Ok so.. the backlights on the climate control ( I have the one with manual temperature sliders not digital) - the problem happened a little here and there this summer but the lights always came back on. But last night was exceptionally cold and now the backlights won't fire up - any idea? is this a fuse issue? any fix? Please help!

 

you need to pull off that part of the dash cover and change the bulbs, not too hard can be done in like 30 mins

 

i have this same problem, i have taken most of my dash out before but havent been able to figure out how exactly to slide the climate unit out so i can take the cover off and change the bulbs or leds

 

If you have the auto climate control you can unclip the front panel and tilt it upwards so that you can unscrew the bulbs. Easy to do. You don't have to take the whole unit out.

Brent.

 

The light works sometimes.. but it's having a cold spell , hasn't worked in 3 days - but I was able to tap and push on the face of it one night and got it to work for a few seconds, when I turned of thelights in satisfaction, when I tried it again it didn;t work again. The bulb is probably still working, its just a contact thing... any other tips.. and tanks for the tips so far....

 

All of the bulbs I have seen on the Maxima dash are a screw / twist in type. It is possible that it may be loose, perhaps someone has replaced them before and not put them in properly.

Brent.

 

actually, I replaced a bunch of dash lights this weekend on my 93SE and they were not the screw in bulbs
I replaced the lights behind teh cruise control, fog light, dimmer, defrost, hazard switches and the ones behind the little lever on the climate control
they are small 12V mini lamps that I got from Radio Shack (60mA); cost me about 1.40 each or so.
for the 2 in the climate control, you just have to take out the panel around the radio and then you will see the edge of the climate control has 2 small rectangular rubber pieces that can be pulled out and the bulbs will fit in there

 

Ah yes, you are quite right, I had forgotten about those ones.

Brent.