Congrats!

and Welcome Home!!

 

Welcome HOME bud! From one Veteran to another, THANKS FOR SERVING and "Drive it like you stole it"

Glad you got it fixed!

Bill Curlee

 

We need more threads like this one

 

This thread should be a sticky for sure. Seems to be a very common problem.

I did the fix yesterday and it worked like a champ!

Some people were having problems with the resistors moving on them while they were soldering them, so I just put a dab of solder on the tip of the iron and then used a toothpick in my other hand to hold the resistor in place as I touched it up.

My display was so dim at times before that I couldn't even see it at all. Now it's brighter than my radio display

Click here for a pic of the fixed display

Thanks so much guys!!!

 

Worked great for me, but I somehow lost 2 more backlights in the process. I guess for now I'd rather have the functionality of the ac readout then the looks of all working bulbs. Any more info on replacements?

 

awesome i just did mine, burned my finger but thas b/c i'm dumb. this was a huge help though

 

C5 tech sticky??

 

I pulled mine out and was gonna fix mine also. Found a guy on fleabay that I shipped mine to. Had it back in 2 days. $50 fixed circuit board, replaced lense replaced all worn buttons and replaced all the bad bulbs! It was worth the 50 bucks not to burn my finger which I surely would have!

 

Genocid,

I just purchased a 98 Coupe. Excellent condition to be ten years old. After two days of looking, I found two problems with the car. The first being no display on the climate control and the second, rocking seats during excelleration and braking.

I found your thread on the display issue. I took the control unit out, then took the circuit board out per your instructions. I was scared to do the actual soldering, so I took it to my local electronics shop. He charged me ten bucks to resolder the board. I re-installed the board and it works like new. Thanks so much for all the DETAILED instructions and for taking the time to post all of this. You are da MAN. My local car shop wanted over $400 to replace this unit. Again, thanks. I am hooked on this forum site, there is so much valuable info here.

 

I repaired mine today. However, I chose not to try to resolder all of them but only the ones that were loose. I used a sharp point of a knife to very gently try to lift under the edge of each resister to find the broken connections. I repaired 3 or 4 and did one final check with the knife to be sure they all felt solid. Put the control unit back together and put in car, bright as could be!

But I didn't realize how many of the bulbs (or are they LED's?) that light the buttons are out. Got to looking and realized only 2 of the buttons are currently lit. Guess I have to re-read the thread and figure out what to buy and where so I can replace these little fellows!

Thanks for all the great info!

 

just did this today after not being able to see my display for a few months. its not as bright as some of yours are but i can see it now. i had a hard time seeing what the problem was, my board is the 2nd kind. i couldn't see any solder joints on the board for some of those board components so i just did the ones i could see. thanks for the DIY.

 

Add me to the list of successful forum members that this worked for! Great instructions, especially the additional picture of the "other type of board". When i saw that picture, I knew that was what I would find, and it was! Very reasurring to have those extra pictures and the comments about the chips coming loose. I LOVE THIS FORUM!! I may not post often, but I can always find info I need from the great people that take the time to provide the helpful postings!!

 

First I tried it using a ColdHeat soldering iron (20.00).... No Good; then i tried it with a Weller 6 watt battery powered soldering iron ($16.00,) still NG. Gawd, it looked like I had never soldered anything in my life. Bought a RadioShack 30 watt soldering iron ($8.00) and worked like a champ -- let it heat up for 3-5 minutes, hold on the solder point for about 3 seconds. Don't use the tip, use the beveled side of it. Use a jewelers screwdriver to hold each resistor (?) in place. I used a BernzOmatic "specialty solder kit" SSWS100 for circuit boards, eyeglass, and jewelry repair that I got at Home Depot, I think. Comes with H2O based flux -- USE IT! Nice to have dat display working!!! Thanks to all who contributed to this thread!!!

 

Superb POST!!!!!

BC

 

hi i wanted to ask before you did any work to your climate controll what did it look like.
i have 99 c. vette and my light are completly out on the bottom row the def. the on. and the others the only light i have is when i push a button ex. the ac button and the littil ac light come on but other than that it is dar
was your like this

 

mine was different at various times. sometimes I could see the display ok, sometimes it was a bit dimmer, and sometimes it was so dim that I couldn't see the display at all.

 

Bill, if that compliment was to me... THANKS!

Greenskin77, most of this thread is devoted to repair of DIGITAL DISPLAY being dim or completely blank (not the button lights.) (Incidentally, you might try rapping the display with your knuckles.... I got a few additional months out of it this way, before the display completely died, "forcing" me to do the fix described in this thread.)
There are a couple of posts near the end of page 1 (of 4 current pages) -- and maybe elsewhere -- of this thread that discuss the button lights/LED's. Those lights are on the other board ..

 

Another satisified "customer"! I just finished (like 5 minutes ago) disassembling and re-soldering the HVAC on my car which has been giving trouble for the past 6-12 months. The prior owner had it replaced under GM warranty but even this "new" one went bad. The date on it is 1998..my car is a 1997 which would put most of the parts with a 1996 date on them if origional.

Those resistors were 100% the problem! When re-soldering one end of them, they moved right off the board because the other end wasn't even attached! No wonder these stupid things are failing left and right...surface mount wasn't the way to go. I needed the needle nose plyers, like suggested, to reposition and resolder the various resistors. Everything is set!

I also took the opportunity to hot glue my "limp exterior rearview mirror" back into place. I tried 3M double sided adhesive which worked great for a while..but finally failed after about 6 months. I removed the remaining 3M double sided tape and hot glued the heck out of the mirror. I figure I can use a heat gun if I ever need to disassemble the mirror for something in the future. I had previously done the "official" mirror fix on my passenger side mirror and it came out well, but took several hours to remove body panels, cut wires, fix mirror, etc. I think the hot glue might be the ticket for a semi permanent repair.

 

Howdy, 2Big2Fit!
Can you e-mail this guys stats to me? This sounds like the way for me to go.
Thanks a bunch!
Pete O.

 

Thanks for the scoop!