digital dash repair - 1988 Olds Toronado

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lgerhardx@hotmail.com - 26 Jun 2007 13:21 GMT

Hello all,

My digital instrument cluster on my Toronado has recently started to
go off at various times, and for various lengths of time. I found a
couple of individuals online that would repair it and send it back to
me within roughly a week's time.

My question, from having a slight electronics background, is: is all
they are basically doing just replacing the aging capacitors? I know
that this works with monitors and other electronics, since the caps
don't last forever.

As a test, I pulled the dash from another Toronado I have (1986) and
disassembled it to see if I could notice any leaky caps. I didn't see
any with bulges on top, but there was a lot of brown crusty blobs on
the circuit boards near the caps...is this leakage or some intended
factory adhesive/sealant?

I have years of soldering/PlayStation modding/wiring experience...is
it possible for me to desolder any suspicious caps from my 1988
Toronado's dash circuit boards, match them exactly, and replace them?

Thanks for your input! I hope this is a good place to ask this kind
of question.

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Scott Dorsey - 26 Jun 2007 15:26 GMT

>My digital instrument cluster on my Toronado has recently started to
>go off at various times, and for various lengths of time. I found a
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>that this works with monitors and other electronics, since the caps
>don't last forever.

More likely the intermittent issues are due to cold solder joints and
maybe bad inter-board connectors.

I would pull the thing, replace ALL of the electrolytic capacitors with
modern 105'C types (the Panasonic FC series from Digi-Key are fine),
or maybe even 125'C types. You want the high temperature ones.
Then I would go through and redo EVERY solder joint on the thing until
they were all nice and clean. Then I would hit every connector with
De-Oxit and make sure they are all clean.

>As a test, I pulled the dash from another Toronado I have (1986) and
>disassembled it to see if I could notice any leaky caps. I didn't see
>any with bulges on top, but there was a lot of brown crusty blobs on
>the circuit boards near the caps...is this leakage or some intended
>factory adhesive/sealant?

I don't know without seeing it, because it could be either one.

>I have years of soldering/PlayStation modding/wiring experience...is
>it possible for me to desolder any suspicious caps from my 1988
>Toronado's dash circuit boards, match them exactly, and replace them?

Sure, but it won't fix the problem, which is probably a cold solder joint.
However, it WILL prevent other problems down the road and you might as
well do it while you are redoing the solder joints.

Be sure to use a solder sucker, a temperature-controlled iron, and
63/37 solder. You CANNOT get away with anything less than perfect
joints in these things. They'll be fine today, but if they are even
a little crystallized they will fail a few years down the road.
--scott

Signature

"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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lgerhardx@hotmail.com - 27 Jun 2007 03:15 GMT

> <lgerha...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************
** I hope I'm not double-posting, but I got an error the first time I
tried to post this reply! Sorry if they both show up! **
*****************************************************************************************************************************************

Wow, thanks for all the detailed help and pointers!

I only have a simple 15/30W soldering iron (I think I have a 10W
also), but not an actual temperature-controlled soldering station, or
the 63/37 solder you mentioned. I assume flux is okay and recommended
as well for good solder joints?

I've posted some pics here showing the brownish stuff on my '86
Toronado's cluster circuit boards. As you can see, some is even not
near capacitors, but some long flat objects and connectors...if I run
into this when I take my '88 Toronado's cluster apart, should I
thoroughly remove it all?

I've got some electro-wash, and contact cleaner chemicals I bought
from Newark a long time ago, are they at all comparable to the De-Oxit
you mentioned?

Thanks so much! My company takes a two week shutdown period next
month, so now I get a good opportunity to work on this project! :)

Pics:
http://www.idcts.com/sites/_newsgroup/P6260043.jpg
http://www.idcts.com/sites/_newsgroup/P6260044.jpg

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HLS@nospam.nix - 27 Jun 2007 12:10 GMT

> > <lgerha...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >My digital instrument cluster on my Toronado has recently started to
> > >go off at various times, and for various lengths of time. I found a
> > >couple of individuals online that would repair it and send it back to

I have a similar digital dash in a 90 Reatta. I need to have it reworked,
just as
you are experiencing. One of the guys who is involved in this sort of thing
wrote one time that a thorough cleaning is the first step, and sometimes the
only thing wrong with these dashes, IIRC.

I dont want to muck with this myself, as the price for having it done is not
so very expensive. There are enough other problems on these little cars
that I dont want to borrow trouble.

Reply to this Message

Scott Dorsey - 27 Jun 2007 14:20 GMT

>I only have a simple 15/30W soldering iron (I think I have a 10W
>also), but not an actual temperature-controlled soldering station, or
>the 63/37 solder you mentioned. I assume flux is okay and recommended
>as well for good solder joints?

Yes, use a little liquid rosin flux. Be sure to remove it. Look into getting
a temperature controlled iron... the Hakko ones are fairly inexpensive and
work just fine. You want something that can produce a huge amount of heat
on demand, but which won't produce any more heat than necessary.

And you want 63/37 solder. It is eutectic and so much easier to make good
joints with than 60/40. The 60/40 flows a little better, but as it cools
it goes through a plastic range where you have to keep everything completely
still or the joint will crystallize.

>I've posted some pics here showing the brownish stuff on my '86
>Toronado's cluster circuit boards. As you can see, some is even not
>near capacitors, but some long flat objects and connectors...if I run
>into this when I take my '88 Toronado's cluster apart, should I
>thoroughly remove it all?

If it's an adhesive, leave it there. I am on a text terminal right
now and have no graphics, but if it doesn't look like it leaked out
of the caps (and it will be obvious when you remove a cap), it's fine.

>I've got some electro-wash, and contact cleaner chemicals I bought
>from Newark a long time ago, are they at all comparable to the De-Oxit
>you mentioned?

Depends. What are they? De-Oxit is really just a light petroleum
solvent with oleic acid and a red dye. The oleic acid is mildly reducing
and removes oxides, then it leaves a thin layer behind to protect the
contacts.
--scott

Signature

"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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lgerhardx@hotmail.com - 02 Jul 2007 17:32 GMT

> <lgerha...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >I only have a simple 15/30W soldering iron (I think I have a 10W
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

This is what I have for my 'contact restorer':
http://www.newark.com/jsp/Tools+&+Production+Supplies/Cleaners/ITW+CHEMTRONICS/E
S1628/displayProduct.jsp?sku=00Z1309

I'm going to buy a solder station and the 63/37 solder, as you
mentioned. If this chemical I have currently isn't good enough to do
the trick, could you please let me know what the part # is of the De-
Oxit chemical you recommend is? I looked on MCMElectronics.com for
DeOxit and found a few different things. I wasn't for sure which one
you were referring to. Thanks!!

Reply to this Message

Scott Dorsey - 02 Jul 2007 18:56 GMT

>I'm going to buy a solder station and the 63/37 solder, as you
>mentioned. If this chemical I have currently isn't good enough to do
>the trick, could you please let me know what the part # is of the De-
>Oxit chemical you recommend is? I looked on MCMElectronics.com for
>DeOxit and found a few different things. I wasn't for sure which one
>you were referring to. Thanks!!

Any of them will be fine. The spray can is probably the easiest to apply.
The stuff in the little bottles with the brush will work as well and probably
cost less per application, but it's more work.
--scott

Signature

"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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