Replacing a ribbon cable connector

Hello guys!

I bought myself a not working New 3DS XL off ebay, as a little handicraft project for little money, because sometimes it is the easiest little fix on 3DS'. I love watching repair videos for many years and just wanted to try it myself.

I was very surprised with how good it looked from the inside. No liquid damage or anything. I would say no one was ever in there, but I can't be too sure with that.

When trying to turn it on, it just popped and powered off again.

So I opened it up and found a tiny little bit of corrosion on one ribbon cable and around there.

At first I wanted to take apart everything to look further inside, but even if I wanted to, this little ribbon cable won't come off it's socket. I didn't want to pull very hard, it should come off with very little force as I saw in many videos online. I really don't want to break anything.

I sprayed down some contact spray on to the board and inside of this little ribbon cable connector (after spraying the connector, the ribbon cable wouldn't come off either), scrubbed it gently with an old toothbrush, and thought:

"Maybe this was the fix?"

So I put the battery back in and I couldn't believe my eyes.

It turned back on perfectly.

But the feel of luck didn't stay too long. The home-button wasn't working.

So again I opened it up, pulled out the cable for the home-button (it came off easy), sprayed it with contact spray, scrubbed and tested again. Working fine!

Put everything back together and noticed.. ABXY aren't working..

I got in the 3DS again, disassembled the button board, pulled out the wider 53-pin ribbon cable and sprayed everything with contact spray again.

Unfortunately - and I am really biting myself for it - somehow I bent one and broke another pin inside of the 53-pin cable socket when trying to put the cable back in. And the ribbon cable is broken too now.

TL;DR , after sharing my long story with you, we can come to my questions. 😅

I really hope someone is reading this post.

Will I be able to replace this 53-pin ribbon cable connector, with just my soldering iron and a really small tip? Or do I need to own a heatgun for this? I thought i could get this thing replaced with some flux and the heat of the soldering iron itself (somehow) but there is a little thingy (circled in blue) next to the connector I am scared to destroy if trying the fix.

And as I am unable to pull out the ribbon cable from the connector in the first picture, I think i won't be able to take the 3DS apart further.

Will this affect anything, if I try to solder it somehow when everything is assembled?

I really don't have much experience with soldering, but as this is my little project, I am really desperate to fix it. Ordered some replacement from aliexpress already.

I didn't find just one person on the internet, that replaced that little 53-pin socket, so I hope someone here has some advice for me! :)

Thanks in advance. <3

Greetings

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[EDIT]

Thanks for your answers, guys! You're reheating my inner fire for the project! :D

Yes, i ordererd some replacement already. Should be delivered around 19-22.01. :D

I already had some kapton tape in my basket for some things I may need for this project, but wanted to ask some questions before ordering more.

So both of you two recommended to definetly use a heatgun. That was what i feared, as I currently didn't wanted to put much much more money into that, hence my question about the normal soldering iron. But I am totally willing to get a hot air station for this project!

So the normal iron would be never an option?

Just asking out of curiosity; not gonna try that. The part to solder is so tiny, I definetly am not touching it with my normal iron as you guys recommended! No normal iron tip that I own would fit. Maybe somewhat about 0.2mm width. But everything else would be touching the small thingy next to it. Asking because I saw many SMD soldering jobs on youtube with a normal iron with a tiny tip and much flux, but I think these jobs weren't as tiny as the 3DS, right? 😅

But if I really don't want to break anything, I would have to take the 3DS further apart to not break anything else when heating up. Do you maybe know, whats the source of the stuckness of the smaller ribbon cable from my first post?

That is the connector in question, magnified a bit. Am totally not able to move it at all, and was relatively hard pulling on it already. Maybe I got it out a little bit (looks like it) but I don't really know.

Looks somewhat junked or molten, am I right? Is there a way to get it unstuck?

Thats another connector, not 100% the same, but definetly doesn't looks as bad as the first one. Sorry for my wiggly picture.

I already have a magnifier, it isn't the best, and I don't have a stand for it. That's what I would need to order too. :D

And I put a training board into my basket to try out on something else beforehand, as I would had to 'first try' the soldering. I ordered 3 replacement parts for that if something may go wrong or is faulty built, but just want to train a bit before.

Thanks again and greetings!