HVAC units

[Solorange]

I went to the junkyard with a buddy of mine today and I came across a 1st gen solara sle. It was pretty much all salvaged but the digital HVAC unit was still in it. I took it off and it had two plugs in the back of it. I have a manual one and I was gonna try to see if this would work in my car. If I remember correctly the manual HVAC unit has three plugs in the back. But my question is the digital HVAC plug and play for a solara that has a manual HVAC unit setup? The reason why im asking this is because I think the three plugs are all small this one had a big one and small one and I was thinking maybe two of the plugs would fit into the big plug on the digital one. If that will work Im gonna go back there and get it cause the guy said he would give it too me for $20 bucks! Also I didnt get it cause im not even sure it will work. Rain definatly got inside this car. Thanks in advance

[SirMacDaddy]

Ive wanted to do this as well and was wondering if it would work

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

I don't think it'll be compatible, considering that 99 manual HVAC's probably have a linkage somewhere for the fresh air/recirc switch, but that's just a guess since I have a digital climate.

Just so you know, you're not missing out on much; I'd almost rather have the manual controls, considering that the defogger is a bitch to turn off when you have a blonde moment and forget it's as simple as pushing the button again instead of off, the "mode" only has 1 button, so sometimes if I pass the mode I want I gotta hit it a few more times instead of turning a knob.

Also, it adjusts the fresh air/recirc according to the temperature, but it's better for the air to be kept in fresh air when the car is off, but it switches to recirc when it's left in a colder temp and eventually caused the air to stink and I had to take it to be cleaned.

Hope this helps. -Ed

[Solorange]

Yeah, your probably right. Has anybody ever tried doing this?

[PXLpainter]

Just so you know, you're not missing out on much; I'd almost rather have the manual controls, considering that the defogger is a bitch to turn off when you have a blonde moment and forget it's as simple as pushing the button again instead of off, the "mode" only has 1 button, so sometimes if I pass the mode I want I gotta hit it a few more times instead of turning a knob.

LOL! I can totally relate!

I also hate having to take my eyes off the road to "read" the LCD to see what I'm doing. When I had my Tundra (which has system identical to the maunal in the Solara) I could do everything by feel and didn't have to look at all - just direct to what you wanna do.

Besides, for me in the convertible, I can't rely on the auto temp thing to do much of anything for me.

[MCOjerry]

The fresh air can be changed while on auto. When you select auto, it automatically puts on fresh air, but you can just press the recirculate button to close it off, while staying on auto.

I think the auto works best at night, to keep it from getting too cold. During the day down here, if I have the top up, that damn thing is on the Mr. Freeze setting. Although, I think that it doesn't work as well as it did before my accident (was a/c condenser was replaced).

FYI solorange, if you want to try this...make sure you get the sensor from the dash too. You'll need that make it work properly. I'm not sure exacly what the function is, but I think it reads the intensity of the sun or something. There are two sensors, one for the auto lights and one for the climate control. Not sure which is which. You'd have to drill a hole in your ash and figure out how it was wired too.

[Solorange]

Well this is something I dont really need to do. I just saw it in the car and thought it would be cool to have. Im sure I would get tired of it like the rest of you so I think im just not gonna do it. Plus I would have to convert the green leds over to orange to match the rest of my scheme. Thanks for all the input

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

The fresh air can be changed while on auto. When you select auto, it automatically puts on fresh air, but you can just press the recirculate button to close it off, while staying on auto.

I think the auto works best at night, to keep it from getting too cold. During the day down here, if I have the top up, that damn thing is on the Mr. Freeze setting. Although, I think that it doesn't work as well as it did before my accident (was a/c condenser was replaced).

FYI solorange, if you want to try this...make sure you get the sensor from the dash too. You'll need that make it work properly. I'm not sure exacly what the function is, but I think it reads the intensity of the sun or something. There are two sensors, one for the auto lights and one for the climate control. Not sure which is which. You'd have to drill a hole in your ash and figure out how it was wired too.

It's most likely for outside temperature, because the Auto function bases the fan speed off the outside temp, and you can push the temp knob to even display it.

Besides I know about that function; I'm just talking about leaving it a lower temp or COLD and leaving the recirculation mode on when it's turned off, and I always have to turn it to HOT before I leave the car, then get a big blast of hot air if I forget to turn it back down.

If that's not done, over time the moisture in the vents aren't able to escape and attract mildew and smell like yesterday's horseshit, which is a thing I picked up from my SenCrap's stealership since I used to commute alongside trucks and you'd get a nice Diesel blast at signals -- ESPECIALLY the friggin' school buses; doesn't anybody regulate those damned things?

Well this is something I dont really need to do. I just saw it in the car and thought it would be cool to have. Im sure I would get tired of it like the rest of you so I think im just not gonna do it. Plus I would have to convert the green leds over to orange to match the rest of my scheme. Thanks for all the input

You'd have to spend a great deal of time figuring out the polarities of each little LED; nobody has posted a tutorial on how to do that anyway. If there was, I'd change out everything A LONG TIME AGO to be a GS color if possible; if not I want more of an orange that you'd see on sportier cars like the 350Z, Bimmers and Celica's.

[Solorange]

You'd have to spend a great deal of time figuring out the polarities of each little LED; nobody has posted a tutorial on how to do that anyway. If there was, I'd change out everything A LONG TIME AGO to be a GS color if possible; if not I want more of an orange that you'd see on sportier cars like the 350Z, Bimmers and Celica's.

Thats easy, I did in on my factory radio, I can definatly do this. And there is a tutorial on how to do it. Its for a radio but im sure its all the same. My radio was different than the tutorial's radio so I had to figure out the polarities on my radio.