Fix your BJII ... with WD-40

[Guest dsilver.us]

I was out running a couple of weeks ago, listening to music on my BJII, when I got caught in the rain. Wrecked a pair of Moto S9-HD bluetooth headphones; some serious sweat and water issues with those. And a couple days later, rotating the scroll wheel on the BJII stopped working, tho it still worked as a d-pad. Few days after that, the center button on the scroll wheel went out. Googled and found that a fair number of BJII users have reported similar problems after exposure to moisture.

Bummer, I wasn't ready to buy a new phone, the BJII serves my needs and I've bought a lot of software for WinMo standard. Googled again and found instructions for disassembling the phone, also a source for replacement scroll wheels. Took the BJII apart last night; scroll wheel is firmly glued down; looks difficult to remove. Started thinking about how to dry/lube the scroll wheel. Looked at my can of WD-40 and it says "drives water out" right on the label. Hmm, more Googling showed some folks with electronics experience saying WD-40 works OK on electrical contacts. Figured I'd try it; what the heck the phone was already damaged.

Squirted WD-40 behind the scroll wheel while the phone was apart, put it back together thinking "there's no way this is gonna work." Powered it up, and what do you know, the button and the scroll wheel were working better. So I threw caution to the wind and squirted some more WD-40 right on the outside of the center button. Today the button is working a lot better, maybe 80-90 percent of the time I push it versus the previous not very often. Think I'll pull the BJII apart again and really soak the wheel this time--maybe I can get it back to normal operation.

Anyway, add another one to the 1,001 uses for WD-40.

[Guest dsilver.us]

Update on the WD-40 fix:

Took the BJII apart again, sprayed 6-7 times behind the scroll wheel and let it sit. Wiped it off, put it back together and the scrollwheel works again! Center button also works normally. Only thing not working quite right is the down part of the d-pad--have to press it a couple of times sometimes to get it to react. Still I'm happy because the phone is just about completely functional and I won't have to blow the cash on a new one. Only downside is I've got to open it up again to wipe the LCD with some alcohol; some WD-40 must've gotten on it and it's looking patchy...

Moral of the story: careful in the rain with your BJII, but if the controls stop working, bust out the WD-40

[Guest dsilver.us]

Update #2: About a month after the WD40 experiment, the center button completely died, stuck in the down position. Started thinking this time I'm finally gonna have to buy a new phone. Pulled the BJII apart to see how hard it was to remove the entire scroll wheel unit, as it looks fairly well glued down. Put the tip of a very sharp knife under one edge and was surprised when it popped off real easily.

Saw on the AT&T boards a fair number of people have had the same problem, and a lot of BJIIs are off warranty now, but it looks like the fix will be simple. I'm gonna order a new scroll wheel and replace it. If anyone's interested, post or pm and I'll make a how-to.

[Guest dsilver.us]

Epilogue to the story: If you've got a little experience working on cellphones or notebook PCs, replacing the scroll wheel on the BJII is fairly easy. $30 from Cellular Dr. for a replacement. Using a razor blade or sharp knife, the old button pops off easily. Trickiest thing is reattaching the new wiring strip to the tiny connector on the mobo. Still, the whole thing took me maybe 45 minutes and now my BJII is in factory fresh shape.