Actually, it's gone mostly dark. (btw, I'm refering to the automatic control unit in the SE). The unit still works, but the the outside edges have almost no light, and it gets to be very dim in the middle of the display.

This came on overnight. One night, the display is great. The next morning/day, nothing. The only thing that changed is that I moved the air control lever to "inside air" from "fresh air".

Is this similar to the "fading clock" problem? Is the fix the same - take it out and solder everything again? or what????

thx

 

If its not the automatic climate control, then it would be safe to say that the incandecent bulbs blew, which might have been caused by the "shock" forming when you moved the lever. There's four (4) minibulbs that goes into the climater control unit, two up top, and two on the side, where the inside/fresh air level are, but you have to disassemble most of the front of your dash to get to it.

 

is there a writeup on this somewhere? if not, can you post some pics on what lights to replace?

 

There is a write up, but not exactly on how to change the bulbs.

just follow this link

http://www.geocities.com/craigbrace/

once there, read on how to disasseble your dash via the "Fixing your dead clock" link, then just a few more bolts will allow you to remove the climate control. Toward the left of the unit you will see two white rubber rectangular pieces, those are the two bulbs. On the top of the unit, you will see a flap, just pry it up and underneath will be two more bulbs, wrapped in a holder which is screwed into the PCB. Just find a mini bulb that is as close to the OEM as possible and install. Good luck, and sorry I don't have a picture to further help you. MyGreenMax92 or Wiking may be able to chime in on that, since they do have a collection of picture of almost everything under the sun about the 3rd gen.

 

So, what you're saying is that the *illumination* for the LEDs has gone...

I know that the regular button illumination has blown - can't see the buttons at night, but I never thought that the LEDs would be using incancescent bulbs for illumination purposes too.

 

You never mentioned anything about the LEDs not operating either. Are you talking about the green light that shows up when a button is depressed, or are you talking about the whole unit not lighting up? If its just the whole unit not lighting up, then it's the incandecent bulb being blown, if its the LEDs that are not working, then I would check for a short somewhere, either that, or something is not making contact. If it's both,first make sure that the incandecent bulbs are not blown, then try shaking the unit, unplug and then replug the connectors in the back.

 

You're in BC? I have many functional units available; you can just replace the entire unit with a used one if you are not familiar with electronics. PM me if you're interested. I have like 3 kicking around.

 

woot! thanks disgruntled that problem has been erking me since i bought the car, i actually thought they didnt light up...

 

it should be known though that you cant get these over the counter as they dont unattach from the holder it is 1 piece, the dealer doesnt sell it, and junkyards frown upon taking them out of the climate control unit without selling it. i just hope they let me look at the climate control unit outside tommorrow so i dont have to drive around without a dash

 

driving without a dash is not a problem, and YES, the bulb does come off, the plastic pieace is simply the base, look closely, there are two very thin leads that goes through the double hole in the plastic base, and wraps around. Last time I check, you can these bulbs from Radioshack, it won't be exact, but it will fit.

 

The display unit is the same problem as the dimming clock, yes. I've fixed several of them.

the problem is that the power supply for the display is on a different board.. it's a bit tougher to find ebcause it's not a huge pink resistor. it's actually a couple smaller ones on a board adjacent to the board the display is on. nonetheless, it's easily fixable..

the lighted buttons and such are a different story... regular small bulbs in them I believe- and it look slike that part has been coverd above already... so back to my movie.

 

When life get's busy and you can't get to the forums, the forums still deliver the answers. Thanks all!

Will, I think I will try my luck at resoldering the display first. And Matt, thanks for confirming my suspicions. And to the rest of you - yes, I haven't seen the lighted buttons on my climate control since I got the car...

M