Good luck! I've noticed others have done this on earlier models. Those LEDs are tiny! - I remember a post somewhere that talked about the typical current draw of green vs blue LEDs. That's really all you need to figure out what size resistor to use. They're in series, so the supply voltage for the whole circuit would be about 14V with the alternator turning.

- Jack

 

2.077 VDC over the LED itself.

 

Thank you much!

 

Thanks for this how-to article. I was able to fix the power window switches lights on my 04. The power windows switches are all in one assembly similar to the 06 pictures shown but the circuit board is held in place with the same type of post that you mentioned. Its great having the lights again.

 

And thanks for the info on tools needed.

I have a minimum of 1 lite out on all 4 doors and one rear window switch inop.
My solder skills are pretty strong (Navy micro miniature repair school) and before this post I was about to tackle this project on my 04 with simple tools but now thanks to the info and good PICTURES I see I will need a magnafier small solder wick, flux, at least 2 sets of hemostats and a few other solder items I had'nt considered.

Good post and good info.

 

I repair my 04 lights, has mentioned above and used a small pair of pliers, solder iron and the nail set to re-fasten the board down. I found that the problem was bad solder joints and reheating the solder and applying a touch of new solder was all that was needed. The most difficult and touchy part was putting the board back on the mounting studs and making a good tight connection. The posts are pretty sturdy and it was not easy using the nail set to get a good solid connection. The other hard part for me was making sure everything went back together properly as some of the parts, the window lock switch in particular are just loose and easily moved so I didn't notice how it was assembled and had to play with it a while before I got it right.
Good luck, after the first one you should have no problems. BTW I did use a digital multimeter to determine where the open circuit was. (that's how i know that it was bad solder joints and not circuit traces)

 

Scully - some of my lights are out in my master window switch. You quoted above: "Quick test on this one is + and gnd to the 2 solder points, and all the lights should light. The test points would give you the ability to find the problem path to fix it, if the need ever arises." How do you use the test points to find out the problem path. I have a volt/ohm meter with probes.

ChipD

 

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but I just have to say thanks for posting this! I had four switches where the LEDs weren't working in our Expedition and this took care of all of them in about 45 min.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

There is no such thing as a dead tech article
If it helps someone one week or three years after its posted it has done its job!



EDIT
NICE FOX BODY!
I sure did love those cars, glad to see one still in good and VERY healthy condition!

 

Well hopefully it will help more people out! Its really easy to do...especially after you do the first one. It really saved me a few $$$ since them not working drove me crazy

Thanks for the comments on the car!

 

Great thread - I just gave this a try on my 2004 as I had a few LED's out. I couldn't find anything obvious but noticed that when I pressed REAL hard on different parts of the PCB various LEDs illuminated - either 1, 2 or 3 at a time but never all the 4 that were out! Also I noticed that the passenger side light came back on every now and then !!!
Anyway does anyone know of any typical areas on the PCB where the break may occur or other things that could effect the LEDs? Thanks

 

I just took apart my passenger side door lock switch, and upon looking at it with a magnifying glass i was able to see a small crack along one of the solder points.
Could i just reheat the solder with my gun? or do i have to add more solder to it?
I have a brand new roll of 95/tin rosen core, is that to big for a small project like this?

 

Update: Fixed the door lock on the passenger side, then fixed the master switch and one switch in the back. Now they all have lights,thanks again for the person that came up with this idea.

 

Great write up! Saved me $60.on my driver side, the driver and pass switch was not lighting up. On mine, the bottom of the resistors were not sodered on well. After adding some soder they worked fine. Now I'm going to do the same to the back glass and moon roof switch.

 

Great write, I love the photos.
FWIW the resistor is 430 ohms the "43" is the 1st 2 numbers in the value, the "1" is how many zero's to add. Not significant for this particular project, but if you see one that printed 432 that's a 4,300 ohm not a 432 ohm. The resistor is current limiting, the voltage across the LED is determined by the LED characteristics, not the resistor.