CRT malady

[farnelle]

Any ideas would be appreciated. My CRT wiggles starting at the bottom and slowly working up to mid screen. After a while corrects and is clear. I have replaced the CRTC the BCM and the CRT itself. Each new CRT I try works fine for a week or two and then starts to wiggle in the same manner as the one I removed. Got to believe that something in the car is causing the problem. Appears that when I remove the CRT it works fine in another car for a week or so and then begins to wiggle just as it did in my car. I promise I am not making this up!!!!

[Guest kennyw]

Well, that makes two of us having the same problem. My orginal screen started going black, hit the dash and sometimes it would come back on again. Checked the two plugs at the real and still blank. Jar it and it would come on. Installed another from a Riv. Worked well for a while and the same thing. Installed the last one I have and it is doing your wiggling thing......ken <A HREF="http://null" TARGET=_blank>null</A>

[Guest Greg Ross]

Next down stream is the cable feed from the CRTC. That's the source of the image signal. I don't believe there's any means of testing it, contact J. Finn for a replacement cable.<BR>My .2 Cents Worth.

[Guest kennyw]

how do you contact j. fin????????ken

[Guest Brolliar]

jfinn@computerpro.com <BR>Jim Finn <BR>2503 Becks Rd. <BR>Duluth MN 55810 <BR>Tele 218-628-2690

[farnelle]

Been talking with Jim Finn. He is as baffled as I am. He did mention the cable to the CRTC, but we believe that the plugs on the end of the cable are most likely to give trouble. Mine all look good. Trouble with the cable is that it is burried in the harness and not possible to extract without tearing up the harness. I'm still open to any ideas.

[Guest kennyw]

so where do we go from here. It is better than the screen going black like the one it replaced but sure would like to get the wiggles out..........k

[Guest]

MY SCREEN HAS HAD THIS PROBLEM FOR TWO OR THREE YEARS. ANY TIME I DO ANY KIND OF ELECTRICAL WORK, (REPLACE HEADLIGHT PIGTAIL, WIGGLE FUSES IN THE FUSE BLOCK UNDER THE HOOD, REMOVE SUN VISORS, ETC.) THE SCREEN WILL WORK FOR 2 DAYS TO 2 WKS, WITHOUT A PROBLEM THEN STARTS WIGGLING AGAIN IN VARIOUS DEGREES. I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS LOSING POWER, BUT THE INTENSITY NEVER CHANGES, JUST WIGGLES.

[padgett]

What you need to do is to put a wiggling CRT in a car that has no problems and see if it wiggles there.<P>If it does, the problem is with the CRT. If not then you need to be looking at the CRTC and the wiring.<P>Don't forget that Buick for years had a replacement campagn going for CRTs<P>Also TSB 89-8-11 refernces a new replacement coax cable for the CRT-CRTC connection. p/n 12058688.

[Guest imported_Fox W.]

My screen also does this exact same thing, it never did it when I first got the car but started to after 4-5 months, now does it every day.. Seems to be getting progressively worse (wiggle moves further up the screen and more lines) It seems obvious to think it's the CRT, but it seems to get fine for days after having electrical work done on un-related components.. makes it seem like it's something else. Tapping the screen (or even something more) does nothing, and it will still do it with the engine off (kind of rules out some interference.) I used to think maybe it was humidity because it started when the weather got bad but things haven't improved after removing a lot of humidity from the car. Before I waste money on sending this unit off for repair, I?d like to hear if anyone has found any idea as to the cause. Thanks.

[RivieraDriver]

My crt does this but stays at the bottom 1/4 of the screen. Makes it hard to see the radio presets. I notice the screens fine until I go down a dirt (bumpy) road in which (after a few minutes) starts mucking up the display. I put a replacement in there that I got from a junkyard and that worked perfect for a month or so and then one day the screen went completely out. So I put back in my original and returned the one I bought since they gave me a warranty. I have seen people mention something about a coax connection. Mine don't have this. I have only 2 connections. One is a big square connection with several pins. The other is a orange rectangular connector with 3 female pins only.

[padgett]

Just for S&G try pulling the alternator control plug (the two small wires, not the big one) when it starts and see if it goes away.

First few minutes are when alternator is at max load to replace the current used in starting.

Might also be ignition related (any blue fire when running in a dark garage ?)

GM had to put a lot of work into keeping ignition and alternator noise out of radios, may be similar.

[gsb954]

My CRT is doing the exact same thing. Wiggles up to about half way up and then goes fine again. The buttons all work fine throughout at least. I guess it isn't the actual screen, but would love to find out what it is. My mechanic thought it had to do with the alt/charging system but it never seems to do it when I am there Will let you all know if I find out about this one.....

[padgett]

Hokay folks, try this: pull the crank sensor connector (easier than pulling the ignition module connector & keeps injectors from firing). Crank the engine for 15-20 seconds.

Alternative: leave headlights on with engine off for 10-20 minutes - purpose is to drain the battery a bit so alternator will stay at full charge for a minute or so.

Reconnect connector and start normally. Observe flutters. Wait till they go away (if alternator related it should take longer than usual). Stop and restart engine. See what happens.

[Jim]

From my experience it has always been a bad CRT unit and my son has been experiencing the wiggly screen for about a year now and he has a new alternator.

To "Riviera Driver"---- the brown/orange connector has shielded wires going to the CRTC.

Some of you may have noticed that this post was actually started on 8-13-02 and then recently revived.

I do have Reatta and Riviera parts cars but the email address for me is incorrect, that was my old email address and those emails now go to my spam junk box. My correct address is jfinn@cpinternet.com

[RivieraDriver]

If it was the alt. then wouldn't it do this with any screen you put in there? Cause when I replaced my screen the problem went away and ONLY came back when I put the original screen back in.

[padgett]

Probably (never say never 8*).

[tcams76]

Jim is the CRT problem test in the service manual not valid (chart C-1 and C-5), page 8d-49. Since I would have to go the dealer for them to use special tool J-34914.

My CRT is rolling since about 6 months.

[Guest imported_Fox W.]

Since my last post not much has changed on this issue. The screen still wiggles most of the time, but NEVER moves beyond exactly half-way up the screen. Sometimes it works perfectly, even for a few days. I wish it was as simple as the CRT, but I have my doubts based on the first post of this thread. I'm really hoping someone can figure this one out, but ultimately I want to put my efforts into figuring out the signal the CRTC outputs and making it a standard composite output, if that?s even possible. If not, one could analyze the data on the serial bus and possibly use a PC running custom software to replace the functions of the CRTC, this would also allow you to have a VGA connection for a LCD, not to mention the ability to have any PC software (like Mapping/GPS) you wanted installed.

[Guest imported_Fox W.]

I finally got this fixed, I used the guy who is on Ebay selling his Reatta CRT repair services for $150, and he did a great job, the problem has been gone since. Oh and he picked up the parcel, repaired the unit and shipped it back out all in the same day! So amazingly fast turn-around.