PewterMetallic98

Two buttons on my factory radio do not light up anymore. My HVAC is also not bright enough to see the temp. I know that there is a guy who can fix the HVAC for $50 but what can be done about the radio lights?

dgrant3830

There is another thread with the same issue. Check it out
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1942517

PewterMetallic98

I'm not very good with a soldering iron at all.

dgrant3830

Its really the only way. You can obtain the lamps and take the radio and hvac controller to a local electronics repair place to do it for you.

Jistari

Dont shy away from fixing the dim heat/ac control. I'm terrible with a solder iron and I did mine. The components are very sturdy. Just use a low power iron (15w) and you arent gonna screw anything up.

Or, as suggested above, just take the parts (they unplug easily once you get the center console off) to any electronics place, they should be able to do it while you wait, its that simple.

Having said that, I never had to disconnect the radio (Im using the original head unit). Look for posts about that. Only reason I mention it is that there may be some difficulty in unplugging the radio then plugging it back in. Im not only talking about the security code, that may or may not be set. Even if it is set, you can get that unlocked yourself, or at a dealer. Im trying to remember, but I believe I may have read something about once you start the car with the radio not connected, there may be a bit thats set in the PCM program that wont let you reattach a radio until that is reset with a scanner.
I could be way off on the second point. Ask in the radio / electronics forum here, those guys will know the answer.

Good luck.

Some useful (I hope) links

This one is specificaly about the heat ac
http://www.regalgs.org/climate.htm

These show you what the center console looks like when you take it apart.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1117959

http://www.mnfbody.com/showthread.php?t=12617

Junkman2008

Most likely, you won't have to replace the bulbs. The problem is usually cold solder around the resisters in the lighting circuit. If you flow the solder around the correct resistors, the lights will start working again. This is a very common problem in electronics today. There are some really good threads that have been done about this problem. I'd do some searching and pull up those threads if I were you.

tstar

All the lights are in series in the Radio so if there was some funky going on with the source it would affect all the bulbs, I'd say two of your bulbs are shot. Having said all that, you're better off replacing all of them at once as there have been two instances where an owner replaced just a few bulbs and a little later the rest went ploohey on him...

You'll need 12 volt 70mA bulbs to replace the 10 (ten) OEM ones with, I know of a few sources;


http://www.partsexpress.com/
number=070-105 is is a bulb that runs at 70ma. You must trim off the plastic and unsolder the lead wires, but it is the proper wattage bulb and will work just fine in both the radio and HVAC units. The illumination will match all the other indicators.

http://www.mcmaster.com/
Part number 1505K414

Radio Shack -
P/N 272-1092. THese are 60mA but will work if all are replaced at aonce..

Or you can start the LED swap in all your components!

SteveDoten

thanks, I need to do this, great post

here's the how to w/ pics

http://www.corvetteradios.com/default.htm