Drumr1829

on my 2003 protege, the stock radio screen sometimes fades or is missing some of the "pixels" that make up the number or letter. When i push on the screen it returns to normal. Is there a way I can fix this, like is there something loose in the wiring? If so how would I take it off? Thanks!

djs2571

complain to the dealer, that's not an item you can break unless you cracked it or something. But if all else fails you can repair the issue... The front LCD is two pieces of glass, sealed on the edges, and there's an exposed strip of single thickness glass on one edge. This strip has conductive traces on it (the same ones you can see if you get the light reflection just right and see all the available text). Anyhow, to connect to this strip there's a rubber piece with carbon - thus conductive - channels in it that line up the strips in the glass with the strips on the circuit board. For whatever reason yours got dirty or wasn't put together right so it isn't connecting. When you press on it you make the connection and that's it.

To get it apart you need to desolder a metal trim piece that holds the glass to the circuit board. If you don't want to go this far, jump down to the spacer section below.

SO if it's dusty / dirty, wipe it off with clean fingers, you can do the same to the glass side connections but don't rub them with anything very hard cause I don't know how strong / thick they are. The circuit board side can be cleaned with a pencil eraser.

SPACER SECTION - haha
To repair just put a spacer of an index card or something between the glass and the metal trim around it, there is usually a wider side that is where the connection actually is located. Use a piece of paper that's about as wide as the screen so it presses evenly on it and you should be good to go.
Solder it back together if you desoldered it to begin with, and you can usually squeze it a little in this step to hold it tight as well.

Good luck