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CRT on '89 went blank


raleets

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Went out for a nice 200+ mile drive yesterday. The '89 was running like a top, but after stopping for lunch when I started it the CRT was black.....totally blank. It was working just fine earlier.

Ideas?

While the CRTs tend to give some warning of impending doom, (squiggly display, momentarily going black), they can just fail without warning. There are a couple of things other than the CRT, such as the central power supply and the CRT controller module that can fail causing the CRT to go blank, but they don't have a history of failing, while the CRTs have a virtual 100% failure rate with sufficient age.

The GOOD news is that the CRTs are typically fixable (NOT a DIY) as the failure points are well understood and parts are available. The CRT is also very easy to extract once you remove the bezel.

I had both my primary and my backup/spare CRT restored by Eddy Voland (eddyvoland@yahoo.com). He was a tech with GM during the CRT years and has the test equipment, knowledge and parts to bring them back to life. Eddy does several mods on the CRTs while he is restoring them to include ALL the various mods that were added to the design to improve reliability. Eddy charges $150 + shipping and his turnaround is a couple of weeks typically. You can drive the Reatta without a CRT, but you have no control over the climate system in its absence. This is why I chose to have a backup. You can find non-restored CRTs online for a bit more than having your existing one restored, but those will likely fail as well. You can also find fully restored complete units on Ebay but they tend to run over $400. The cheaper units you may find on eBay that state "tested good" will fail as time has simply aged out some critical components. Some of the failure symptoms can take an hour or so before presenting themselves. Once I got my original one back from Eddy, I sent him my backup CRT for his treatment as it started to exhibit the squiggly display symptom before I got my original one back from Eddy. I have had my primary CRT back in service for about a year now with absolutely ZERO issues.

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David,

Many thanks for your prompt and complete response.

Now, get this, I just went out and started the car a few minutes ago. The CRT came on and is fully functional.

Go figure! But, I realize it's 99% sure to fail again, so I plan to get a replacement ASAP and also have this one rebuilt.

Having a spare on the side is always good!

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David,

Many thanks for your prompt and complete response.

Now, get this, I just went out and started the car a few minutes ago. The CRT came on and is fully functional.

Go figure! But, I realize it's 99% sure to fail again, so I plan to get a replacement ASAP and also have this one rebuilt.

Having a spare on the side is always good!

My original one suffered from the intermittent squiggly display for years. It would come and go before I finally got a spare on hand and sent my original one to Eddy, but it was getting more prevalent. I bought my spare from a forum member, at decent price and it tested okay, but after installing it and allowing it to run for an hour or so, damn if it did not have the squiggly display issue as well. I talked to Eddy to ensure that we weren't looking a CRT controller issue, but he assured me it was 100% the CRT unit...and he was correct.

The symptom you encountered, according to Eddy, is a sign that the CRT is failing. How long that process takes, is the wild card. Could be the next power cycle, could be a year or more, but it will fail. He was amazed at how long my original CRT had exhibited the squiggly display without totally failing (a section of the display would just go wonky, tended to move upwards, then would the display would snap back to normal).

The problem is the electrolytic caps in the unit have exceeded life expectancy (newer caps are far more resistant to age related failure) as well as a few ICs that fail. There is also a trace or two that were TOO narrow for the current and they tended to overheat eventually causing them to lift off the circuit board causing even more heating until the trace failed. Eddy also told me that there were a few running production improvements as well as a few that were done in the immediate period after the CRT system was discontinued but support for the CRT was still on going (i.e. warranty). He brings the CRT up to the latests mods which should give us many more decades of life (at least I hope so, but again I have a restored spare on hand).

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David,

After several starts/stops today it's still functioning perfectly, but I'm shopping for a good used one right now.

I've found one locally for $150. Does that sound like a fair price?

Thanks,

Assuming that it wakes up and displays correctly (on the test box or installed in the car), $150 is about average for a "tested good" CRT. I would pop out the original one and install the backup and run it a few days until you gain some confidence that it will hold out while you send the original one for repair. Your original one MIGHT be better than the spare in which case, send in the spare first.

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