2007 Aspen REC Nav Radio Black Screen
 

Hello All - I just purchased a 2007 Aspen with a problem with the REC Radio with Navigation. The screen is black and the only functions that work are the on/off, volume and the AM presets. I've been reading up on this and it seems that the head needs to be replaced or it needs to be sent out to a repair place that knows the secret to fixing it. I read on a Jeep forum about one fellow that swapped out the circuit board that sits above the Nav disk with one from a junk yard and that fixed it. I'm looking to see if anyone found the specific cure for this - maybe which component on the board is bad, which solders to look at, etc. Any help would be appreciated.
-LizzR

I'm afraid the information you found on the Jeep forum is probably going to be more than you will find on here on this subject. Their is not many of us Aspen owners on here and theirs only a few that I see even communicate on a regular basis. I personally have not had any issues with my radio yet "knock on wood". I also do not recall seeing any post about this in the past. I would however, recommend checking out Durango forums as they are the closest match to our Aspens and will probably have a lot more people who have run across that issue. We even have to use the Haynes Durango shop manual as they didn't make one for the Aspen.

Thank you calamity coyote for your reply. I'm still doing research, so thank you for your tips on other forums is great. I have not yet tried any local shops yet, so I still need to research that. It looks like a "new" refurbished OEM unit is about $800, so I'd like to go the repair route. I'm not sure that I want to go to an aftermarket unless anyone out there can recommend a specific unit that they like. One outfit that you can send your unit to for repair is $300. I'm thinking that an aftermarket unit might run $150 - $250, but that is just a guess. My unit does not have the back up camera feature. Thank you again, calamity. I hope to hear if anyone has an opinion on the subject or if they've done an aftermarket.
-LizzR

That size of an aftermarket unit is over $300.00 and up.
I had an REC in my Chrysler 300 and bought an android head unit to replace it for $500.00 That is very nice.
Although there are some cheap units for less than $300.00.

Oh, if you do buy an inexpensive aftermarket head unit, check if it supports GPS if you need that feature.
Most of the cheap ones either do not support GPS at all, or require that you have GPS on a phone that you can sync with it, to use the phones GPS system.
That was one of the main reasons I went with an android head unit, just about all of them do support GPS, and with a cheap adapter you can do vehicle diagnostics thru the head unit.

Thank you BiliTheAxe. Can you tell me what model number you have for your aftermarket so that I can Google it? We just took the head unit out today. Still debating on which route to go. I may be swayed to aftermarket as I have seen posts that fixed units don't always last. We may crack ours open to see the guts. I've also read posts that the problem has been narrowed down to the circuit board above the Nav Disc player. Maybe if we don't see anything obvious, we'll go with an aftermarket.

-LizzR

If you don't need the features on the OEM unit, I would recommend going aftermarket. Just cheaper to go that route. If you want to get fancy with it, you can also add a bluetooth unit with reverse camera option, and NAV if that is a must.

I use my cell for NAV, as the map system in my Aspen doesn't even know where my house is since it was built in 2009.

Update: Took the NAV radio out and played around with it. Did not see anything glaringly wrong. Decided to "downgrade" to a radio that was given to me (ie: FREE). It is from a Chrysler 300, so it is plug and play. Has all the same features as the original radio, except no nav. As suggested by other readers, I'll use my phone for navigation. It works great - even the steering wheel controls work. I am very happy with it. I just ordered a face plate kit from Crutchfield to make the install look like factory. Thanks everyone!

Awesome, that is great news. You'll have to post up a pic.