I can't seem to pin down a name for the digital temperature/ compass located above the rear view mirror

 

Driver information center, and something silly like that. Don't know if it was available on the 96.... The 98 and up trucks had "better" computers, and ran things a bit differently.

 

Thats weird because my 96 slt has the digital screen. I used to work but stopped for some reason

 

Looks like this

 

Should do compass? and outside temp? I think the newer versions did gas mileage, and other fun stuff as well.

If you simply don't get a display, check the wiring. If you don't already have one, get a service manual from here.

And: Welcome to DF!

 

So I typed in compass and it came up with " over head console." I checked the wiring and all looks good. It does appear that the screen has a big burn mark so I'm assuming it burnt out. So now the question is can i replace just the screen or do I need to replace the whole consol.

 

Those green tube displays always look like there is a burn mark on them. Pull the unit and check for power to it, with the ignition on. Then look for a bad surface mount resistor as shown below. It is from my 07 Tacoma but it also happened to my 03 Jeep. See the thing labeled "4R3" that is the resistor. If you look at the left mounting solder joint, you will note the crack. If you just touch it up with a warm soldering iron and a dab of solder, it should fix you. Of course, it couldn't hurt to touch all of the solder joints up too, while you are in there.

 

So I dug into it and found no cracked sodering. But somehow the screen is not getting power. I tested the wiring harness that plug into the board and it has power. So I'm stumped

 

That "burn" spot is, indeed, normal. You may want to double-check those connections with a magnifying glass. Honestly, just for grins, I would hit all of the flat surface mount resistors with a hot soldering iron.

You could also try to follow the trace on the PC board that supplies power from the connector. See where it goes and which components are in its path, then check them for opens or shorts. The thing with the heat sink (thing with yellow dot on left of pic) is a voltage regulator. It changes the voltage from 12 to 5 and/or something else. Carefully, check each pin to ground with ignition on. At least one pin should have +12 and at least one is ground. The others should have something on them. Tell us what they are.

 

Well I have checked every point with a magnifying glass and can't find a crack. I think this just may be out of my league as far as repair. I might be able to take it to a computer shop but I may just have to replace it. And if I replace it I'm not to sure where to start looking because I don't want to spend a ton of money on it. I just thought beings that it was there maybe I could make it work. No biggie tho. Tha KS guys for the Input.