Drivers Information Module (DIM) diy repair

[foggyjames]

I suspect he's referring to using a gas soldering iron with the tip removed - like a tiny blowtorch.

cheers

James

[markhieh]

I followed your procedure after my DIM started loosing power on and off. I took the board to a computer repair shop for a reflow. after I hooked it up there was nothing except for the key in the ignition switch sign. The DIM light never came back on again. what could have happened? did I miss something or the reflow has a bridge? I appreciate your help

[hippo]

I've followed all instructions and re-soldered (professionally) all four sides of the Motorola I/C. Now my speedometer and odometer do not work/display (respectively). Also, the DIM turn signal lights do not display. My SRS warning light is also displayed (as before). The tachometer and clock do function. Suggestions?
(2003 Volvo S60 AWD, yank version)

[electrocoolman]

Hi guys (and girls),
Hopefully I've managed to repair the DIM from my 2003 V70 D5 today. Fortunately being an electronics engineer with access to a hot air repair station, it was fairly easy, especially with the guidance offered here.
The areas I concentrated on we're the Motorola chip and the voltage regulator. If you are going to attempt this then it's worth making a square shield to fit around the outline of the large chip. This protects other parts of the board and components from overspill from the hot air and helps concentrate the heat. You could use aluminium foil folded several times to make a strip 3/4" wide and form a square.
I had the board on the edge of the bench such that the green connector was over the edge and thus allowing the board to lay flat on the bench, keeping it in place with a weighty object on the end of the board. This is to make sure that the board doesn't move and that the chip won't slide.
After cleaning blue gunk away, clean with IPA then apply small amount of liquid flux (essential) and then direct hot air 330deg C approx around edges of chip until flux starts to bubble, then remove heat and LEAVE TO COOL.
The solder connections should be shiny. Remove flux with more IPA and a small stiff brush.

For the regulator remove the heat sink (4 screws) but not the piece attached to the regulator. I then sucked out solder from legs and resoldered them.

If using a gas iron to produce hot gas, probably worth seeing if you can check temperature or make sure you turn it down low. CPC www.cpc.co.uk do a hot air reflow unit for £80+ which gives you a better chance of not destroying the board, but my philosophy was that I have 2 chances.....it will either work and I've saved £800 or it doesn't and I will have to get it replaced, else it will be an MOT failure.

Time will tell if I've been successful. Just got to get rid of the SRS airbag message now.

Thanks to all for info and tips.

[whosdfuzz]

Hello. Thank you to all users who contributed to this post. I come here with questions after reading all of these testimonials. My SRS Service Urgent light is on, yellow triangle, and the turn signals don't always work on the inside of my 03 S60 2.4L. I am relatively new to soldering to do such dangerous work on a circuit board thats so expensive to replace. My questions are:

1) Why would the solder fail in the first place, needing to be re-soldered? Age, bumps on the road shaking it loose, poor soldering from the factory? I'm worried that if I solder it completely perfect, that the chip will burn out because "thats what it was trying to do in the first place, causing the original solder to fail"..any feedback?

2) Is the "drag soldering technique" good to use here? Or is it better to take it somewhere with a hot air solder gun? I found a decent video explaining how to solder small chips similar to this..look good? Sure helped me gain some insight on soldering and removing excess solder. (Skip to 13:56) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9FC9fAlfQE

3) After soldering, should I apply more epoxy or is this not necessary?

4) If I ...kill my volvos dash by burning out the chip with too much heat or a short circuit after soldering, where can I buy just the chip that burnt? Is this replaceable? What is it's name/model number?

Ugh, I used to love volvos..now..I dont know..

[Propofol]

It fails because it wasn't manufactured properly. It is a hostile environment but other cars seem fine don't they?

You can resolder it yourself. I got mine done originally at a TV repair shop for about £35 a few years ago. A couple of months ago the high beam light started playing up and I wasn't sure if it was the bulb or the board as a bit of pressure around it seemed to make it work.

Anyhow, I got a gas soldering iron and used it as a hot air gun reflowing the solder and managed to replace many of the bulbs with LED's so all is currently working and should get me through the MOT. No need to reapply sealant as it shouldn't need it.

If the chip burns out or the DIM is dead then you can get a second hand one which has the same serial number etc.

Otherwise there are plenty of companies offering a repair service and Spokoluzic on the forum appears to be well respected for his repairs.

[hippo]

I'm going to try re-soldering the Motorola chip, the EPSON chip and the Voltage regulator (five legs) and if that doesn’t do it, I'm off looking for a used DIM.
Has anyone tried re-soldering the ESPON chip and had success? Thanks.

[spokoluzik]

In case of used dim you will pay 70-170 pounds for it( price checked on eBay).
Have to pay another £50 for mileage correction if you were lucky with software version. You will end up with second hand dim for 120-220 pounds with no warranty for it.
If post it to me wil cost you £50+p&p and hassle free driving for many years.
Don't treat it as advert, more like friendly advice.

Ps.
If decide to try to fix it shouldn't touch Epson chip.

[hippo]

Thanks, but I'm in the U.S. I found another Volvo blog that recommended touching up the solder pads on the EPSON chip. Why do you not recommend this? I can try the link if I only register and submit an inquiry, correct?

[electrocoolman]

Hi hippo,
The solder fails because the powers that be decided to ban lead from solder, so that it was greener for end of life disposal. Lead free solder has caused numerous problems with electronic equipment and I suspect that the DIM problem is associated. Note that this only seems to affect a batch of DIMs.
All the info seems to point at the Motorola chip and not the Epson chip soldering. Again a manufacturing or possibly a design problem if this chip runs hotter.
I doubt that you would be able to buy the chip off the shelf.....it's probably a "custom" made chip. I would not recommend using a soldering iron to do the job of reflowing the chip, as you only have to form a bridge between a couple of pads and you could destroy the chip when repowered, though the regulator is a different beast and you really need an iron to rework this....remove the old solder first and then apply new solder to the regulator's legs....again you will need to have some idea as to technique.
It's all too easy to apply too much heat, which is why all the better equipment is temperature controlled to avoid damaging the pcb or components.