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[V6_MAT]

Just had a very frustrating day....

Firstly, a little history.  When I got the car around a year ago none of the climate buttons illuminated, but the 2 temps and the 'A' did.  I replaced all 5 bulbs with new and it all worked fine.  For a week.  The temps and 'A' went off together but the buttons stayed lit.  Because its such a fiddle to do I left it and managed without since, until yesterday.

Wanting to sort it out as I'm a fussy git I got more bulbs ready and took the dash apart again.  I found that all the bulbs seemed fine, and even swapping a couple over just incase didn't help and eventually put it back together as before as I need to use the car. So after an hour of hassle I had accomplished nothing, and had resigned myself to having no temp illumination again.  Except that when driving the car later I noticed that the 'air direction' buttons and the right + & - were also dark now.  

I now suspect there must be some kind of wiring problem inside my climate panel - is this a common thing and a possible DIY fix, or would it just be easier to whack another unit in from a scrapper?

Oh, and whilst taking the buttons out I managed to break the hazard switch so that it won't stay 'off' and have had to bodge it until I get a replacement......

Any advice welcome!

[TheBoy]

Just had a very frustrating day....

Firstly, a little history.  When I got the car around a year ago none of the climate buttons illuminated, but the 2 temps and the 'A' did.  I replaced all 5 bulbs with new and it all worked fine.  For a week.  The temps and 'A' went off together but the buttons stayed lit.  Because its such a fiddle to do I left it and managed without since, until yesterday.

Wanting to sort it out as I'm a fussy git I got more bulbs ready and took the dash apart again.  I found that all the bulbs seemed fine, and even swapping a couple over just incase didn't help and eventually put it back together as before as I need to use the car. So after an hour of hassle I had accomplished nothing, and had resigned myself to having no temp illumination again.  Except that when driving the car later I noticed that the 'air direction' buttons and the right + & - were also dark now.  

I now suspect there must be some kind of wiring problem inside my climate panel - is this a common thing and a possible DIY fix, or would it just be easier to whack another unit in from a scrapper?

Oh, and whilst taking the buttons out I managed to break the hazard switch so that it won't stay 'off' and have had to bodge it until I get a replacement......

Any advice welcome!

Unlikely to be panel IME. More likely bulbs or there connections.  The buttons are all lit via light guides.

[V6_MAT]

It just seems strange that 3 of the bulbs stopped working together, and I was unable to get them working even with fresh bulbs.  

I just wondered if the printed circuit board that supplies the power to them might have a weak point?

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

It just seems strange that 3 of the bulbs stopped working together, and I was unable to get them working even with fresh bulbs.  

 Could be that by reassembling you've put pressure temporarily in the right place...

[V6_MAT]

Just to let you know the outcome with the climate lighting;

I got a complete centre panel from ebay for £50 inc postage, so today I swapped everything over that I needed.

I took all the new bulbs from my panel and put them into the ebay panel - everything lights up as it should - for the first time in a year or so...  and after taking it all apart last week it all went a lot smoother since I remembered all the little 'tricks' to get it in and out neatly.  

So I can only assume that something inside the old panel had broken - I did lift the circuit board out and took a look, but there was nothing obvious.

Oh, and the other bonus is that the ebay panel came with not only the new hazard switch I needed, but also all the other buttons looked perfect, unlike some of mine that the paint is coming away from.

Overall - result!

[platty]

I am having the same problems with my climate panel at the minute... changed all the bulbs for new ones - worked a treat - since then the "A" has gone dim and the temp on the left side. Had it all out and the bulbs started up again, must be something in the PCB or wiring - a loose connection perhaps.

I guess I shall end up doing the same as yourself - It drives me mad!!!!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Post it to me and I will give it the once over.....

[Mr.Slippy]

if you've got a spare rear window heater button going I'll give it a good (mobile) home

[V6_MAT]

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention - I took the opportunity to change the colour of the temp displays and the 'A' to red by using some LEDs from Ultraleds.co.uk.  

They did take a little modification to get them to fit, but it was worth it as it looks nicely different but still OEM as there are other red parts to the dash (eg hazard switch and bits of the instruments) and also they should hopefully never fail.

Here are a couple of pics incase anyone is interested :-)




BTW, the old demist switch does work, but the writing finish on it was completely knackered so isn't honestly worth using I'm afraid...