Overhead Compass/Temp too Dim - Try This

[Dalite]

The overhead console display shows both ambient outside temperature as well as compass heading (well sort of..).

When you turn the lights on, however, the display pretty much washes out in the daytime.

This is due to the Panel Lamp sensor wire that tells the display to dim out when it sees the panel lamps on as a sign of night time driving.

There is an orange wire that can be either isolated or manually switched out of the circuit that will cure this problem.

Isolating the wire will assure that the display never dims.[)]

Cutting it and adding in a sub-mini SPST Toggle switch will allow you to switch it into the system for driving after dark, if it is too bright.

Procedure:

1... Disconect the negative battery lead

2... Remove the overhead console by pulling the front (edge closest to windshield) straight down to disconnect the front retainer spring clips.

3... Slide the overhead console forward (toward the back of the car) to disengage the rear tabs from the headliner.

4... Disconect the overhead console wire connector.

5... Unsnap the Compass Module from the inner roof panel. Push the module all the way forward to disengage the front retaining clip. Once the retaining clip is disconnected, push the module all the way rearward to disengage the rear retaining clip.

6. Remove the console from the car.

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Now for the mod.....

The recepticle for the connector that you just disconnected from the car's wiring contains the Panel Lamp Sense wire. It is the ORANGE wire. If you have a small jeweler's screw driver, you can push it in from the backside of the recepticle below where the wire is crimped to the pin, and release the pin from the recepticle.

First, you will need to slide the receptical forward to release it from the console assembly, to give some room to work.

Heatshrink tube is the best way to isolate the pin. Tape does just as well.

If you plan on adding the switch to switch the sense wire back in, it is not necessary to remove the pin from the recepticle.

Cut the orange wire far enough back that you leave sufficient room to make connections to both sides Orange wire ends created by the cut.

A sub-mini toggle switch would fil very well in the blank where the sunroof switch would have been installed (if you don't have the sunroof.

If you do have a sunroof, extend the wires (small speaker wire is large enough and easy to route under the headliner, down the A pillar to a switch location of your choice.


Orange Wire____./.____ Orange wire

Switch wiring to bypass or switch in the dimming feature.

Reinstall by reversing the above removal steps, and don't forget to reconnect the negative battery wire.

I can provide pics, and will be glad to email them out to anyone that wants to do a pictorial step by step. I have it on my list of things to do, but I may not get to it immediately.

I am in the process of trying to document the Circuit used on the temp sensor for the Temp Display to extend the range of the sensor to make it useful for measuring under-hood temperature to go along with the remote temp sensor mod that uses the overhead display....

[TurboT]

Shouldn’t there be a way to tie into the same circuit that the dash and radio is on so that when you turn the dimmer switch to that setting right before turning the cabin lights on (you know, the one that brightens the radio and dashlights), it will brighten the overhead too? Poor design that the overhead wasn’t included.

[Dalite]

There should have been. It is the "Parade" position on the lighting stalk. I think that you could find this wire and run it up to the overhead and possibly have the same outcome.

The overhead console is treated as an afterthought. The harness that feeds it seems to be independent of most other circuits. It does have an ignition sense, and the panel light sense wires leading to it from other circuits. It should have been just as easy to put them on the fader and use the parade feature to keep the illumination level up to where you could see it during the day when running lights.

[kgdptblue]

Dalite, My overhead dosen't dim when I turn on my headlights. It will dim if I use the brightness control on the stalk but won't brighten at the first click.

[Dalite]

I run my dash lamps in the "parade" position all the time (first click before turning interior lamps on from the stalk). I use that feature, as I usually run fog lights and park lights during daytime driving. When I do this, the overhead is washed out, this is the reason I came up with the mod.

It may not dim out with the headlights on, as compared to it's original brightness level, but it still is washed out in the daytime....

Is yours bright enough to easily read in daylight, with lights on? Maybe mine is a fluke. My '02 was eaqually hard to read in the daytime, and I think my Mom's '98 Concorde is as well.

[Dalite]

Here is the culprit....

[kgdptblue]

I don't normaly run during the day with the lights on, I'll have to check. I'm pretty sure the problem is the same though.

[TurboT]

I too run with the click and pull (parade) during the daytime and it the overhead is too dim to see during the daylight. I'd like to find the parade wire and tap that into the overhead. Keep looking.

[fifilund]

Thanks (Dalite) Mod is slick. I am in a very heavy traffic area and drive with running lights on and believe me it helps running the lights to keep some people from sticking their nose into medium speed traffic. Heading and temperature is important for driving a turbo in this one million plus metropolitan area.[8] I choose to cut the orange wire in the compass module harness and tuck it back. Now this function is available to me thanks to you. How is your engine compartment temperature mod to the display working out?[8D][8D]

[Dalite]

The sensor relocation mod worked out great for me. I never see any real heavy traffic, or extended stop and go, so the 140 degree range worked fine for me. In most cases, as long as the vehicle is in motion, it shows the air entering the air box to be within 5 to 10 degrees of actual outside temperature. However, having the engine going, the AC on and not moving will quickly get the under hood compartment past the 140 degree range of the sensor.