What's behind the 3rd button (A/C, Recirc, ?)

[thenightfly42]

This is a followup to my thread Where to put the "aux-in" jack?, but since I jumped in with this part at the end, I figured that the person who knew the answer to my question might have only read the first few posts, and never returned to the thread. So.There's three buttons to the left of the stereo: AC, recirculation, then at the bottom a blank one. Whatever feature that does, my car doesn't have. Is there any reason that I couldn't pull out the fake button and have female RCA jacks flush-mounted there? Is there something behind it that I should be aware of?

[Kari]

Guess I'll copy and paste my reply from over there too... I think that button's just a "dummy button" on all of the Vibes, if I remember correctly. Getting it out of the radio bezel without damaging it might be interesting; I haven't really taken the time to examine how the unused button is mounted to the bezel, but that does seem like a good location.

[Mr. Poopypants]

From what I can remember, I think it is just held in there with clips. It's been awhile since I have taken off the bezel.

[joatmon]

The ac/recirc switch module fills up the space behind that blank button. There is a mechanical thing that kicks off the recirc when you switch to defrost, the cable that does that in in that area.To get to it, remove the radio bezel and remove the switch module from the bezel. some previous threads about the blank buttonhttp://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=237http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1903http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=2343http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=10533

[Mase]

Attached are some pics from my "reverse-gear indicator light" project which I installed in the "blank" button. Hope they help.

Attached files

[Mase]

Pic 2 after I installed the indicator:

Attached files

[GMJAP]

There's a lot plastic behind the false button, so it can tough to squeeze stuff in there without hoggin out some of the plastic.

[thenightfly42]

OK, thanks everybody. I guess my "brilliant" idea is a bust.Kari, I saw your response in the other thread, but you said it was a guess, and I wanted to be sure. Joatmon, thanks for the links; I had tried searching, but couldn't get the right search terms. Some good info there, and it looks like I wasn't the first to want to mount the audio plugs there!

[ragingfish]

nightfly.Personally, I would do this:On the center console below the parking brake is a coin slot. That can be popped out, and a "blank" insert can be put in, similar to the "blanks" to the left of the steering wheel. Run a cord long enough down under the tranny, under the carpet, and have it come up and be flush mounted under the ebrake. Then plug in your device there. That way, you get your aux connection, but it also keeps the cords from getting annoying around the tranny, climate controls, etc.

[1zsquared]

I noticed some pictures of this Vibe 3 button unit were no longer showing (well they weren't for me when I clicked) so I thought I would post some pics of what the unit looks like behind the "fake" button since I had it apart when installing the 9" car play radio basal. It bugs me having a blank button on the dash in such an in your face location so I decided to add some LEDs (2 of them) to mine for accent lighting; aimed them to illuminate the drivers floor space and part of the center console where the drinks are. I like the end result, subtle but effective.

LEDs are about all you can do here and there is just enough space behind the fake button to work with if you plan on putting the "button spacer" back in it's clipped on position on the three button unit. There is no room behind the fake button because as others have mentioned, the button retainer mechanism for the AC recirculating button sets directly behind this blank button. If you do take this apart, be aware there is a tiny little spring that will fall out when you remove the white (or yellowish) part where the cable clips in. If this spring goes missing then the recirc button will not "ratchet" into a held down position, and will become a momentary switch.

That all said .. I drilled small holes in the "fake button" at an angle for aiming the LEDs where I wanted them. Then pushed the LEDs into the holes in those angles. The wires had to be snaked around and through the unit where wire terminations occurred elsewhere where there was more space. Then I clipped (reinstalled) the fake button cover back onto the unit and it clipped on just fine. When I turned the LEDs on, they were very bright and distracting and I did not like them. I solved this problem by going to the junk yard and snagging another fake button cover. I carved out the bottom of the plastic (leaving the face intact) to create a "sun visor" for over the LEDs (so it wouldn't shine in the drivers eyes). I then hot glued the "Visor" onto the existing button (where the LEDs are installed), and ended up with something that looks factory, and works perfectly.

Anyway, now this "blank button" has a purpose and no longer bothers me..

[1zsquared]

One more showing lighting in the dark..

[tpollauf]

Nice work. I too have to improve lighting in my 2004 Vibe GT, which is my daily driver. Maybe this winter ..........

[cc333]

I know this thread is a bit old, but I thought I'd offer something that might help clear up the mystery of the Vibe's blank third button.

I was browsing for Vibe parts on eBay, and I came across this listing for a Matrix bezel (the one with the clock), but notice the buttons:

s-l1600.jpg (488.16 KiB) Viewed 238 times

The third button is used for the rear defroster!

Apparently, for the Vibe GM decided to use a separate button located up by the hazard button instead, so the third button was left unimplemented for whatever reason.

So if it really bothers people, it might be possible to modify the Vibe's bezel to accept the Matrix's buttons and adapt them to work with the Vibe's systems.

Or, one could simply use the Matrix bezel and gain a neat (and somewhat redundant) clock, which one would have to figure out a way to wire up.

c

[joatmon]

I once bought one of those bezels. Turns out to not really be interchangeable on a Vibe.

The radio hole is a little bit too short for the Vibe radio, and leaves a big gap on the side of the radio. You can kind of get it to fit by trimming off some of the back side bottom of the bezel.

The switch assembly does not have the same physical shape as the Vibe's, so you can't just move the Matrix switch into a Vibe bezel. I think the electrical connector is different between the two. Also, on the 03-08 Vibe, the AC switch is a mechanical locking type, like a click pen, while that Matrix AC switch is just a momentary switch, the toggling happens somewhere else in the Matrix. You could use it in a Vibe, but you'd have to hold the switch in all the time you wanted AC.

So I gave up.

[cc333]

Hmm, that's too bad.

I guess the Vibe and Matrix are more different than they seem.

c