heater temp backlight

[mathteacher'04vibe]

Has anyone else had a problem with the right-most backlight for the heater controls? Mine goes out all the time. If I bump it (like the Fonz) it turns right back on--and of course, then the center storage door falls open 8^} Anyhow, is this an easy fix?I have had the dash apart twice (for h/u install, then to add pre-outs and remote turn-on for sub amp). I am mechanically inclined, I was just wondering if anyone knows how to fix this?

[ColonelPanic]

Oh man, do those things ever suck to replace! In a nutshell, you remove the radio bezel, pull the fan knob out and remove the philips screw behind it, then pry up the trim around the shifter and lift off. You'll need to remove the cigarette lighter power (easy) and if you're lucky maybe you can figure out how to get the wiring loose for the inverter. I never could so I had to leave the entire trim piece hanging during the operation.You should then see the white, nekkid HVAC control piece, the part # is 88970577 for when you break it trying to get it out and will set you back around a hundred bucks. The bulbs simply push in and twist - from the rear of course. But they don't go in easy, you really need something to push and turn them from behind but it's next to impossible to use something like a screwdriver back there, not enough clearance. And these bulbs are ~$10 a piece from GM (#88970578, cheaper at Toyota.) And you'll easily have them fall out of your grasp and they will dive into the innards of the dash and you will probably never see them again. Or, like what also happened to me, the bulb can fall down inside the mechanism for one of the knobs and keep the control from going all the way to one side like what happened to my temperature cable. So I recommend removing the control unit but that's not easy either. You need to disconnect the cables from the back of it. You have to push in on the tab that holds the cable on and then try to pull the cable off, all of this in a space so small where you can't really get your hands on it and it hurts once you're trying to push down on it so you'll probably want something to grab hold of it for better results... The wiring for the blower and lighting is easy enough to get off there though. Once you get the cables loose, it still is rough. I never did figure out what actually held that piece in place, you can't pry it out, can't pull it out, it magically snaps into something you can't see. If you pry around the outer edges with a screwdriver, you can end up breaking some clips somewhere... In the end, I could not get this piece removed without breaking it. I already had a new one so I was all about that. I broke what held the cables on so they would come off, then I just stuck the screwdriver around it and started prying everywhere until I broke everything that would possibly break to get the stupid thing loose. The new piece installed easily but the cable for airflow was so far out of whack it took a lot of dorking around to get the air blowing correctly on the various vent positions. Try to not let that happen. Anyway, to do this, I think all the Toyota manual says to do is remove the cables and remove the unit. Yeah. Here is what it looks like when it is out: http://img.photobucket.com/alb...8.jpgRear shot, the brown thingies are the bulbs.If you figure out how it all goes together, let us know... This issue crops up a bit. There has to be a way to get that thing out without tearing everything all to hell.

[mathteacher'04vibe]

Thanks for the info. For all that trouble, maybe I'll just stick to the "Fonz" approach. If I do tackle it, I will let you know. Thanks again.

[starmatt]

I'm new around here. Just bought a 2004 vibe from a somewhat sketchy kid this past summer. Got a good deal, but I've been fixing his poor attempts at being a mechanic/electrician/non-moron for the past 6 months, but that's another posts worth of ranting.I'm going to have to resurrect this post to see if someone can help me out on this one. I have a similar problem, but the lights behind the shifter are out too. Another post (http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=15714) had the same problem and it turned out to be the fuses. I checked the fuses and they're all fine. When I was just looking around back there I found this connector just hanging out: Anyone know where this is supposed to be plugged in? It is bundled with the cigarette lighter wires, but I couldn't for the life of me find a plug within reach. I felt around all over the place and stuck a mirror back there to look around behind the shifter and the heater controls. Nothing. I suspect that this might have something to do with the lack of lighting for the heater/shifter and/or the light bulb warning light that has been on in the dash since I bought it. Any insight anyone?By the way, when I looked closely at the light bulbs for the heater knobs, they didn't look burned out. I could see both filaments and they seemed to connect to both sides of the bulb.Thanks,Matt

[ColonelPanic]

Do you have the smoker's package that came with the lighter or the 12V power outlet with the flip-down cover that comes without having the smoker's package?If you do have a lighter socket, does the green ring light up around it when the lights are on? That wiring looks like what connects to the lighter to power the little LED that lights up there, but it's been so long since I've had one apart I dunno!If you don't have the lighter... I have to suspect that maybe those cars that don't have the smokers package probably still have the lead that goes for the lighting around the lighter, but that wire isn't used on the regular 12V accessory outlet on non-smoker's package cars. But that's just another guess. As far as the other lighting being out, does anything else light up at night aside from the gauges? like the stock radio (if you have a stock radio,) a/c and recirc switches, inverter switch, defroster switch, hazard switch? Not sure if you have bad bulbs or connections or if there is a deeper problem.

[starmatt]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Do you have the smoker's package that came with the lighter or the 12V power outlet with the flip-down cover that comes without having the smoker's package?I have the flipdown cover. I guess that means no green led light around it and just an extra connector floating around. There is no light around the lighter plug as far as I know and no place to plug that connector in on the back of the socket anyway. Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »As far as the other lighting being out, does anything else light up at night aside from the gauges? like the stock radio (if you have a stock radio,) a/c and recirc switches, inverter switch, defroster switch, hazard switch? Not sure if you have bad bulbs or connections or if there is a deeper problem.I don't have the stock radio, but not much on the center part of the dash lights up besides the radio. The light on the inverter button lights up and the little green lights on the A/C and recirc buttons do too. Nothing is backlit though. One other option I have thought is that the radio doesn't have a dimmer feature (which I think is rather dumb, especially for having a bright 7" fold out monitor) and so the orange dimmer wire doesn't connect to anything. Does it need to be shorted to something else? If I recall, there are two orange wires coming out of the connector that are not connected to the head unit. One of them was labeled "dimmer" and I don't recall the other one being labeled. I only know because I was back there last night rewiring it to correct for the previous owner's love of electrical tape as the only method of connecting wires. Maybe for Christmas I'll buy him some wire connectors and a crimping tool and send it to him with a nice note telling him exactly what to do with them . . .

[starmatt]

Looking around other threads, there was some mention of headlights in connection to backlit controls. One of the other bumbling adventures of the previous owner was to install hid headlights. It wouldn't be so bad if he knew what he was doing, but he apparently doesn't because the brights don't work. In fact, when you try to turn on the high beams, the lights turn off completely. I don't think it's related to this issue, but it's possible.Also of interest is that I pulled the fuse out for the DRLs (labeled ECU/something) and it didn't keep the DRLs from running. I find this somewhat suspicious (I pulled it to replace the fuse for the radio until I could get a new fuse - the radio fuse blew because I hit a bump that dislodged some poor radio wiring and began this latest adventure into the dash).