My early build (June 2005) HL-R6168W blew its color wheel several weeks ago and I was thiiiis close to buying a Aquos 65 LCD to replace it before checking on AVS Forum and finding instructions on how to replace the wheel. Doing the repair yourself will take approximately 1-1.5 hours and save $300-500 in labor charges for a technician repair.
When my wheel went, I did not hear the pop/bang/knock others have described. Rather, the left side of the image began to get wavy, and then I started hearing what sounded like the turbofan of a jet engine. I turned off the TV but the sound persisted for a while before stopping. I don't know if the image changed any more since I'm afraid to leave the TV on long enough for the lamp to warm up since the spinning/whining/grinding sound is so loud. In any case, after some reading on the forums I ordered a replacement color wheel, part #BP96-01103A, from partstore.com for $103 plus overnight shipping.
I am not sure how closely this procedure will apply to any other R**68W models but they should be quite similar. You do not, by the way, need the service manual for this repair; in fact, most reports are that the manual is useless for this procedure.
List of tools:
Epilogue: New color wheel worked great and was waaaay quieter than the old one, which was nearly as loud as my Xbox 360's fans. On the downside, I also immediately noticed that I now had the dreaded shadow problem, with a 1-1.5 inch shadow on the left and a 0.25 inch shadow on the right. I don't know if messing with the LE caused the problem, but others have also reported having the shadow problem after having the color wheel changed (even by a service technician). I was very careful with the LE and did not bump it much. I called the ECR number (800-522-7341) and they agreed to cover the repair if it did indeed turn out to be a light tunnel problem. Of course, there was no way I was going to mention that I had just replaced the color wheel myself. It took a couple more weeks, but now the set is back to looking new!
When my wheel went, I did not hear the pop/bang/knock others have described. Rather, the left side of the image began to get wavy, and then I started hearing what sounded like the turbofan of a jet engine. I turned off the TV but the sound persisted for a while before stopping. I don't know if the image changed any more since I'm afraid to leave the TV on long enough for the lamp to warm up since the spinning/whining/grinding sound is so loud. In any case, after some reading on the forums I ordered a replacement color wheel, part #BP96-01103A, from partstore.com for $103 plus overnight shipping.
I am not sure how closely this procedure will apply to any other R**68W models but they should be quite similar. You do not, by the way, need the service manual for this repair; in fact, most reports are that the manual is useless for this procedure.
List of tools:
- Phillips screwdrivers, preferably with magnetized tips; powered screwdriver makes this an even quicker repair
- Jewelers screwdriver (one of those small ones for eyeglasses, etc)
- Flashlight
- Vacuum/Swiffer dust cloth/compressed air for dust
- Unplug power and all cables attached to the TV. It may be helpful to label each cable with tape to make reattaching easier.
- Remove the back panel. There is a small panel inset into the large back panel which spans the entire width of the TV. That is for lamp replacement and doesn't need to be removed as it comes out with the back panel. There are 14 screws to be removed and then you can pull the back panel straight out (no need to tilt it).
- You'll see three major components now. You'll be working with the middle one with the fan attached to it, the light engine (LE). On the left is the AV input unit. On the right is the lamp (which does not need to be removed for this procedure).
- The goal now is to pull the LE straight out. There are 4 screws to remove, 2 of them are on a shiny bracket on the right. The one in the middle of the second photo was pretty tight in my set.
- There is a connector that I have placed an arrow on. This is attached on the other end in the AV input unit on the left. It is not necessary to detach this, but if you do, you will be able to pull the entire LE out. I left it on; if you're careful, you can still pull the LE out enough to easily perform the replacement.
- This connector is on the right. It does have to be disconnected.
- There is a DVI cable attached to the AV unit that needs to be disconnected. Leave the end attached to the LE on.
- There is cabling along the top and right side of the LE that needs to be pulled out of the routing clips so that there is room to pull out the LE.
- You can now pull the LE straight out. It rests between two metal rails. Also see below for a warning.
- This is the DLP lens assembly if you've never seen it. In front of it there is an angled plastic shield. Careful not to bend it as you pull the LE out. To the right of the lens is a black plastic shield. Mine had a label on it indicating it contained the color wheel. There are two small brass screws holding it in place. Remove these and keep them separate as the color wheel is held in by other brass screws that are different.
- This is the color wheel underneath the shield. There are two more brass screws to be removed, marked with arrows.
- Before you can remove the color wheel, you need to disconnect two connectors. The first is a copper ribbon which can simply be pulled out. The second is a gray-gray-blue wired connector which is possibly the most difficult step of this process. It needs to be pried out with a jewelers screwdriver or tweezers or whatever else you have on hand. Don't pull directly on the wires, it could break, leaving the connector stuck.
- Pull the color wheel vertically out. Be careful with the rubber surround on the right of the color wheel; part of it needs to be reused. Part of it can be thrown away, as your new color wheel should come with some rubber (the black strip in the middle of the unit on the right below). As you can see from my photo, one section of the color pie did indeed shatter.
- This is the wheel well. Inside you will probably find tiny bits of colored glass. Try to get it all out with one of those tiny vacuums, a piece of Swiffer, or perhaps some tape attached to a pen.
- This is the wheel well shot from the left to the right. The blue arrows indicate the rubber surround that should be left. The yellow arrow points at some more rubber in which there is two holes: One is for one of the brass screws, the other is for a pin that is in the color wheel unit. There is a similar setup on the other side of the well. One poster previously noted that his unit did not have this hole and therefore he had to drill out the pin that was in his new color wheel. I did not have this problem.
- The second most difficult step in this process is getting the color wheel back in. The reason is that the well is quite tight and I was afraid of scraping the wheel. I found that the easiest way was to peer into the well from the front, rather than from the top. From the front, there is a crack through which you can see how the wheel is lining up with the rubber surround on the right side of the well. By the way, if you're afraid of getting finger oils onto the wheel, you could wear disposable gloves to do this step; I did not find it necessary.
- All done! Just put all the screws back in, plug the two connectors back, and reroute the cables back into the clips. Don't turn on the TV until the back panel is firmly in as the TV won't stay on if the lens unit cover is not firmly in (as a safety feature).
- You may need to adjust the index delay after the replacement. You will be able to tell because you may see strange color banding in any scenes that have colors close, but not quite the same, in tone. This is usually most obvious in face skin tones (i.e. clay faces). If you need to adjust index delay, turn off the set, wait for the lamp to cool down, then hit mute-1-8-2-power in succession. The set should turn on with the service menu popping up eventually on the left. I don't remember which submenu index delay is under, but find it and usually it will need to be lowered. I believe mine started out in the mid-50's and had to be lowered to 47. These numbers are different for each Samsung model, so just adjust until the picture is pleasing to your eye. By the way, the supposed correct way to do this is to make the reddish part of the test color bar appear the most saturated, if you have a color calibration device.
Epilogue: New color wheel worked great and was waaaay quieter than the old one, which was nearly as loud as my Xbox 360's fans. On the downside, I also immediately noticed that I now had the dreaded shadow problem, with a 1-1.5 inch shadow on the left and a 0.25 inch shadow on the right. I don't know if messing with the LE caused the problem, but others have also reported having the shadow problem after having the color wheel changed (even by a service technician). I was very careful with the LE and did not bump it much. I called the ECR number (800-522-7341) and they agreed to cover the repair if it did indeed turn out to be a light tunnel problem. Of course, there was no way I was going to mention that I had just replaced the color wheel myself. It took a couple more weeks, but now the set is back to looking new!
This made for quite a bit of glass / plastic cleanup. I think the shop vac with small attachment or step down attachment worked the best, then I used painters (blue) masking tape on the end of a pen or pencil, sticky side down worked well. I also used some canned air to get some of the hidden pieces flushed out, use eye protection and make sure you cover the lens as you don't want to get that dirty.
Thank you GeekGirl for the updated information on the replacement of the color wheel. I think we probably have better information than the TV Tech who repairs these sets.
