Replacing Side-view mirror on 4Runner

What happens when you back out of the garage too fast?  Usually nothing good - the side view mirror is usually the first one to go, and only then you hit 2 pedestrians, run over a stray dog and ram into the neighbor's car, parked on the street.  Well, last winter it happened to me...  Although, i didn't hit any pedestrians, killed any dogs or damaged other miscellaneous vehicles, the side view mirror did hit the side of the garage door railing.  As i don't have an armored vehicle, just a white 2004 Toyota 4Runner Sport, the garage door railing won that battle and caused the side view mirror to twist forward just far enough to snap.  {...Who needs those mirrors anyway?  I don't remember horse carriages having any mirrors...}

While examining the damage, it looked like the mirror housing was intact and all electronic components worked, even though the mirror was dangling helplessly on the side of the passenger door, like a bovine carcass in a butcher shop.

Looking at the broken plastic part inside the mirror assembly, the dinky piece that sits between the mirror housing and assembly mount and allows the mirror to twist, i thought that the solution was trivial.

Top view showing the center plastic separated into 2 pieces

view after the unnecessary (but fun) disassembly

I collected (almost) all of the broken plastic pieces, superglued them together, poured a thin layer of epoxy on top and mounted everything back.  It ended up looking very promising. Out of the 3 supporting torx screws, 2 held the mirror housing in place very well, while the 3rd one was slightly iffy.  On the outside, there was no sign of visible damage.  My setup worked well for 2 weeks until i got a car wash.  My dirty car went in intact on one side; on the other side of carwash, my car came out all clean, but with a mirror, once again, dangling on the side.

At that point, came a 2nd phase of repair - transparent packing tape.  Amazingly enough, packing tape solution ended up being incredibly sturdy and lasted quite a few seasons.  I only had to change it once as it was starting to look very filthy.

... very filthy

Finally, being sick of this temporary solution, i took a plunge - i wanted my original unblemished car back.

I priced the repair at the dealer first, then, after fainting and subsequently receiving CPR from the appraisal technician, i decided to go a local autobody shop.  The owner of the shop, the guy with a very impressive beard and equally impressive bad breath, gave me a quote of $298 for the part (87910-35630-A1) [basically msrp] + $29 sales tax + $30 labor, bringing the total to $356.  I eventually found the part at a substantial discount on Carson Toyota online part ordering system with a will call option (that ended up being $232).  It took 2 days for part to arrive to the dealership.  I showed my receipt, got the part, opened it up right there and then to make sure that it's what i ordered.  It was a very smooth process, i would do that again if need arises.


I figured since i have the new side view mirror in my hands, i might as well attempt to replace it myself.  if worse comes to worst, i can tie the door to my bumper and drag it to the bearded halitosis man.  So, after searching the forums, i came up with the following procedure...

First, i lowered the passenger side window.  Then i removed the triangular plastic cover on the inner upper left hand corner of the door (opposite of mirror mount)

Just use your fingers to pry it off

Then, i removed the push pin, located few inches underneath the plastic cover.

Use something small to pry it off, or your fingernails if you eat enough calcium

Then, i removed the plastic cover of the door handle

Use a flathead screwdriver to pry it off.  it doesn't matter how much calcium you eat - this thing will definitively break your fingernails if you try using them.

and removed the Phillips screw underneath.

Phillips screwdriver needed here

Unsnapped the armrest from the door panel

Just use fingers here

and removed that Phillips screw underneath

Phillips needed here too

Then came the scary part.  The door panel is held tightly to the door by plastic pins that are underneath the door panel.  You don't see them, but you hear them snap out when you are pulling the door panel out.  The pulling of the panel invokes the feeling that you are tearing something inside the door.  But it's ok, that's how the discourage the unsuspecting folk from tinkering with the design.  Just slide your fingers underneath the panel at the inside lower left hand corner and start pulling the panel out while working towards lower right hand corner.

Squeeze as many fingers inside as you can to distribute the pressure

Then work upwards on both sides.  Don't pull the panel out too much as there are wired connections underneath.  Instead, pull it out slightly and then lift the entire panel up out of the window housing slightly.   At this point feel free to separate all the wired connections, or if you are feeling lazy just hang the entire panel to the door by a rope or a bungee cord with everything remaining connected.

Door panel suspended by a bungee cord with guts exposed

At this point you should have access to 3 bolts holding the mirror mount to the door as well as the electic wiring for the mirror motor.  However, disconnect the mirror wire first, before handling the bolts

 
Then using the ratchet unscrew the 3 nuts holding the mirror mount bolts to the door.  Catch the old mirror assemby before it falls on your toes ;)

Rachet with 10mm socket.

Replace the new mirror assembly and put everything back in the reverse disassembly order, without any other tricks involved...

The new mirror is too clean in comparison to the rest of the car.

The entire process took less than 1 hour, including putting on makeup and taking pictures and washing hands afterwards...  Kidding about the makeup of course... it took a lot longer.  I'd say this repair job gets a difficulty level of 3/10 and requires only a single Phillips screwdriver and a ratchet with one 10mm socket.

Samsung LN52A650 TV repair

After 2 years and 8 months of perfect operation, my 52" Samsung LCD tv (LN52A650) finally decided to start acting up.  The brief internet search indicated that my sammy (constructed in 2008) could be a part of the unfortunate batch manufactured with the defective power supply.  In the brilliant engineering move, Samsung decided to include 10V-rated capacitors on a 12V bus.  Those capacitors would usually bulge up (sometimes burst and leak).  To the TV watcher, the symptom would manifest
itself as slow startup time and/or line patterns on the screen and/or sequence consisting of a relay click, followed by buzzing sound and unresponsive controls, followed by reboot.

Pretty line patterns

At first, when it had been happening once every few months, the solution consisted of unplugging the tv from the outlet completely for 30 seconds.  Usually that resolved the problem, and the tv resumed it's normal operation.  I thought it was a fluke; however, when the tv started misbehaving more regularly, the feeling of annoyance finally crept in.

During a brief call to samsung technical support (1-800-samsung did it for me, make sure you have model, version and serial number from the side of the tv handy when you call), after the analyst verbally verified the model code, serial number and version, as well as the symptoms of the problem, she determined that it's most likely the capacitor issue on the power supply.  Apparently, Samsung is aware of the the capacitor problem, and because it is so widespread, rather than initiating a mass recall, they address the concerns with the individual customers and dispatch technicians for a free capacitor repair (even if the tv is out of warranty).  So i got my service order number, received the email confirmation with the assigned local Samsung repair facility.  I got a call from the technician the next day, picked a day for the technician to come over and a 4-hour service window.  The technician arrived bright and early in the morning the day after.  He took of the back of the tv (there are 20+ screws that need to come off first).  There were 4 capacitors in questions on the power supply (two 10-V and two 16-V capacitors); however they looked normal - there were no bulges or leaks.  The technician did desolder the 4 capacitors from the power supply board and replaced them with 25-V equivalents anyway, just in case.  The technician also advised that the issue may lay elsewhere as well since the original capacitors didn't exhibit the characteristics of failure. He suggested that for $95, he can troubleshoot the issue further and for little over $400 can replace the main board as well.  I thanked him for that, refused the offer; and he was on his way, presumably to the next person to replace the capacitors.  The whole process was very organized, streamlined and painless.  I applaud Samsung for their technical support, not necessarily for the short lifespan of their products.

With that repair, the relay click and reboot has not happened any more.  However, the slow startup time, the loud buzzing noise, the unresponsive controls and vertical lines persisted.  The issue with power supply was seemingly resolved, however something else was not right.   There was no way i would spend another $500 on this already expensive TV, when you can buy a brand new TV for almost the same amount these days...

So, i decided, my budget for this repair would be $150 at most.  If i could not fix it for this amount - the tv would have been junked as my last Samsung product ever.

After searching the forums, i have to say, amateur tv repair is a very murky business.  In forums, I found that the chassis for my model is GAM52MUS.  With that, i was able to download a service manual from the usenet (don't ask me for links).  The service manual has some pretty pictures and, most importantly, part number (part numbers are not pretty, they are just codes).  Not being equipped with the wave generator or oscilloscope (i accept donations), i went the route of logic approximations and black box testing.

So... If it's not a power supply it could be either main board or t-conn board (whatever it is). I ruled out the t-conn board as an unlikely candidate, because according to the wiring diagrams, t-conn board is responsible for the picture alone, not the sound.  When the controls locked and buzz was coming out of the speakers instead of the sound track from the source, the picture from the display source was normal.  So, logically, that left the main board, part number BN94-01666E. According to various sources online BN94-01666P and BN94-01666A could be substituted, as a replacement parts as well.  Even though internet never lies, I decided to go with the original part number.  I searched for the lowest price, and found one for $93, including shipping from www.premiertvparts.com.  Other prices ranged from $128 to $250.  I happily ordered the part and waited... and then waited some more.  Then called the vendor to ask about the status of my order.  The published phone number was of course disconnected and nobody responded to the published email address.  Feeling scammed, i rapidly emailed the vendor at their published email address sales@premiertvparts.com and requested to cancel my order with a full refund, since it has not been shipped yet.  Even though i paid with PayPal account, i wanted to cover all basis in case there's a further dispute.  I have not heard back from the vendor for 2 days.  Then i got a canned email message from sales@premiertvparts.comand check on the order status.  The status for the order "37" ( i guess not very many people order from that company and understandably so) gave me the  tracking code for UPS.  With that code i was able to check that premiertvparts.com submitted a pick-up order to UPS.  Apparently, nobody reads email at Premier Tv Parts,  so my cancel order request was completely ignored.  It was only later, after searching the internet, i found that there are a lot of consumer complaints about Premier Electronics (as they are also known).  Upset at myself for my poor judgement, i, nevertheless, decided to wait and see what kind of monster would spring at me from the package.  The beaten up box (thanks UPS ground shipping) arrived 7 days later. 

UPS piñata

Inside it was another box with Samsung oem markings

 

Inside that box was yet another box... no, just kidding - no more boxes - instead there a poorly packaged main board for Samsung tv

something that looks like a used samsung main board.  {notice, i have aspirin ready in the corner of the picture}

with the part number BN94-01666E, and a serial number ...scratched off.  Stolen?  Maybe.  I won't speculate further.  At least the part number was right.  Knowing that i am dealing with a company of questionable reputation and presuming that returning the component would be more hassle that it's worth, i decided to try my luck and install it.

I placed the 52" sammy on a mat with the display facing down.  Grabbed my Phillips (you only need 1 screwdriver for the whole job) and removed 4 screws from the bottom center to disconnect the stand.  Then I removed 4 vesa mount screws, 15 cover screws and, finally, lifted the cover.

The main board is in the lower right hand corner (where all the connectors live)

I removed 6 screws from the Scaler Board shield case, removed 2 vga cable adaptors, disconnected the cables from the main board, removed 6 screws holding the the main board to the frame, lifted the main board and pried the case adapter from the main board.

When comparing the original board and the "new" board, they seemed identical, except for the scratched off serial number.  So it was a good sign, relatively speaking.  At this point, i substituted the main board, and put everything together, reversing the order of steps from the disassembly.  Plugged the HDMI cables for  the sources (DirecTV and PS3) back into HDMI1 and HDMI2 ports.  Plugged in the power and ...it's alive.  After 2 days of operation, there have not been any  artifacts or recurring symptoms.  The only difference is that the board came with firmware version 2008.9 with a build date of 20080915.  The latest available firmware for download from samsung is 2007.0 with a build date of 20080905.  I confirmed with Samsung Tech support (via chat) that 2008.9 is the latest version and that it's not available for download.  So if i decide to downgrade it to 2007.0 to get clearer picture, i might loose the ability to go back to 2008.9.  Still pondering on that silly concept...

In the meantime, say hello to an amateur tv repairman - moi. :)  It wasn't as bad as i thought it would be.  Besides, at $93 total cost, i came way under my budget and way way below $495+ that a tv repair shop would have charged me.  Replacing power supply or t-conn board would probably require the same amount of effort.  Just watch out for LVDS cable (that thing doesn't look very sturdy). 
I was overwhelmed by the amount of screws on the tv case (almost 40 screws); however, i was armed with a pdf of a service manual, a single Phillips screwdriver and a motivation to save money. 

For this particular project, i'd say the difficulty of repair is 3/10.