How to repair Compass Mirror

How to repair the GM auto dimming onstar mirror compass display screen.
Commonly found in 2003-06 GM vehicles.
Below are some of my favorite tools:
The flux I use:
My Favorite electric solder sucker:
My favorite soldering station:
Microscope:
Hot air station #1 (I use the industrial version 8900):
Hot air station #2 (cheaper)
Solder:
Solder Wick:
Multimeter:

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[jeffescortlx]

For contact information follow this link:

[raybledsoe]

Excellent this worked. Thank you so much.

[ohiowrencher]

Why can everyone solder but me? I practice and practice. You make it look so easy LOL.

[DennisBernth-huco]

Just resoldered all six traces on the three surface mount resistors. My senior eyes couldn't make out any breaks, even with readers and a cheap magnifying glass, but I figured I'd do it anyway. I used desoldering wick to remove the old solder and resoldered the joints. Works great! Had it working off and on until 6-8 months ago when it quit altogether. Now it's back! Mine is a 2001 and is the same setup.

[Justified]

I did it! Thanks for the video. Mine was the "suspect" resistor you pointed out.

[timford]

Couldn’t see a crack but went ahead and heated up the joints and sure enough that fixed it. Thanks so much for your video!!

[zugnonid]

Thank you so much for posting this! I had a customer come into my work today complaining about his mirror and this video helped me fix it!

[Fisherman]

just found your video and was able to repair my 2002 Tahoe .review mirror cracked solder joint at resister thanks a lot for a perfect video !

[woodstock]

Dude, Thank you so much for making this video. I own a 2003 GMC 2500HD sierra, my brother bought this truck new and sold it to me 10 years ago. The compass/temp never worked. He said the dealer wanted a lot of money to replace it so he never bothered to. It was the tiny things you re-soldered first that one of mine had a crack in the solder. I fixed it like you did… except much more rudimentary, and it works now. Can’t thank you enough. I can’t believe how tiny this stuff is, but luckily i had a magnifying glass ….

[pkgdeal]

Thank You for this very informative video! I found cracks in two of the three dropping resisters, resoldered them & that was it! It was very easy, probably took an hour all together.

[lucecita]

Thank you so much, I am an old lady 59 years old and will attempt to fix my Ford Explorer 2008 rear view mirror and compass that someone in my country robbed it from my SUV, sucks, I hope I can still look at it, since I don't have a microscope 🔬 hope it will work out.😢

[ml]

Thank you! This is a perfect example of a video walk through the DIY community needs more of. Straight to the point, good lighting, and clear audio details. I fixed the faulty solder joint and it now works like new.

[jeffalan]

The mirror in my 03 Silverado, at first before failing was in Celsius.
After that was intermittent operation.
I bought GM replacement, plan to keep the oem if so when the replacement fails combine the 2 to make one.

[markraygosa]

Thanks. You made a great video. It took me less than 30 minutes following your instructions. I now have a working display.

[corycampbell]

Awesome video. This is the first time Ive ever touched a solder gun and bought one to change the lights in my cluster. everything but my lights came in today and i just had to use it on something so I remembered my mirror stopped working. Works good as new now. I didnt have tool like yours, but a 1 inch putty knife slid down the edge did the job perfectly for anyone else looking for something that wont mar plastic

[brianrasmussen]

This was the correct fix for my 08 2500hd LMM LTZ. Thank you!

[RYTHMICRIOT]

Unfortunately, I think I may have waited too long for this repair. My mirror compass began flashing some time ago. I discovered a forum that explained the solder joints on the 3 resistors directly behind the display. Mine looked fine, but I reflowed them anyway. No change. Still had the intermittent flash. I just drove it that way for some time and eventually the display quit working entirely. I decided I'd give it another look yesterday, and stumbled on your video. Sure enough the resistor directly next to the white connector was bad due to a failed solder joint. I successfully resoldered the connection and reassembled the mirror. I plugged the mirror back into the vehicle and unfortunately, the display is still dead. I suspect the problem was exacerbated due to not correctly repairing the mirror when the problem started. There is a chip on the board that sits adjacent to the resistor I resoldered that is pretty burnt. I will likely find a used one now, but when it starts to fail, I will be ready.

[donlarson]

Perfect! Found 2 of the 3 had poor solder connection. A little touch and voila!!! Thanks so much!

[imaniguana]

Just finished the repair on my 2003 Avalanche. I had two broken traces on two of the three resistors that you hit at first. I resoldered them, put it all back together, and back in the Avalanche. The compass and temp display came on like new. I've been living without those for many years. Thanks so

[scottbehr]

I enjoy watching you work..I built the Main Engine Controller for the space shuttles and we used trichloroethylene to clean the boards until they made us switch to doesnt clean as well..