half of display on head unit dim

spearo2 · Post by **spearo2** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:53 am

Half of the display on my head unit went dim the other day. Nothing I have done has changed it. Its not out completely, but in the daylight it is hard to see. At night it's not as bad but annoying. Anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions?

CAN-AWD-VIBE · Post by **CAN-AWD-VIBE** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:54 am

warranty?

bogey523 · Post by **bogey523** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:09 am

My brother has a 2004 Vibe with about 36K miles on it and the same thing happened. The dealer replaced the head unit for free because it was under warranty. Hopefully yours is too. Kind of crazy thing, I test drove a 2005 with 35K miles and it had the same problem. Hmm makes me think that there is a problem with the head unit in the vibe.

Navtrtl · Post by **Navtrtl** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:07 pm

I currently have the same problem with my 2003 vibe with under 33k miles. I think they are designed to fail after the warrenty expires. Mine went about 5 months after the 3yr mark so I haven't even tried to get it looked at. If you search on here, you will find a few threads with posts in them about this very same issue. If this happens as often as it sounds, it should be a recall issue I would think. Regardless of warrenty.

CAN-AWD-VIBE · Post by **CAN-AWD-VIBE** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:22 pm

unless the radio explodes when it gets too hot they will never recall it. Saftey and major failures only... everthing else is your problem.If it's out of warranty get an electronics shop to check it out and replace the LED's. Or do it yourself. Or buy a new head unit as this is probably the cheaper and more effective option.

RePo · Post by **RePo** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:34 pm

My 04 base w/ 42k has the radio backlight behind the 5 & 6 presets burned out. I took the radio out and removed that face plate. It's one miniature bulb illuminating 5&6, but it's soldered directly to the circuit and certainly not intended to be replaced. I wasn't able to separate the circuit board from the plastic face to remove/replace the bulb. Even if I was able to remove that bulb, the standard replacement bulbs don't have the pins to be soldered, they only have the contact made to be fitted into a socket. I've resolved to live with it that way, until maybe there are three burned out. That will get me determined enough to start breaking stuff in that face plate. The bulbs have a red condom over them to give the reduced red glow effect.

Navtrtl · Post by **Navtrtl** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:26 pm

I looked into repairing it myself, but I don't really have the tools to do it. The only soldering iron I have at the moment isn't worth trying to use. I'm used to high end Hakko or Pace Soldering stations from my time spent as a Navy Electronics Technician. Even if I had the tools, it looks like everything is made so that it can't readily be replaced. I checked a few things and seated a few connectors that looked loose, but couldn't find an answer. The strange thing was that just the act of opening up the radio housing caused the issue to become more prominent. It wasn't too bad at first, then after just looking at it, it got worse. Of course, I had the radio disconnected before I opened it, and I even made sure I was grounded out. I don't have an ESD mat to work on, but I was careful. Wore an ESD bracelet that was connected to the chassis.The button lights also stopped working one day, and then they started working fine again the next. I think someone sourced some low grade components that don't maintain their values too well. Just my opinion.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:31 pm

Had the same problem with mine. LED advocacy rant to follow:The problem is their reluctance to use anything other than incandescents to light up stuff on the dash. It's the cheap and easy way out. For next to nothing, they can put one tiny bulb in there, slap on a jimmy hat to make it some pretty color and they're getting more output than they would on one single LED. Install in the radio, the A/C controls, the shifter. Done. If you drive a lot at night, or if you drive with your lights on quite a bit, you're screwed. I fit into both categories when I had the Vibe. That poor thing, at one point or another everything that lit up except the gauges and the 'AUTO' on the window switch was burned out. Oh wait a sec, those are those new fangled light emitting diode thingies! I truly believe that a vast improvement in customer satisfaction can be made by the manufacturer over the long term by simply spending a few more bucks a car and installing long lasting LEDs. Few things in my book suck more than broken interior illumination. Now, not everybody will notice their stuff being backlit by LEDs, most really couldn't care until it burns out. However, (removed) SOB's like me will appreciate the extra cost and complexity that goes into the process of adding LEDs so that stuff will light up for so much longer. lol!

GMJAP · Post by **GMJAP** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:08 am

For those of you out of warranty -I've been collecting stock radio parts to provide for people who want to try to repair their head units. If you are the DIY type, let me now what you need and I'll try to provide it at a nominal price.If you're not the DIY type I can repair the lights in the front panel if you''ll remove the front panel (easy, I can give directions) and pay for shipping to me, back to you, and a nominal fee around $5 depending on how many lights need to be replaced. (And a willingness to be without your radio about a week )IM me if interested.

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:01 am

there's an easy solution to obtaining radios at reasonable cost if you're out of the warranty period:EBAY!

spearo2 · Post by **spearo2** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:17 am

Thanks for the info, yeah it's just out of warrenty.

urm · Post by **urm** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:11 am

2GMJAP:Hi there from Russia I have 03'vibeGT with half-lit LCD on radio unit.So I disassembled front panel and found out that LCD is good, but two of three bulbs behind it are out of order. I'm going to change them but I don't know what voltage and power are they. Can you tell me that or maybe you know where to get such info?Don't want to burn out the LCD or controller because of improper type of bulbs...

1fstramand1slovibe · Post by **1fstramand1slovibe** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:04 am

join the crowd i was just getting ready to post a topic on this exact problem. for no reason one day the left half of my radio display just went kaput. now you can only see it good at night. out of warranty and afriad it would be a pain to fix ive just been kinda ignoring it.

GMJAP · Post by **GMJAP** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:17 am

Quote, originally posted by urm Â»2GMJAP:Hi there from Russia I have 03'vibeGT with half-lit LCD on radio unit.So I disassembled front panel and found out that LCD is good, but two of three bulbs behind it are out of order. I'm going to change them but I don't know what voltage and power are they. Can you tell me that or maybe you know where to get such info?Don't want to burn out the LCD or controller because of improper type of bulbs... The bulbs are 12V, 100mA (1/8 W)

urm · Post by **urm** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:42 pm

Big thanks, man! You save!PS: I wonder why noone else here tries to fix that himself? It doesn't seem to be VERY hard...I'm surely not a DIY guy but feel myself able to take a screwdriver if the problem is only to fix the light...Of course, it also does matter that i have no warranty and no GM dealers here...

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:16 pm

Quote, originally posted by urm Â»2GMJAP:Hi there from Russia I have 03'vibeGT ... welcome to genvibe!

urm · Post by **urm** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:25 pm

well I fixed that backlight!it cost me 0.5$ for 3 bulbs and a lot of nerves for high risk of total damage of stereo unit.Actually it was almost 1st time i operated a soldering iron but i did it.After assembling i was doubt if it will work at all... but - my stereo feels fine, has better light than ever before...Not sure I could ever repeat that trick successfully

mcgusto82 · Post by **mcgusto82** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:15 am

yeah the vibe radio is on the crapy side. mine just before i traded it. It stopped keeping memory of the EQ settings. it went back to off. it kept time though.

Vibr8tr · Post by **Vibr8tr** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:24 am

It's the GM one in general. I know a few friends that have Grand Am's and they have the same HU in them and two of the three of them have/had that same problem, plus I had mine go out. I was still under warranty, but the HU they gave me, three of the lights on the buttons didn't work... I gave up now and am just looking for a new HU.... I think that is the easy raod

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:00 pm

well today half my headunit's lcd was out...nice. so I guess I may have a new weekend project coming up, 12v 100mA bulbs huh? mmmm time to go find some..

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Wed May 28, 2008 12:56 am

So what is a good source of 12V 100 mA bulbs that will be a direct solder in replacement for the stock ones?Quote, originally posted by GMJAP Â»The bulbs are 12V, 100mA (1/8 W)Wouldn't 12V 100mA mean 1.2W instead of 1/8 W? 1/8 W at 12V would be 10 mA

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu May 29, 2008 4:38 am

So far the closest thing I can find appears to be a 2162 type bulbhttp://www.bulbtronics.com/lam....htmlsimilar to RadioShack's http://www.radioshack.com/prod...03780the 2162 are 14V, 100mA, 0.5 MSCD, the shack ones are 12V, 60mA, 0.15 MSCD, so the shack one's are 1/3 as bright as the 2162'sI also thought about trying a 2721, which is a wedge base, but easy enough to bend or solder wires to get it mounted. http://www.bulbtown.com/2721_M...1.htmit's 12V, 100mA, 0.48 CP, and I can pick them up at any auto parts store, where the 2162 bulbs I'll have to order and pay too much for shipping. The 2162's are rated at avg life of 10,000 hours, the 2721's are only 1000 hours. The shack ones are 10K hoursAlso, does anyone have any specs on the smaller bulbs used to light up the row of buttons along the bottom? I know there are three of them, light up the EQ/TONE/BAL/INFO/TRAF buttons.

harryyiii · Post by **harryyiii** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:04 am

My bulbs burned out just a month after adding the FM Modulator. How many total bulbs are there. I can put 3 or 4 cheap Radioshack LEDs in series to get the 12V drop, removing the existing bulbs and hopefully solve the problem for good. What a piece of monkey dong the stock radio is.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:34 am

Quote, originally posted by harryyiii Â»My bulbs burned out just a month after adding the FM Modulator. How many total bulbs are there. I can put 3 or 4 cheap Radioshack LEDs in series to get the 12V drop, removing the existing bulbs and hopefully solve the problem for good. What a piece of monkey dong the stock radio is.What I did is better described in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=33363I don't think you want LEDs, you won't get the dimming action that you would with incandescent bulbs

half of display on head unit dim

half of display on head unit dim

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