touring2

Passing on my thanks as well. been dodging this fix for years, since about 2006, LOL! and didn't realize how simple it was. Esp w pics w captions from brookins.us. don't see his link here, but many thanks to him as well. Finally!!!

MUCH thanks to everyone that did the legwork everywhere to get all this great info out there, I hope this makes it easier to find and read through all the various steps![/QUOTE]

touring2

Agree w Sansbup, re let them cool. however, I totally dislodged one, used a wick to remove excess solder(Amateur!!!) an dpopped it right back. Camarohoss is boss at a record 20 minutes. took me a couple hrs, but totally worth it. Esp thanks to Brookins, here: http://www.brookins.us/accontroller/dimacdisplay.html for picturs and text for the simple minded. Tremendous help!
Bob, 01 Z06
HPDE instructor, Pacific Northwest

Chris Murphy

Hi, new owner, new to the forum.
Reading about this HVAC light dim, I removed mine, and upon looking at it, im wondering if its possible to not be able to see anything with the naked eye, but still have a problem.
Heres a couple pics of my board.

ruxvette

Mine looked good, too. When I started to resolder I found a couple loose ones.
Use a soldering iron with a fine tip.

Chris Murphy

Radio Shack, at least the one near me, no longer carries the Cold Heat soldering guns.

mike2c5

Don't let the appearance fool you. When I fixed this problem on my 98,
the board looked fine. I tried to move the chips to see if any felt loose, but none of them did. I then used a low wattage soldering pencil to touch up the solder. When I touched the pencil to one chip it went flying. Make sure you work where you won't loose a chip if it comes off. When it was off I could see why we all get this problem. The pad pattern for these chips is to small for the chips installed. The pads should have extended farther out from the chips or smaller chips with the proper electrical properties should have been used. Touching up the solder does fix the problem. I did this repair over a year ago and it is still working fine.

huesmann

Got Prime?

Hiram

Great info I simply followed the instructions in you post. Isoldered all 6 resisters, plug it back in and everything works great the display went from showing nothing to vary bright.
Thanks

Capt Mike

Re-soldered mine, took only a few minutes.

I already have the Dashboard removed, repairing the HUD

Thanks all !!

gpruitt54

This is a timely thread. I replaced the head unit in my car. After reinstalling everything, I discovered the lights in the VAC control unit are all not working. Before doing the head unit installation, the VAC module lights worked fine. Heat and AC works, the temp display works, only the lights are out.

Did I plug the Molex connector wrong or what???

Capt Mike

I would hazard a guess the the dimming of the "**** lamps"
are a single wire input, prob from the BCM.


You might have damaged or pushed out a pin in the connector, or not inserted the connector fully.. The're polarized connectors and near to impossible to insert 180 out. You could have broken a wire to the connector, but that would be unlikely.

Only one way to find out, or just to do without the lamps..

Michael..

LDOVET

I had to take apart my shifter assembly after my 2003 Anniversary edition was stuck in drive, got it fixed (another story). Same panels removed for that repair so I decided to tackle this one. I have been meaning to resolder the 241 resistors and had it done in my microminiature repair shop. WORKED GREAT. Here's my lesson learned. I was SO happy the display lit, I didn't check all of the climate control functions before putting the facia plate, center console and waterfall back in place. Fired it up and the screen shows "set" and continually cycles between all modes (vent, floor, defrost, etc) and you can hear the compressor cycling. When I removed the components as described above, the rubber shroud between the other circuit board was loose BUT, I ensured (so I thought), that it was seated, and checked all of the buttons to ensure they "clicked" before reinstalling. Now that will take it all apart again tomorrow to get it right but I want to ensure others don't suffer the "hey, my display is bright, slap it back together" that I did.

Chris Murphy

I noticed when I did mine that the previous owner had installed a liberal amount of Coke (maybe Pepsi) all over the buttons, and in behind as well. I used an old toothbrush and some solvent to scrub each and every button and the casing. I went from having a dim light, and the AC randomly turning on, and adjusting itself, to a working HVAC unit. That sounds like your problem, is sticky buttons

LDOVET

After doing this repair, the light is bright again, great. BUT, when I reinstalled and buttoned it up, it looks to me that all of the modes are cycling and it says "SET" in the upper right corner of the display. I found something on line about removing a fuse on the passenger side for over 60 seconds which "resets" the HVAC. Anybody try this or have details? I thought the buttons were just "sticky" but none of them seem to "hold" the function selected and it defaults to this cycling between modes and an audible clicking from the engine compartment as it cycles through the modes. Thanks.

FX VETTE

I have a 2003 AE also and have swapped out the HVAC lights to LEDs and re-soldered the resistors myself. When I plugged it back in and re-assembled the bezel and console, everything worked just fine. My HVAC didn't have "SET", it just went straight to work as usual.

Waiting to see how your issue plays out, good luck

Carl Timonen

Sorry for the high jack, but has anyone ever had the temp **** only move one degree at a time? Mine just started this. I have to wait for the display to show oat before I can move the temp one degree, repeat until I reach my desired temp. Can this be fixed?

Capt Mike

Carl,

RE the One degree prob. Yes I have a friend that owned a C5 with this issue, very odd. This drove him Nuts.

I gave him few links re "Cleaning the Grounds". Solved His problem. Do note that that He did disconnect the battery when he was cleaning rounds.He also coated all ground wires with electrical gel.

It was obvious that the P.O. power washed the engine bay.

Good Luck,

Michael...

LDOVET

FIXED IT !!!!! Took it back apart and I believe the molded rubber that shrouds the switches/lights in one side and "receive" the buttons on the other was not seated/aligned properly. Put it back together and optested, this time BEFORE putting it back together. That's the good news. The bad? Took her for a spin, I had repaired the shifter linkage earlier this week by replacing the bushing that was brittle and broke. Pulling out, had it in 1st gear because I wanted to cycle through all the gears and it stuck in 1st gear so I had to pull into a parking lot where it will be towed from tomorrow. I hope it is just the rear linkage but I did hear a snap when I was cleaning out the remnants of the old bushing. I drove it for a few days no problem, Drive, Park and Reverse were fine so hopefully it's not a new linkage which I hear means dropping the exhaust, tunnel, etc. Ah well, saved some good coin on the Climate Control at least :-)

FX VETTE

You can get some small clamps from Harbor Freight for a buck or so, then use them to hold the resistors down while you work on each side.

Best C5

Fixed mine this weekend in my "New To Me" 04 Z06 CE. Thanks for the how to!