The lights on my heater/AC control unit thing arent working

[JasinC19]

Hi I just bought my 91 LE and there are a bunch of small things that need fixin. Mainly the lights that illuminate the hot/cold slider and the other controls & buttons are out, yet the little green lights on the buttons (such as which vents you want the air to come out of) still work. When its dark out I cant see a thing. Is this normal? And if not, whats the best way to fix the lights? Thanks

Jason

[AKADriver]

The trim plate over the shifter and center stack just pops off, then the HVAC control panel comes out with four screws.

Make sure the wiring is all sound, then check the two bulbs, which are inserted into the top.

[RBS14]

I tore apart my controller 3 months ago and took out the bulbs. My problem is that i can't find anywhere that sells them. Radio shack is a negative.........

[ca18guy]

Probably the fuses.

[-E-]

dont mean to thread jack but thoes anybody know how to change the bulbs on the s14 heater/AC control unit.

[96SEChick]

Originally posted by EONE914
dont mean to thread jack but thoes anybody know how to change the bulbs on the s14 heater/AC control unit.

Whew! I was hoping someone would ask this question. I just recently did it! But, it's not really easy. It's not hard, just kinda delicate. There are 3 bulbs back here that I could find--one w/ a black back & two with blue backs, but I was only able to get the two blue-backed bulbs out. The black one stumped me, luckily it's not burnt out.

OK, here we go.

First, you'll need to get the bulbs at your friendly Nissan Dealership. I tried 3 different autoparts stores here, all of them told me to go to the dealership. Never fear--the bulbs are cheap--only like $2/each. Order these before you tear the console apart--they may take a few days.

Here are the Nissan part numbers to the blue-backed bulbs (the bulb that show up white behind your air-flow directional indicator panel thingy--that shows which vents are open--feet/defroster/etc, and the bulb that's behind your temperature slider)-- ([color=red]I will post these part numbers after I go to the garage and get the bag[/color=red])

Second, you'll definitely need these tools.
1. Phillips screwdriver
2. Flat-head screwdriver
3. Needlenose pliers or tweezers

1. Take the ornamental frame off from around the climate control area--grab it by the bottom (1 hand to the left of the hazards/rear defroster buttons, 1 hand to the right--there's a tiny ledge underneath those 2 little parts that stick down that you should be able to fit your fingers in enough to get a grab of it)--pull straight up--it should pop off.

2. Unscrew the 4 phillips-head screws--one on each corner of the climate control console (I'll abbreviate it CCC).

3. Carefully pull the CCC out--there will be 2 wiring clusters plugged into the back of it--carefully pull them out (you may need a flat-head screwdriver to push the tabs in to free up the clusters)

4. Look at the back of the CCC--there should be a flat black back to it. You'll have to "finagle" it a bit to get this out--there are 3 or 4 tabs from that backing that are snapped into the sides of the CCC. You'll have to pull on the sides a bit to free up the tabs to get the backing off. Not too hard.

5. Uh-oh--there's a circuit board here? Where do I go now? lol......this is the tricky part. Look around on that board and you will find 3 little white tabs sticking through. You'll need to use the tweezers/needlenose pliers to slightly squish the ends of those tabs together so you can push them back through the other side of the circuit board. Be careful & don't scratch the board or break those tabs. You may be able to see 2 white ribbon-cables on one side of the board. Make a note of which side these are on--it will be useful in Step 6

6. Once you get those tabs un-tabbed from the top board, take your needlenose or tweezers again and carefully get one of the points under one of the corners that are NOT on the side of the ribbon cables (see, told you those cables were useful :) ). You will have to try to pry the board up enough to see the lower board--but be careful--that upper board fits pretty snugly into its place.

7. Once you get the upper board up enough, you should be able to find 2 little blue circles in the board. These are the bulbs. Take your needlenose/tweezers and carefully grab that little blue disk, rotate it about 1/2 turn (I don't remember which direction though :( ) and pull straight up. They should pull straight out. This is your bulb.

8. Put your new bulb in & reassemble! :D

[-E-]

cool thanks alot 96SEChick :D

[96SEChick]

Originally posted by EONE914
cool thanks alot 96SEChick :D

You're very welcome. Here are the part numbers to the two bulbs (I couldn't edit them into my original post because it's been over 180 minutes).

Black-back bulb (I don't know how to get this one out, but it's behind the fan-power control dial thingy) is:
Part# 27545-50J05

Blue-back bulbs (there's two of them--one in the upper 1/2 of the circuit board & one in the lower 1/2--these are the ones I had to replace) are:
Part# 27545-50J00

BTW--these bulbs are pretty fragile--they're like Christmas lights that only have the two very thin wires holding them to their base--so be very careful with them. I broke mine right away--luckily it was the one that was already burnt out.

Good luck & have fun!!! :D

[The Mole]

my vent selection lights are out also, thanks alot SEchick:D

-chris

i would have gotton to this...but im just to lazy latley;)

[96SEChick]

Originally posted by The Mole
my vent selection lights are out also, thanks alot SEchick:D

-chris

i would have gotton to this...but im just to lazy latley;)

You're very welcome. I wish I would have thought ahead to take pics so we could FAQ it, since our cars are reaching the age that we're gonna have to replace more of those bulbs soon, but I didn't think of it until now. Sorry guys & gals! Hope this helps some of you out anyway w/o the pics.

[theFlowMasta]

hey thaxz thats sumthing i need to know, i also have another lighting problem, all my illuliate lights for the gauge cluster are all out, the guage clock still works and lights up. hahahha its crazy at night, all i see is the dash clock and the little green light from the climate controls, oh yea i have a 95 240sx se, there are soo many probelms, yea it would be cool if i could see how fast im going on the freeway at night, i also checked all the fuse under the hood and next to the foot step.

[SilviaDriver]

so correct me if im wrong..are u guys saying the buttons on the AC panel..the ones where u direct air flow like to ur feet or face light up? cuz mine are black the only thing that lights up is the knob and the slider but not the other buttons. if they dont light up i plan to put LEDs behind there so i can wat button i juss pressed.

but this **** is sweet 96SEChick! looks like ima have to go out and buy the bulbs tomrorow.

u should make an FAQ of watever of this Anyways without pics.

[96SEChick]

Originally posted by SilviaDriver
so correct me if im wrong..are u guys saying the buttons on the AC panel..the ones where u direct air flow like to ur feet or face light up? cuz mine are black the only thing that lights up is the knob and the slider but not the other buttons. if they dont light up i plan to put LEDs behind there so i can wat button i juss pressed.

but this **** is sweet 96SEChick! looks like ima have to go out and buy the bulbs tomrorow.

u should make an FAQ or whatever of this Anyways without pics.

That's right--the air-flow buttons do have 1 light behind them. Mine started occasionally shut itself off, and would sometimes come back on if I banged above it on the dash. Then, the light wouldn't come back on. So, I dissected it and found a burnt bulb right behind those top buttons in that circuit board.

You're very welcome as well :D I'm glad I could help you all out!

SilviaDriver--you probably only need 1 of the blue bulbs, since that's the one I needed and that's the one that's burnt out on yours. The black bulb is for the fan control dial (I still can't figure out how to get that bugger out either--behind a piece of plastic that I can't get out), so you probably don't need it right now.

[Ni240sxt]

yo, can anyone post a picture of what those bulbs look light? i want to change the color for the bulbs for my s14....thanks

[nrcooled]

My HVAC unit lights was out also. I paid it no mind until one day I decided to replace my hatch lid.

When i took off the interior trim to get to the harness (drivers side roof rear) and behold the great site of a ground that had come loose. It explained the non-working rear defrost and the HVAC lights. All was fine after I replaced/fixed the ground.

[Amish240coupe]

Having the same problems with my 1992 coupe. The vent buttons in my HVAC don't light up, AND when I push on of them, NOTHING happens. Can't use defrost, A/C or anything else. Replaced it with a whole NEW unit, and nothing...still same problem. I cannot find a fuse or relay or anything I should change, wiring is all good too. Any suggestions?

[g6civcx]

You have to start with it sequentially. Can you get power to any accessory? If so, did you check the fuses, all of them? If yes, then is the unit getting power? Also, is the unit defective? Even though it's new, it may be defective.

If you're sure of all that, then you need to start tracing wires for shorts.

I suggest going to zeroyon.com and download the FSM if you don't have one already. Look at the wiring and start going though it, from general to specific circuit. Start looking at the general accessory power distribution. Then if you don't find anything then start looking at the HVAC circuit.

Get a test light and start looking at power flow. Good luck.