Ok, so after looking through the archives as i often do, I found nothing on repairing the chime box. Or "blue dingy thingy" as some people call them.

I am aware that theOgre has a section in his Cave, (thank you btw, i read a great deal of it) but i didnt want to disable any of the chimes or anything, i just wanted to restore it to the way it was when new.

My chime was so faint that i could barely hear it at all even with the doors closed and engine off. I wanted to fix it because in the past (thankfully not recently) have been forgetful and have left my headlights or marker lights on.

I suspect many of you have had the same problem and since there is nothing in the archives on restoring the original chime box i figured i would spread the word as to what i did to fix mine.


So, first off, pull your blue dingy box out of the car. It is located under the passenger side dash. If there is nothing blue under there, some one has removed it prior to you and you will have to buy a new one if you want a chime in your car.

Ok so once you have the chime box out, take it somewhere comfortable, ie. kitchen counter, work bench, couch in the living room on a tv try with a beer right next to you.

You will need to pry the hinged door open to expose the back of the logic board. Once you have it open, if you lift up on one side of the board you can slide the whole thing out of the plastic (blue) case.

Now that all you have is the board with all the components on it, you will need a decent soldering iron. (i use a butane soldering iron from harbor freight)

Here comes the time consuming part.

All that needs to be done, is reflow the solder joints at every connection on the board. you do this from the back side, (side without the speaker)

If you rest your soldering iron tip on each of the joints the solder will liquify and then harden up when you remove the tip. that connection has been reflowed.
now all you have to do is do that to every connection and it should work like it was new.

There were a couple places on the board that i needed to add new solder in order to make a good connection.

One you have done that, all you need to do is put the board back in the box, close the box and plug it back in.
Viola! You should have a well working restored Blue Dingy Thingy!


If anyone would like me to post pictures of the board and where i added solder i will post them upon request. I dont have the time to do it right now. But i will do it if i am asked.

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1984 Pontiac Fiero SE Silver 2.5l 4-speed 4.10
1980 Chevrolet Citation Primered 2.5l Auto
1999 Kawasaki Drifter VN1500J Deep Gooseberry Purple
2005 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic VN800B Candy Red

Thanks for the post. I'm one of the few (?) that like the chime. I'm a little intimidated with the reflowing of the solder. My hat is off to those of you that man the soldering iron like a ratchet! LOL

Thanks again, Woody

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woodys 427

Haha. Yes, i know there are probably only a few of us who actually like the chime. But soldering is nothing to be intimidated about. Just take your time and its a piece of cake!

quote Originally posted by Str8lineJKing: Ok, so after looking through the archives as i often do, I found nothing on repairing the chime box. Or "blue dingy thingy" as some people call them. I am aware that theOgre has a section in his Cave, (thank you btw, i read a great deal of it) but i didnt want to disable any of the chimes or anything, i just wanted to restore it to the way it was when new. My chime was so faint that i could barely hear it at all even with the doors closed and engine off. I wanted to fix it because in the past (thankfully not recently) have been forgetful and have left my headlights or marker lights on. I suspect many of you have had the same problem and since there is nothing in the archives on restoring the original chime box i figured i would spread the word as to what i did to fix mine. So, first off, pull your blue dingy box out of the car. It is located under the passenger side dash. If there is nothing blue under there, some one has removed it prior to you and you will have to buy a new one if you want a chime in your car. Ok so once you have the chime box out, take it somewhere comfortable, ie. kitchen counter, work bench, couch in the living room on a tv try with a beer right next to you. You will need to pry the hinged door open to expose the back of the logic board. Once you have it open, if you lift up on one side of the board you can slide the whole thing out of the plastic (blue) case. Now that all you have is the board with all the components on it, you will need a decent soldering iron. (i use a butane soldering iron from harbor freight) Here comes the time consuming part. All that needs to be done, is reflow the solder joints at every connection on the board. you do this from the back side, (side without the speaker) If you rest your soldering iron tip on each of the joints the solder will liquify and then harden up when you remove the tip. that connection has been reflowed. now all you have to do is do that to every connection and it should work like it was new. There were a couple places on the board that i needed to add new solder in order to make a good connection. One you have done that, all you need to do is put the board back in the box, close the box and plug it back in. Viola! You should have a well working restored Blue Dingy Thingy! If anyone would like me to post pictures of the board and where i added solder i will post them upon request. I dont have the time to do it right now. But i will do it if i am asked.

I think this is pretty cool. A lot of people throw these out, and good ones are getting hard to find. Mine sounds raspy and not clear like it should, I bet this is the problem mine is having.

I'd love to see the pictures of your process, and it would be pretty nice to have for the archives here.


Thanks!!!

You read the defect section of chime page? Is one shown or older that open on big side? Later version that opens on end have most problems.

Reflow the main ones first and check, Maybe check terminals, before you bother w/ rest of board.

Three point is buzzer frame that use to bridge the circuits.
Two is buzzer windings.
Anyone get a loose connection and then you get weak or random sound.

OE uses "wave solder" machines to make them.
can be hard to adjust the machine the get good joints w/o frying small parts.
In this design some copper traces doesn't have close ends and/or big parts to heat. Big parts often means a "Cold" joint.

I have both versions of unit. If I get time later I post an update to cave showing both versions.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

If you get really adventurous, you can change functions and other stuff.
For example, I found the brake chime to be a PITA, since I frequently worked on my car with the key on, doors open, and parking brake set.
I already had the brake light, so I cut the trace from the parking brake input to the chime. (Be careful, sometimes the circuit loops through and goes back out.)

I also varied the resistor values. Instead of a "ding-ding-ding", I got "bong... bong... bong..."
Just get in there and experiment.

Thanks to the King for the initiative & to the Ogre for the picture of the suspicious joints, my '86 is chiming like my '84 & '88, (albeit at slightly different notes).

The chime on my project '86 coupe was weak & varying since I got it almost 3 years ago. Wiggling the box affected the chime just as Ogre points out in his chime section. I resoldered the joints labeled in the picture even though they looked good. Works great!