Ok blown globes... The "selected gear" display on the dash has a blown globe... Being a bloody XM naturally you need to pull the bloody instrument binacle to bits...



Unscrew and gently wiggle/pry cover off.... Gentle the resistance is a fragile wire connector your pulling apart.



Yeah pull that off too ... NOTE: The verticle bunch of solid wires, these are the connectors you pulled apart.



Now reach down in there with some needle nose pliers and grab the globe out and replace...




What do you know.... We know can see what gear were in !



The gibberish the got matrix display reads.... Hmm, apparantly not fixable and very expensive to replace.... Me being Shane, naturally we gotta tear it to bits.... just to see how it ticks....

Now I tried to search the XM list to see if there is a repair for these.... Apparantly there is too types, if you have the early type with a rubber connector block, you can repair it, if you have the "glued down" ribbon, it can't be repaired...... guess what I have



That pink rubber.... I reckon that applies tension to the the areas the ribbon is stuck down both sides to apply pressure....





Lets make it slightly "bigger" in diameter so it'll apply more pressure... I ran a strip of insulation tape down both sides.



Two new globes and insulation tape in place.... hmmm....



I tried to measure each side of the ribbon to see where I did/didn't have connection......... (impossible).... When it hit me like......... It's relying on old adhesive to hold the ribbon in good contact.... So using the multi-meter probe I painstakingly slowly firmly rubbed the probe over each and every connection on both sides of the ribbon cable to ensure it was well stuck down, and in good contact....







I'll be buggered, why hasn't anyone worked out that simple fix before ??? I removed the insulation tape from the pink band.

The clock... It all works, however it's dim, and some segments are "just" visible....









release the plastic tags and pull from housing... Then unscrew, it'll take quite a lot of force to pull apart... NOTE: BIG connector wires your seperating, don't bend/damage them. I found a blown globe, and ran over the display ribbon with the multi-metre probe like I did with the Dot Matrix display...



What a ripper ....

I also replaced about 4 globes I found blown in the dash/warning light area....

The radio also has a blown globe in it's display making it very hard to read, so it'll have to be torn to bits next.

seeya,
Shane L.

Brilliant Shane. What a fix!

I'm assuming this is an S2 right?

Nothing short of brilliant

When are you doing a world tour of England?

Hi Shane

Well done.
Thats really killed the market in repaired secondhand displays and made sure Citroen sell no more new ones.

Regards

XMexc

Hi Guys,

yeah this car is a Series II... I hope this fix works for everyone else too... I just hope it doesn't need to be pulled out every few years to "repeat" the fix

seeya,
Shane L.

If the radio is Philips, then it is possible to replace two tiny bulbs behind the display. You will have to dismantle the front fascia without having to unsolder the display itself as the bulbs are inserted between display and PCB. Try to find as small bulbs as possible with longer wires.
For Clarion I wouldn't know but I would assume it is possible, too.

Hi Shane

The Phillips LCD display is soldered direct to the printed circuit board. Somewhere around 48 leads along 2 top and bottom edges. There are 3 back light bulbs or led's up the back between the pcb and the LCD. These can be seen in 3 little tunnels in the bottom edge. Their two leads are soldered through the pcb just inside the tunnel so they look as though they can be unsoldered and then removed with a pair of tweezers.
Sorry never taken one out to repair or source replacements as I have always had spare non decoded radios to raid for working front panels.
These Bulbs/led's whatever they are look very different to the "grain of wheat" minature bulbs (globes) in the older XM radios.

At the rate you work this info will be too late and by the time I post you will have the photos up and the spare globes sourced.

What you are doing is great, keep up the good work. I see you have been a forum member since 2005. If we had known what you could achieve in a few weeks of XM ownership we would have clubbed together and sent you out one!

Regards

John (XMexc)

On my radio, I made the hole a bit bigger and used one of the panel type lamps in the centre. Its a fiddly job and your soldering skills need to be at least adequate, but it works. The panel gets a bit warm and not all the panel is illuminated evenly - but you can use it.

Excellent help file Shane and brilliant photography!

Peter.N.

Thanks guys,

nah you didn't beat me to it ....



Yeah, I dropped a few choice words about this one too. Unscrew the screws at both ends, and drop the face off....



Just lever up the tags that retain the clips... You'll need to muck around and unscrew the circuit board to get to the plugs.







Yeah, you can't just "change" the globes like the dash, the b@stards are hidden down here. I eased them out by the legs using a precision screwdriver. They need to be unsoldered. Obviously my "little" soldering irons died, and I only have huge b@stards that'll fry a circuit board in the blink of an eye working. I gonna have to chase up a nice small temperature controlled iron to replace the one that died a few years back.





It's a VERY small globe ... I'm going to have to power the radio up and test the voltage and attempt to find replacement globes ....somewhere :confused:

seeya,
Shane L.

Try Maplin.