Cadillac CTS-V - Fu@kkkk!! Help please!

Hey guys,
I recently ordered new buttons, knobs and faceplate for the stock navi unit. I picked up some non-glare lexan from home depot and cut a new piece to fit in place of the stock one.

Anyway, The dealer sends the buttons i ordered and halfway through the job, i realize they sent me one wrong replacement dot button. The 3 on top fit in the face plate different than the 3 on the bottom. They sent me 4 of one type and 2 of the other so i couldn't completely finish the job. I had to leave one old button in there and re-install it until i got the one replacement button from them.

So... Button came in yesterday so this morning i pull the radio again to swap that last button out. I get the unit out, pull the faceplate, get it all apart, fit the new glass in it and replace that button. I start putting everything back together and im ready to put the faceplate back on. Everything's going great.

As i go to plug the little side plugs connected to the circuit boards on the faceplate back into the circuit board on the navi unit before i snap it all down, it FU@KIN SNAPPED RIGHT OFF THE CIRCUIT BOARD!!!

WTF???????????????

What can i do now? Is this repairable or did i just FU@K this unit up completely??

I didn't even push that hard. The little connections are so tiny they are just super fragile. I was being super careful and didn't have an issue the first time. Now this!!!! If only they would have sent me the right buttons the first time! FMMFL!!!

Here are the pics... Please tell me something good guys! Im LIVID right now and gotta figure something out to get the car back together!!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

At this point you may as well break out the soldering iron and give it a try. You wont be any worse off than you are now.

http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/guides.shtml

I thought about that and i might give it a shot but there are 20 tiny little connections in the middle going to different points on the circuit board and then the two bigger ones on the ends that hold it down in place. They are so close together that the odds of getting them all to connect again like they should without the solder getting too messy will be extremely difficult.

Called a good buddy that sold his V over a year ago knowing he put an aftermarket screen in his car and hoping he'd still have his stock navi. Says he thinks its in his storage and if he has it, i can have it so we're about to do lunch and run to his storage. Got my fingers crossed!! FML! What a mess!!

Get a fine tip for your soldering iron and give it a go.

http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/guides.shtml

Just added to my bookmarks. Nice!

http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/guides.shtml

Appreciate the link bud! Lots of good info but wow thats an intricate and time consuming procedure.


All of this time and money invested in the shitty stock unit trying to keep the dash nice and uniform to retain all factory capability and i run into this problem at the very last step. Almost wish i would have just dealt with the naked looking dash and spent the $700 on a nice double din deck with ipod capability, dash kit and harness for it all. I don't even need navi since i use my iphone so i'd have a nice unit for that. I would have definitely gone that route knowing what i know now but nothing looks as nice in the dash in this car as the stock unit IMO.

Oh well... I'll just hope this turns out ok. Just stressed because i had other things i needed to take care of today and now this is first priority since my dash is still all ripped apart.

I'm sure a computer repair shop might me able to handle it pretty easily too.

Good suggestion. There is a place called EPO that does computer repair close by. Ill try them if we dont have any luck finding his stock navi unit.

Or someone that fixes PS3's and/or Xbox's. (might even be the same place)

Lots of little pieces in those when I had to re-fix my PS3

Yeah... blue ray laser swap in the PS3 twice... no issues with current xbox(knock on wood)!
Good Luck with that!!

The exact same thing happened to me, no need to panic!!

You don't even need to solder the connection necessarily, all you have to do is ensure that those pins are touching the pads on the board. I super glued the connector back onto the board ensuring all the pins were connecting to their corresponding pad and viola everything worked fine!

If you have any concerns, glue the connector down then add a touch of solder on each pin and pad, just be very careful not to eff up the pad as then you will be up a creek!

Good suggestions. Thanks guys! I'll try that if we can't find his stock unit.

If you get in a jam, I was NASA certified for micro soldering.

Where I worked I was known as the "Surface mount king".

Problem is you would have to ship it to me.

The exact same thing happened to me, no need to panic!!

You don't even need to solder the connection necessarily, all you have to do is ensure that those pins are touching the pads on the board. I super glued the connector back onto the board ensuring all the pins were connecting to their corresponding pad and viola everything worked fine!

If you have any concerns, glue the connector down then add a touch of solder on each pin and pad, just be very careful not to eff up the pad as then you will be up a creek!


That makes me feel better! Thanks for the info man!! My only concern is that last line that lifted off the board. I'd have to find a way to carefully lay it back down on the board to make the point touch properly again in the right location

If you get in a jam, I was NASA certified for micro soldering.

Where I worked I was known as the "Surface mount king".

Problem is you would have to ship it to me.

Thanks bud! That's def a last resort considering you're not local but if I don't get anything figured out, I may need to do that. :cheers:

Wow man that's shitty... Looks like you got options though... Good luck brotha

Thanks bud! That's def a last resort considering you're not local but if I don't get anything figured out, I may need to do that. :cheers:

There was another V owner who did something similar that I fixed for him.

Would it help to superglue that plug prior to working on the unit ? I know that doesn't help you after the fact.

Well I took it to this local place that does computer repairs and the guy said its an easy solder fix. Considering I don't have the fine tip soldering iron nor do I have much experience with it, figured I'd let him fix it. There was one wire that was ripped loose from the board that he said he's gonna fix by replacing it and laying a new one in place. All for $35. Sucks but if it comes out perfect and working again, I'll be happy.

biceps

I'm in Waco, if you want to send me the board I'll fix it up for ya. Fix stuff like this at work all the time for guys. Have worked at micro level, replacing surface mount components with smaller foot prints.

Just last month replaced some led's in a steering wheel button board to change the color of the lighting emitted through the button.

I have an entire nav unit for 150 if you want. From an 2004 Black on black CTS-V. Same button issues of course, but now you have new ones!

I have an entire nav unit for 150 if you want. From an 2004 Black on black CTS-V. Same button issues of course, but now you have new ones!

Hmm... I might buy that just to have it as a spare should anything go wrong on this one. I appreciate it bud!!

T... I appreciate the offer as well!



Well guys, I paid $35 to have it fixed today. Dropped it off at the computer repair shop at around 3:30 and picked it back up right as they closed at 6. They put a small wire in place of the broken wire on the board and soldered it in place and also supposedly soldered all the little points back in place too so it was ready to install. I got home, put it back together and plugged it all up and two of my dot buttons wouldn't work. GREAT!! Just paid someone to do a half ass job!! :gtfo:

So... I finally decided to give it a shot myself. I usually do everything on my own but when it comes to electrical things like this, I worry too much about messing it up when i know im probably more than capable of fixing it myself. Anyway, I got the fine tip soldering iron and with a magnifying glass and a tooth pick, i went one by one on the 20 little connections to see which ones were tight and which ones were loose. Found a few loose ones they missed and very carefully used the soldering iron to attach them in place like they should have been. Its a tedious job to keep the solder where u want it and away from the spots u don't considering how close all of the connections are to one another. Very easy to make it messy if you're not careful. I then went down the row checking everything with a tooth pick again and went ahead and touched up the solder connections until they all looks nice and clean (thanks to my OCD!!) and WAAA LAAA, IT WORKS PERFECT!!! :headbang::headbang::headbang:

I'm so relieved now that its working again and i have it installed back in the car with new faceplate, new lense on the screen, new buttons, etc. All looks brand new! WAAA HOOOO! lol

Thanks for the help fellas!! :cheers: Wish i would have just tried to tackle it myself to begin with. It would be nice if i could get my money back back for the shitty job they did since i fixed it myself in the end.

Good to hear! :drive:

I hate the stock head unit. I would of be happy it broke so I can get a new system.

Like this
http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ina-w910

Nice Job!

Grats brotha!

Thanks fellas! And yeah... Aftermarket would definitely be nice but I really don't use the navi or anything as it is. And all the aftermarket dash kits look funky to me.

Yea. I think all the aftermarket dash kits look wack n out of place

Exactly. I'd love to have an aftermarket double din and although the unit itself would be nicer than stock, it just looks weird. The stock unit is fit perfectly to the dash and it looks nice, classy and uniform (as long as the buttons aren't all chipped up but i replaced those already). lol I also didn't want to deal with losing all of the little system warnings and things you can adjust and disable on the stock unit.

dammit i just ripped mines from the circuit anyone know where i can get this fixed

dammit i just ripped mines from the circuit anyone know where i can get this fixed

You ripped the ribbon cable. Have fun with that.
I dont know if there is anything you can do but find a broken heaunit and remove the ribbon cable.

I don't think you can fix a ribbon cable... Try a local computer store for another ribbon cable.

I don't think you can fix a ribbon cable... Try a local computer store for another ribbon cable.

That is a custom cable (2).

Repairing that would cost as much as the radio.

thanks double din it is

thanks double din it is

I cant wait till my radio blows up. I want a new radio bad but dont want to spend the money untill it goes out.

Oh man I just threw away all the extra parts I had last week! Could have bailed you out.. Damn

Go for aftermarket, you'll be a happy man!