Hi everyone,

I joined the forum today and posted a thread regarding another issue but I remembered one I was hoping I could get an answer for. The digital clock readout on my 1999 Bonneville SSE will occasionally display a jumbled mess of lines, as if only certain of the little digital lines are working. And the lines are not static. They sort of move around. Also, what appears to be a tiny CD appears in the upper left corner of the display. This generally happens immediately after starting the engine. Usually within 15 or 20 minutes the display will right itself and correctly display the time. It doesn't do it all of the time. Sometimes when I start the engine, the readout appears perfectly normal. This is more of an annoyance and inconvience than anything but I am afraid it is preliminary to failing altogether. Although it has been going on for some time now. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas as to what may be going on?

I had a similar problem with a used Pontiac Radio with CD & Equalizer.. for my 96 SE. I resoldered the connections to the large IC chip that drives the display and the gibberish stopped.

If you pull the plastic cover off the dash you'll see the 2 screws that hold the radio in, remove those and unplug the antenna and the wiring to the radio. The front cover of the radio snaps on, you can see the tabs. unsnap the front and the display unit can slide out...Use a very fine tipped soldering iron and just heat up the connections on each leg of the big IC be careful not to create any solder bridges, between any legs that are not supposed to be connected. A small tip and a steady hand is a must

I was lucky that I had the original radio/cassette player that I had removed to take apart and get a look at what I needed to do before doing it.

Spit

Thanks SPIT, that doesn't sound too difficult. As soon as I can lay my hands on a soldering iron/gun I will take a whack at it.