The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[jumpinjimmy]

First thing, I have a 1991 2.5 turbo with a compass that gives a band of horizontal LCD compass readings with a LCD pointer underneath. There is also the temperature readout.  

I read a post on this site about changing the capacitors on the compass.  This seemed logical to me and as my compass was showing absolutely no signs of life, I had nothing to lose.  

I opened up the compass (the capacitors are black upright cylinders and have their values marked on the sides, such as 10volts and 4.5 microfarads, you might need a magnifying glass for this).  

I only replaced 5 capacitors, wanting to do as little as possible to make this thing work and reduce the risk of messing it up as I'm not an electrician.  

I looked for the ones that appeared to have been leaking, ie. brown goo coming from them.  

When removing the capacitors, it helps to put pressure on the cap so that when you heat the solder, it is easy to pull out.  I heated the back side of the board and pulled a little on the cap with my fingers.  It's important to note that capacitors have a positive and negative side and need to be re-installed in exactly the same polarity. The negative side has a grey stripe and is marked with the negative symbol. Also note worthy is that you can use a cap with a higher voltage than what is marked on the original just in case the supplier doesn't have exactly the same value.  However, the microfarad value is important and must be exact but these things are plentiful and you shouldn't have any problems.  

I needed to replace capacitors on two of the circuit boards, contrary to the post I read which emphasized that only the middle circuit board needed caps changing.  

It took me about half an hour and I purchased the parts from ESR electric components in Tyne & Wear ( 0191 251 4363) costing only £1.59.  The circuit boards are pretty sturdy and even with my lousy soldering, it started up right away.....I drove around in circles twice to reset the readings and voila!!  

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about repairing yours.  It's easy!  

PS.  I love this site....It is so useful.  

[Google]

[jumpinjimmy]

ESR Electronics also has a website at www.esr.co.uk   for all kinds of electronics stuff.  Better stocked than Maplins and very friendly on the phone.

[PoCUK]

Great post Steve!  Very informative and could (should) help to save a few pounds for those with the same problem!

Thank you!

Simon

[Knight]

Perfect thanks a millions

[robcad1972]

Great Post, mine are being changed by a local guy who fixes radio's etc. But here's an idea for those who can't be fussed with having a compass take it out and put a photo in it's place, i have done this so i am not looking at an empty space where the compass was while i wait to get it back from the shop.

[JoynerJonny]

Right ho mine is the same on the Paj I have just picked up. Seems a common fault?

Mine is showing temperature ok (and a little car symbol ) and the compass bit is just flashing at me on the LCD display. Light bulb has also gone.

Is the above likely to do the job then if I follow the guidelines?

Thanks.  

[Si7]

The flashing sounds like your compass has simply lost power at sometime, try this :

http://www.pocuk.com/faq/resetcompass.htm

Won't fix the bulb of course

[montero2]

does he mean the north south sections flashing alternate, if so just reset the compass??

[mr meener]

cheers 4 that im gonna have a bash @ that this week ....nice 1

[minesapasty]

I have repaired a few of these now........... somethings that you really need to take into consideration, before you try this. You may be lucky and get away with it, but if you aren't, you will be needing to buy a new compass.

1. Make sure that the soldering iron that you are going to use is not too high wattage, or you will damage the print (the print is glued and the glue will melt with heat) and the circuit board will then be useless.

2. Use a de-soldering tool or braid to remove the solder. The heat and pull method is very likely to damage the print. (that's the luck part).

3. Due to the way that these boards have been manufactured, the legs of the capacitors have been folded over, to hold the components in place during the soldering process. Because of the legs being folded, it is harder to de-solder and then remove them, so making it necessary to keep the soldering iron on the joints for a longer period of time...... making it more likely that you will damage the circuit board.

[sharpy1980]

My compass has been blank since buying my paj in July and after seeing this thread I decided to have a crack at fixing it... I took mine apart and it needed 10 changing between 2 of the boards, as I couldn't find a local supplier for the parts and as I work at a recycling centre I smashed open a couple of tellys and the circuit boards had everything I needed and it now works which is surprising considering the hash I made of the soldering  Just got to get a bulb now.

If it helps I've listed the ones I needed which was most of them so peeps can try and source them before they start 6x 50v-1mf, 1x 10v-47mf, 1x 50v- 4.7mf 1x 10v-100mf, 1x 50v-10mf

cheers guys

[REVOGEL]

If it possible to get to them [Especially if folded as stated] cut them off and push the wire end through with the hot soldering iron.
By the way the hotter the iron the better  It is the extended time taken to melt the solder that causes the printed cct to lift.

[sharpy1980]

Just a quick update, yesterday I went to Mitzi armed with the part no. for a new bulb for the compass @ £3.00, it had to be ordered in but arrived today and was identical in everyway to the old one... it even didn't work like the old one I was thinking there must be a prob with the circuit so I took it back apart and got the multimeter in there... all ok so I decided to solder in a blue led with a resistor and it works a treat, looks wicked and the led should last alot longer than a bulb. I only ask myself why I didn't think of it while I had it apart doing the capacitors and saved myself £3.

[NYRA]

[GiselaFortney]

Montero how do you reset a compass?