How To Replace the Color Wheel in Your Samsung DLP Television and Save...

I’ve got one of the early models of the Samsung 43′ DLP Television sets. We’ve been through a lot together, but it’s just a fantastic picture. I love it.
Thankfully, I purchased the extended warranty for 4 years, because I’ve been through 3 lamps. However, as always, something went wrong after the warranty expired. It started a few months ago, a buzzing sound. It started out pretty soft, like someone was holding a very thin wire in the blades of a running fan. As weeks passed, that sound increased, and finally it became an all-out scream (just in time for the World Cup). Inside this television are only two moving parts that could cause that sound, the cooling fan and the color wheel. I know about the color wheel because I’ve seen it talked about over and over again on the Internet. I think the service guy may have mentioned it once or twice when he was here replacing the lamp. With all that mention, clearly this thing has issues. And, I can see the fan, and it doesn’t spin at the same time that this sound is produced.
What’s a color wheel? I’m not sure exactly it’s purpose, but it has a small motor and it spins at about 9000 RPM. The older model Samsung televisions are plagued with the problem where the bearings in this little motor go and starts to sound like a banshee, or at least what I imagine a screaming banshee to sound like. Anyway, it’s pretty bad.


It needed to be replaced. There was no longer any putting it off. I happened to mention it to a BestBuy sales-kid and asked him where I should have it fixed. He said I could just call a local Samsung authorized repair shop, or “you could just repair it yourself.” The words echoed in my mind. I never considered that possibility and I dreaded the thought of my television being picked up or dropped off and gone for weeks. When I got home, I went online and found a few forums where guys shared that they successfully replaced their own color wheels and that it wasn’t that difficult. Say no more…
If you have the same problem and are thinking about fixing it yourself, it really isn’t that difficult. If you’ve ever taken your PC apart, this is not much different… The process involves about 20 screws, 5 or 6 cables to unplug, and of course put it all back. The toughest part about these projects is knowing what to take out and where to look for the part you’re replacing. The first time, I took out quite a bit more screws and cables than necessary. I did it again to write this article and now you don’t need to think about all that.

this will be continued in next TIP