Screen went black

MyMuddyTruck · #1 Tue, July 7th, 2009, 07:26 PM

Yesterday I started up the truck and while I was waiting for my girls to put on their seat belts I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye. I looked at the programmer and the screen was black. I tried adjusting the light which did light up the face of the programmer but there were no numbers or anything visible. I hit the menu button a couple of times then the numbers became barely visible as if the contrast had been turned down all the way. So I scrolled through the menu to adjust the contrast. The contrast was set at 40, I moved it to 41 and the numbers imediately became black again. So I backed out to the main screen and all looks normal. As I hit the light button to dim the light, all displays go to 0.00 for about 3 seconds. I hit the light button again and same thing. I turn off my truck wait a few minutes and then start it up again. All looks normal until I hit the brightness buttons then every things goes to 0.00 again. The truck is runny fine but is thing something that will give me problems down the road? By the way, I have been in El Paso for a few days and the temps have been in the 100* range.

***88Racing*** · #2 Tue, July 7th, 2009, 11:12 PM

If it was above 117* degrees or more in the cab the LCD screen doesn't like that. Invest in a sun shade for your windshield. That will help.

Lars

MyMuddyTruck · #3 Tue, July 7th, 2009, 11:39 PM

I do have a sun shade to help keep the temps down. I even have a dash cover that also covers the programmer. When I am driving I fold the corner up so I can see the programmer but when I park it somewhere, I bring it down to cover it up so others can't see it but it also keeps the sun from hitting it. I've heard of the temps messing with the crystals and causing them to fade but would that cause the other stuff to happen after the truck has been running with the a/c for a while?

***88Racing*** · #4 Tue, July 7th, 2009, 11:48 PM

The LCD might be the first to cool off but the electronics behind might still be warm.
I noticed with mine sometimes when adjusting the back light all the readings go to zero. The other thing is it sometimes has a delay in shutting off. Everything else is off and then a minute or two later it will shut off.

Lars

***88Racing*** · #5 Wed, July 8th, 2009, 06:50 PM

Here's some more people over at f150online having heat issues.
http://www.f150online.com/forums/chi...ml#post3794854

Lars

***Jackpine*** · #6 Wed, July 8th, 2009, 09:01 PM

Interesting! I was thinking of this thread last night.

I've never had this problem. But, I hardly ever park the truck in the hot sun at desert altitudes unless I have the windshield shade in place. Heat WILL make an LCD display go black - I've seen that many times. But, I've not seen heat corrupt the readings.

Are some units more susceptible to heat than others? Maybe.

It WOULD be cool to figure out an answer/solution to this annoyance.

- Jack

MyMuddyTruck · #7 Wed, July 8th, 2009, 11:14 PM

I try to keep the heat build up in my truck down as low as I can. Not just for the programmer but for me. I use the sunshade and I have limo tint which really helps. I was just wondering if this was going to cause a problem down the road or if its just an anoyance.
Thanks for the info.

***88Racing*** · #8 Wed, July 8th, 2009, 11:21 PM

The corrupt readings could also be caused by a frequency emitting device. Like a cell phone or a cb or high power wire ran next to the obd2 cable in parallel.

Lars