# RCD510 Radio Fix



## jaws2421 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hi guys,

First time posting here, a lot of good information. I thought I would share what I did to repair my RCD510 radio. Like most people posting online, this really angered me. This might be a little advanced for some people that are not used to taking such things apart. Sorry if anything is unclear, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

1) My radio wouldn't turn on and all fuses were good.
2) I removed the radio from the car
3) Took apart the radio housing (see pics). It's pretty easy, just take your time the first time and make sure you do not force anything off. The CD player lifts straight up and there's a small ribbon connector on it. Remove it from the board, not the CD player. The face comes off last. Remember to remove the ribbon connectors before pulling anything off.
4) There's a logic chip that is seated against the aluminum heat sink; it has a copper component sticking up from it. 
5) At first, I hit the chip with a heat gun and the unit powered on. After it cooled, the unit wouldn't turn back on. This meant to me there's obviously some thermal issue.
6) I removed the screws from the bottom plate (4 of them), the two on the harness connector and the one on the antenna connector. I then heated the logic chip and used a tiny flat head screwdriver to gently break the seal from the heat sink. I then slid the board out.
7) I removed all the thermal compound from the logic chip and the heatsink with a razor and cleaned with both surfaces with Isopropyl alcohol.
8) Just in case there was a solder flow safety inside the chip, I heated it with the heat gun for about a minute.
9) I then cut a piece of thermal pad to match the chip size. Pressed it on the chip and ran some heat over it for about 10 seconds and pressed the pad against the chip. It stuck pretty well.
10) I reinstalled the board, which took some finessing but take your time. 
11) Put the screws back in in the order you removed them.
12) If you have a benchtop DC power supply, hook it up to the unit. The amp draw should be around .50-.60 at 12-14 volts. When the unit turns on it will bounce from around 0.80-1.20amp.
13) Enter your code and voila!
14) I just completed this and reinstalled the radio to my car. So far so good. If it fails, I'll update this but I'm really hoping that's not the case.


























































































I used my google drive to share the pictures and didn't realize they wouldn't directly display here. If you right click the broken picture icon and open in a new tab they'll pop up.

Jesse


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## jaws2421 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hi guys,

The fix lasted about 7 days for me. I'm going to try to pull the information off of the chip in question and see if that is available somewhere. Re-heating it did fix it again so it seems this chip is the #1 culprit.

Jesse


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## RicardoM. (Nov 1, 2016)

*Is Your RCD510 still working after this fix?*

Could you please upload again the images?
Did you figure it out the permanent solution?
Thank you for your post i am about to try this solution to my RCD510 but i want to see wich chip i need to heat.


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## RicardoM. (Nov 1, 2016)

*Is Your RCD510 still working after this fix?*

Could you please upload again the images?
Did you figure it out a permanent solution?
I have the RCD 510 and i want to try your solution!

Thanks!!


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## Rhynyx (May 21, 2016)

Bump!

Could you please upload again the images? Any news on this?

Thanks in advance.


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