Removing climate control panel

[evildre]

Howdy ... I was driving around last night and noticed that the leftmost dial on my climate control, the fan speed dial, wasn't lit up. I tapped it with my finger and presto, it lit up ... so I went to lower the fan speed, and the light went out again. So it looks like there's a loose connection or something in there.

What's the easiest way to get in there and fix this? Removing the leftmost two plugs from the back of the panel is a pain in the ass. That, and there's that funky green wire (don't know wtf that is) ... any pointers?

[SleeperSolara]

Your left bulb is loose.
That green wire is for the thermo temp change.
Just take the 4 screws out, and you should be able to pop it out alittle.
All you have to do is lift the front face plate and you should be able to minpulate the front plate to see the bulbs.
There are 2.
Hope that helps.

[Jon11582]

You dont need to take the wires out at all to get at the bulb.

Just take the main black center console part off, then pull the dials, unscrew 2-3 screws (I think its 2). Then reach around the top and feel for clips that are holding the front faceplate onto the white backing. Unclip the faceplate and youll see the 2 bulbs taht light up the HVAC controls.

[evildre]

Cool, thanks

I noticed something else ... does the rear defrost button have a light (other than the orange "Yes, I am on" indicator) in it? If so, that one's out too.

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

Yeah, everything is backlit except for the thing that says "TEMPERATURE - PUSH OUTSIDE TEMP" (or whatever it says), I think that's just a sticker.

[evildre]

Yeah, everything is backlit except for the thing that says "TEMPERATURE - PUSH OUTSIDE TEMP" (or whatever it says), I think that's just a sticker.

I don't have one of those buttons ... that sounds a bit too fancy for my SE

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

Actually, it says "TEMP PUSH OUTSIDE TEMP" and it DOES light up, just that the thing is a little recessed so it looked like it was.

evildre > Also, it's not really a button, it's a knob that sets the temperature (COLD > 65~85 degrees > HOT on the LCD), then you can push the knob and it'll give the outside temperature (fairly accurate too... once you drive around a bit.)

[Jon11582]

Actually, it says "TEMP PUSH OUTSIDE TEMP" and it DOES light up, just that the thing is a little recessed so it looked like it was.

evildre > Also, it's not really a button, it's a knob that sets the temperature (COLD > 65~85 degrees > HOT on the LCD), then you can push the knob and it'll give the outside temperature (fairly accurate too... once you drive around a bit.)

I think by climate control, he meant the manual HVAC controls, not the automatic climate control. I don't think theres a "fan speed dial" on the climate control.

[Solorange]

^ You can adjust how hard the fans blow air out on the manual HVAC controls.

Another tip, if you descide to take out the whole HVAC unit. Its easy and less time consuming to get it out if you remove the cd player above it. When I was removing my I couldnt get my hand back there to disconnect the wires. Once the cd player was out, it was cake!

[evildre]

^ You can adjust how hard the fans blow air out on the manual HVAC controls.

Another tip, if you descide to take out the whole HVAC unit. Its easy and less time consuming to get it out if you remove the cd player above it. When I was removing my I couldnt get my hand back there to disconnect the wires. Once the cd player was out, it was cake!

I, too, discovered that it's easier to get to the back of the HVAC unit by removing the CD player first. Of course, the left-side wires were obscenely stubborn.

I'll have to give it a try over the weekend. It's a busy week and I come home quite beat after work.