Climate Control Lighting

[frank]

My car has never had the fresh air or heat... until now.

In my marathon maintenance effort I decided to tackle the heat and air. Heat is on hold since I found that my motor is fried and I need a replacement... hopefully one falls into may lap for free or for cheap... until then, no heat.

I have amassed a surprising number of new parts over the years that I never had the time to install but this latest venture has helped me get most of those things into the car.

One of the things I had purchased many years ago was the fresh air blower motor with fan... I think I found it at AZAutoHauz for about $60 somewhere around 2006 or 2007... I checked recently and boy has the price gone up! I remember at the time that the whole unit was prohibitively expensive from various sources and still is today. Unfortunately today there is no inexpensive way to get air back in our cars unless you go with used units.

'nuff said, on to my issue:

I purchased 16 feet of bowden cable from a local bike shop, although it turns out only about 10 feet is required, and replaced all the sheaths for the controls. It really made a night and day difference in how they move. I paid $1.99 per foot. I had an option to purchase the 3 cables from someone here who generously offered them to me for $25 but the deal fell through due to a bad eMail address that was provided to me for the PayPal payment. For about $20 I was able to replace ALL the cables. The stuff I purchased did not come with the steel wire inside; I just removed the old sheaths and reused the existing steel wire.

I have a ground wire that isn't connected to anything and another wire that holds a bulb but I don't know where it goes. Does anyone have an idea? Could these possibly go to the stock radio? The Climate control should get it's ground from the mount so I don't know where the brown male ground wire goes. The wire that holds a bulb has a spot on the opposite side that appears to have had something soldered to it but I don't see any loose wires that may have been connected there.



Additionally, the bulbs that go into the climate control do not light up. They are brand new. I read a post from DD that stated they come on with the headlights but they do not turn on with the headlights on either. I read another post that stated they were on the same circuit as the lighter, wipers, etc... The 8th fuse is fine and the wipers and lighter work fine too. not sure why they are not lighting up.

[frank]

Still don't know where that light goes but the second post was obviously a ground and I could see that a wire had been previously soldered there. I soldered a new ground wire with a female spade terminal and put a double spade connector on the loose ground wire. If I eventually figure out what the light is for it will be a simple plug-and-play.

I sanded inside the ports for the two climate control lights and that fixed the lighting problem however for some reason the light on the right with the Blue translucent cover is nowhere as bright as the red one on the left. I can see the red light during the day when it is on but not the blue one. I speculate that although the light on the right is fully lit before inserting it into the port that it may dim once seated... or this just may be normal because the blue translucent plastic that it shines through is less translucent than the red one.

The good news is that I got all the cables and lights working and I now have fully functional climate controls.

I should be getting my warm air blower in this week and will install it after I paint it.

[beatnavy]

Frank, I'm turning my attention to the same project. Eventually I need to troubleshoot my blower motor (sounds like I need to pull the fuel tank - again), but first I want the climate control electrical to work. I managed to determine that the light for the blue arrow is getting power and the bulb works, but it's not grounding properly. Do those bulbs have a regular ground or are they grounded when the lever is moved on the climate control?

I'd like to take the whole unit out or at least pull it out far enough to clean all the connections. How is the climate control held in to the dash panel and how is it best removed? From underneath dash it looks like I may have to disconnect the control cables, but it's hard to tell with all the extra wiring from the stereo and car alarm the PO had installed.

Thanks.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The lights just have regular grounds, they are not switched by the "defrost" lever or the sliders in the dash.

To take the "climate control" (hee!) out, you will definitely have to unhook all of the control cables from the sliders. It's a PITA to get them hooked up again correctly, which is why these are often only partly-functional. I forget how much you have to take apart to get the module out. I'm pretty sure that some of it is done from underneath the dash, and a bit less sure that some is done from the fuel tank compartment.

It's not an immensely fun job...

--DD

[beatnavy]

Ok, thanks Dave. Based on this feedback I'll assess when I have the appetite to tackle. I've seen through other posts that a lot of band-aids may be required when trying to access the fresh air blower. Given I've already cut myself pretty decently installing a bathroom fan today the nurse (my wife) would probably prefer I wait for another day.

[frank]

You will want to do this when your fuel is low and remove the bonnet as you will have a much easier time dealing with all the cables.

When I refurbished my fuel system and relocated the fuel pump to the front I added enough length of hose to allow me to sit the fuel tank in the front trunk without disconnecting anything. You may consider doing the same... I have had to remove the tank several times and the extra length of hose has made the jobs so much less unpleasant.

The bulbs have a hot-wire only and are grounded by way of the bulb housing and the climate control bulb receptacle so make sure the bulb housing and receptacles are cleaned up. The lighting may be dim or non-functional otherwise. The lights come on with the headlights as I recall (haven't had it out since I completed the work.)

There is one hex bolt that attaches the climate control to the front firewall from which it receives it's ground... 10mm I think. Putting this screw back in was probably the most frustrating part of the job. The cables can be loosened from underneath as well while you are there and you will need to have some wiggle room in order to get the cable out of the holes in the levers as there are two 90 degree bends in each that keep the cables locked-in.

Keep in mind that you will be on your back in the passenger footwell for the removal and installation of the climate controls.

Do not keep the old bowden cables but keep the inner cables. My old ones worked perfectly well or so I thought until I replaced them with new sheeths... wow what a night and day difference in how smooth they operated.

When reinstalling the cables you will want an assistant to confirm the cables are getting connected to the right slider.

Good luck!