97-03 HUD Dimming Repair/Fix

had a problem with my HUD and I have heard of others with this problem so thought i would do a small write up.

1. you need to remove the top of the dash section. Honestly there is no easy way to do this and you will break some clips along the way. just start on the outside edges and pry up carefully and pull. I used a longer screwdriver to push/pull on the clips as i lifted up to try and prevent them from breaking. It kind of helped.

2. Now that you have removed the dash trim piece it will look something like this:



There is quite a bit of dust. i cleaned everything up since it was out. you need to remove the HUD by taking out the 2 screws in the back of it.



Now you can see the red areas are the 2 Screws you have to take out in order to lift it up and out of the dash. You also have to unplug the cable from it. (the blue circle)

3. The you will need to remove the 4 torx screws from the top of it. in order to access the circuit board. (yellow)

4. You will see the board there. Take it out. you will need to unplug a small red connection and then the large ribbon cable.

5. The photocell that needs to be re soldered is at the end and looks round. If you can, try and get as much of the old solder off to get a better connection with the new.



You will re solder underneath it.



6. Now I only re did the outer joint of it to fix the problem. The inner connection is harder to re solder. Usually the outer will take care of the problem. Depending on how good you are I guess its up to you. What i did is to test it is just set it back in place in the dash, plug it in, then turn the key half on to see if it got better. That way you dont need to put everything back together.

7. Once you've got it fixed, put the HUD unit back together and put it back into the dash. Then put the dash trim back in place (it should just snap in) and you should be good to go. I lost about 4 clips but it doesnt rattle or is loose. i guess it depends on which ones you break if any.

8. Enjoy your brighter HUD!

so need to do this but never held a soldering gun in my hand...

soldering is real easy. you could find a video on youtube or something, i pretty much taought myself. but if you fix it, its like its brand new.

Doing this today... I'll tell ya how it turns out.

quick and easy.

Thanks for the write up.

Originally Posted by ill12will8

so need to do this but never held a soldering gun in my hand...

It's really not hard, I grabbed a soldering gun and just started using it. No instruction at all, pretty easy to figure out.

$10 soldering iron kit is all you need.

Lower watts the better for this stuff.

Did this about a week ago, extremely easy, worked like a champ. Thanks for the write-up

I did this repair on my 2001 GTP, it works great now. The HUD would sometimes worked and then fade out. So far, it works liked it did when it was new. Thanks for posting this repair/fix.

maybe it's just me but for the past 2 gtp's all i had to do was clean the damn thing and it brightened up

i havent re-soldered because the points look fine

Totally worked! I am not sure why though.... The inner pin on the board looked like it did not have enough solder. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by z3r0

maybe it's just me but for the past 2 gtp's all i had to do was clean the damn thing and it brightened up

i havent re-soldered because the points look fine

You must be one of the lucky ones and it was just dirty. When you have this problem it fades in an out, usually out when it gets real bad. I know a few guys who have had to do this so it's a pretty common problem.

Originally Posted by mountainbiker

Totally worked! I am not sure why though.... The inner pin on the board looked like it did not have enough solder. Any ideas?

I've heard it's some kind of cold solder something or another for the environment, just another thing those tree hugers ruined for us...

It works when the solder joint is bad. By adding solder or reflowing the existing..you fix the connection.

will this work if my HUD doesnt work at all?

I haven't had a lot of time lately. I've learned quite a bit about my 2001 GT just exploring the threads. It's saved me some money also. I'll most likely have more time to peruse and chat once the Drs. finish my overhaul- Dosperros

My HUD also fades when it stops. I'lll try the cleaning first, then go from there.

I had this issue and the heater-blower motor and a few other things were out of whack! I replaced the ignition module - wiring, which is a common prob on these cars and it literally fixed all of my issues..including the heads up display issue. Just a little fyi for all of you out there. My sunroof started working again and rear windows, blower motor worked on all 5 settings, as well as the hud dimming issue.

2003 gtp btw, bought it brand new in may of 03 so I know it hasnt been jacked around with other than what ive done. lol

mine just works intermittently,if i hit a bump reall good or just barely hit a pot hole or etc it goes out..and stops working till i hit another bump or etc...the only other problem i have is the dang cruise is not working in my 1998 Grand Prix Daytona Ed. GTP, just put a motor into it...

I must have been one of the lucky few that had my HUD fix itself. I took it apart and the solder looked tight nothing seemed to move at all. So I cleaned everything as best I could and pluged it back into the car and the darned thing started working. Now whos to say for how long, but it works... this was a good post, thank you!

'99 GT

About a week ago my HUD became very dim to see day or night even with the brightness control at max.

No wonder this is a common fix. When you look at all the surface mount parts on the board they are very neatly soldered and look like they were done in a bath. Then when you look at the photocell solder points they look like crapola.

Zero cost and 30 min later my HUD is as good as new.