I came home today to find the new cable waiting for me. A couple of quick solder joints and the Mini started right up. Turns out my LCD cable is about 6" too short to get where I wanted it, so I put most of the car back together to run out and get an extention cable. When I turned the car on to leave, the Mini started, but the LCD didn't come on
When I got back I tested the connection at the back of the LCD and there was no power, so back apart came the seats and console. Turns out I didn't insulate the newest solder joints for the LCD power very well and when I cramed them in the console they shorted out. With that all fixed I put everything back together (testing again everytime I moved the cables around
) and I now have a working Mini in my Escape
The camera battery is dead, so i'll try to pull select pieces out this weekend to show a bit more of the install.
I also already know that I have to do something about the back light. When the sun hits it, there is nothing visible. Watching where the sun hit the screen when I ran out to get the extention cable, this is going to be far more of a problem than I expected. Guess it gives me something to do
All total, I think it really only took me about 6 or 7 hours (and there was some *** dragging involved
) to get this done. Even with the little bumps I ran into, this turned out to be far simpler than I expected it to be.
-dave