General: Drivers Information Module (DIM) replacement

[s60ben]

Originally Posted by Dkimber

Classic sign of dry joints, or a poor connector - get someone who can solder to repair it for you.
A decent TV repair man will have the needed skills. The worst it is is a crack on the board or on a track - these can be repaired too.

They'll never listen, I've been saying it for long enough

[Propofol]

Will be removing mine next weekend when free. Any special precautions I should know about? Or particularly vulnerable areas?

I shall set about reheating/resoldering the joints.

With regard to the cables under the drivers seat they look ok. Can't get at the connection jack but has anyone found that this is the root of the problem?

[s60ben]

Originally Posted by Propofol

Will be removing mine next weekend when free. Any special precautions I should know about? Or particularly vulnerable areas?

I shall set about reheating/resoldering the joints.

With regard to the cables under the drivers seat they look ok. Can't get at the connection jack but has anyone found that this is the root of the problem?

In your case I doubt the "wires" was the cause of the problem. The specific problem with the DIM and those cables is that the DIM plays up and dies completely.

As always with Electronic devices you should take suitable Anti-Static precautions and also I'd ensure your battery is disconnected. Also, Don't be "piling" heat into solder joints, it's easy to cook components that way.

You may be able to spot the "dry joints" you may not, they could look "dull" in comparison to the other's.

[Dkimber]

You should try and remove the contaminated solder from any joints rather than just reheat the joints. I would use a fairly cool (low wattage) iron .Use some desolder braid to mop up the old solder.
Maplin sell everything you need - even better still you may find one of the guys in maplin will take a look at the board for you - there always seems to be a really hands on electronics guy in must stores!

[oilburner]

Do we have any indication of what year this fails on? A quick glance across the forums seems to indicate this problem is mostly 2002 cars, few, if any before or after.

[afimaging]

I think I may have a faulty DIM (2003 S60 D5), my dash stopped working suddenly yesterday but this morning it was working again however after five minutes it started freezing and showing odd faults on the read out, then it just stopped again. Any advice on this would be great.
I've checked the cables under the seat, nothing seams to be pinched or burnt out.
Do you have to buy this component from Volvo, can you get away with a second hand, reconfigured one or a repair on the faulty one?
What sort of money would I be looking at getting the problem sorted?
Thanks.

[chummley]

I had mine checked by a mobile autoelectrics he said the board was cracked and recommended a secondhand one and gave me the part number off the back would i be able to fit it in without any problems, this would cost me less than £200

[Propofol]

Well, just had the dashboard display out.

Couldn't see any obviously faulty solder joints.

All of the components incidentally are microscopic so didn't try and resolder any of them. Needless to say the display is still faulty. Noticed the other day that my seat belt warning light on the dash was playing up - it's an LED so can't replace that either!

Has anyone used those BBA people to fix their dash computer?

[GEORGEROV]

As well as dry joints on the pcb if it is a double sided circuit board check the thru board connections as well. This is a common fault due to the vibration in cars. Where you see a thru board connection check that you get continuity both sides.

[chummley]

About not been able to use secondhand dims , i got one from CONTINENTAL CAR BREAKERS LTD in doncaster today for £60 and he reset all the codes for me for £10 and it works perfectly the only downfall was that you have to get the millage set at a cost of £50 at a specialist but i was lucky as the milage was only a few thousand miles higher than my original one so i thought sod it . check out www.continentalcarbreakers.co.uk they also give you 90 days warranty on all parts.or call them on 01302 840 306. They also sell a volvo code re setter which tells you all the codes and lets you reset them its only £150...