Repair Information If your HUD(heads up display) brightness dims out(sometimes completely fading out), then you might want to take a look at this write-up.
Tools needed: Phillips head screwdriver, T10 torx bit, soldering iron/pen torch and solder(not absolutely necessary)
***Please refer to the pictures posted at the bottom of the article, they have information written on them that will help you with this fix.***
Start by sitting in the drivers seat and moving the steering wheel appropriately so that you have good access to the dash & trim surrounding the heads up display(the piece you want to remove covers the hud and spans the length of the dash at the front). First, take and pull up the small piece of trim in the center of the dash with the security light + twilight sensor enclosed in it. The piece should come up very easily. Now remove the bulbs/sensor from it by simply twisting them(do not pull them or they will break). Now you will need to remove the trim surrounding the HUD unit itself.
NOTE: Be Extremely careful when removing the HUD surround/front of the dash, I cannot stress the importance of being careful here enough(if you're not, you will crack up your HUD surround)
Start at the front of the shroud(directly in front of the heads up display) and pry up on it(I use my fingers to avoid damage to the dash pad, I suggest wearing some mechanics gloves or some other thin gloves when doing this as the trim is held on tightly and can be a bit rough on your fingers). Once you pop a clip or two loose, move on to the piece to the left of the HUD from your point of view. You will want to try to get your hands all the way up under the trim nearly touching the windshield and try to pull it up without putting too much stress on the trim. When you get all the clips on the left side loosened up, you will now be at the one that will most likely prove to be the hardest clip to remove, this one is located directly in front of where the security light and twilight sensor were removed from earlier. I personally skipped the middle and started on the passenger side by the A pillar at this point and slowly worked my way back towards the middle. I got to the middle and had a hard time removing it until I took a decent sized flathead screwdriver and wedged it under the clip and then took both hands and with one pushed up on the trim being removed and held the lower piece that the trim clips into stationary w/ the other and finally got this clip to release. Upon removing the trim piece, you should now have a full view of the HUD. Unplug the wiring harness on the left side of the HUD. Now there are two phillips head screws holding the unit in that you will need to remove on each side towards the windshield. After removing those screws, place your fingers under the rear of the HUD and gently pry it straight up(there are clips underneath the back of it.... Note: the "back" of the unit refers to the side closest to you when you are in the car/drivers seat)..it should release pretty easily. Now, simply slide the unit up and out of the dash and take it to wherever you will be working on it at. Place the HUD on a suitable work surface, and grab your T-10 torx bit or torx driver and remove the four torx screws on top of the unit. Take a minute to make a mental note of how the HUD is laid out(eyeball the front HUD mirror and note how the spring is clocked, it can often times come lose when you're messing with the HUD unit). The top panel will now lift off. You will now have a view of the HUD's circuit board and will see a two wire connector that is red in color on the side that the HUD pigtail/wiring plugs into. Remove this small connector along with the larger ribbon-attached connector. Seperate the board from the HUD casing by pressing in on the black clips located on the outward end of the board(see the labeled/detailed pictures included in this write-up) Now place the board on your work surface and look for the photo cell, it's about a third of an inch in size and has a black square in the center(again, refer to the pictures). Once you locate the cell, flip the board over and note the two legs directly above where the cell is sitting. These are the joints that you want to fix/resolder the connections at. Now you will need to gently scrape the wax board coating away from this area only(if you do not, the solder will become contaminated with the wax), your fingernail will suffice for this task. There are a few ways to accomplish making a better connection/resolder the connection at these joints. One way is to heat up the old solder, the other is to remove the old solder and start over fresh(if you're not familiar with soldering, you may want to read up on a site such as this one
http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_getting_connected/ ). I chose to scrape away the wax coating and simply heat up the old solder on my board(I've successfully fixed two HUD's this way). Also, while I was heating up the old solder, I gently pushed the photocell inwards towards the board to help seat it better(on one of the two boards I've fixed, the photo cell was nearly about to fall off the board) Once you're done soldering and cleaning the area up, reverse the removal process and you should have gained back the functionality of your HUD and will not experience anymore dimming. IF you are not familiar with soldering, anyone that has basic soldering/electronics knowledge should be able to fix it for you.
PICTURES:
http://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002784.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002788a.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002788a.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002775a.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002776.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002778.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002779.JPGhttp://images5.theimagehosting.com/IM002782.JPGIf you have any questions or a hard time reading the text on the images, send me a PM on the board and I'll do my best to answer your question(s).
Thanks to Matt F.(mfewtrail) for this writeup.
Topic: How to fix the dimming HUD issue in a 97-03 Grand Prix. (Read 963 times)
