Air conditioner dash lights going out and etc..

[sonicdown]

I have had my sonic since december 2011...really happy with the car but these last few months a few problems have been popping up. I have 17,000 miles on the vehicle. Back in february I got into minor colision with some debree in the road...got it repaired it was about 3000 dollars worth of damage. Got the recall for the windshield washer tank. Dealership performed the necassary repairs...month later part of the driver side door panel came loose warrenty covered it. Then about two weeks after that the chrome piece that ran along the bottom of the outer passenger side window came loose and would move at ease with no effort. Then today while driving to work i noticed that my A/C controls on the dash were not lit up. The pointers on the end of the nobs or the A/C button or recirculate button will not light up. A/C was still working but the lights were not illuminated. Then i pushed the rear window defoger button and it will not illuminate either. Looks like i will have to make another trip to the dealer soon. Has anyone else had this sort of problem?

 

[Eric Smit]

That problem hasn't popped up here before, but it sounds like the light panel behind the switches is out. Faulty wiring or fuse issue.


-Eric Smit

 

[sonicdown]

yeah i was thinking maybe a fuse issue too...but the thing that stured me away from that is that the A/C is still working.

 

[Eric Smit]

I think a fuse issue for the light panel is a possibility.


-Eric Smit

 

[dvn]

I actually had that happen on mine once. It cleared up the next time I started the car and hasn't happened since.

 

[Eric Smit]

I actually had that happen on mine once. It cleared up the next time I started the car and hasn't happened since.

odd.

speaking of weird things, back when I had my Charger, rarely when I started it my radio would not turn on. No power or anything. Just stay black.


-Eric Smit

 

[sonicdown]

This morning got back into the car and it was working perfectly...

 

[pcguy]

I think a fuse issue for the light panel is a possibility.


-Eric Smit

^^^ I agree. I have had this exact problem off and on and it's transient enough that it can't be easily diagnosed and there is no code stored.

Would really like to know the fix so I can tell the dealer what to do. Every time I have been to the dealer with the problem evident, it disappears before anyone can look at it. Once I brought it in with the problem happening and I left the car running and when the SA came out, everything was normal.

The problem does not affect the HVAC, only the LED's - everything still works, but you need to use the braille method to be sure.

 

[fatboypup]

our ac light is fine but sometimes it blows hot air for a few minutes and then the ac kicks in ........ I was about 700 yards away from the dealer to show them last time when the car just bogged down and the ac kicks in ..... the dealer says with no codes they cant fix it :sadbanana:

 

[RS Turbo]

^^^ I agree. I have had this exact problem off and on and it's transient enough that it can't be easily diagnosed and there is no code stored.

Would really like to know the fix so I can tell the dealer what to do. Every time I have been to the dealer with the problem evident, it disappears before anyone can look at it. Once I brought it in with the problem happening and I left the car running and when the SA came out, everything was normal.

The problem does not affect the HVAC, only the LED's - everything still works, but you need to use the braille method to be sure.

Next time it happens pull over and start that little Icon on your phone that states Camcorder! Record it and show the Service manager.

 

[pcguy]

Next time it happens pull over and start that little Icon on your phone that states Camcorder! Record it and show the Service manager.

The service guys/manager are good to work with and when I tell them something they generally take my word for it.

We all know that it would be easy to dummy up a photo, either with Photoshop or by taking the picture in accessory mode or whatever it takes to show the car is operating and the HVAC lights are off.

Even if they saw it, find the source of the problem would be fairly difficult, unless the problem would remain indefinitely and then if would be fairly easy.

Take it from this long time wrencher and computer tech/programmer.

 

[small town sonic]

I've had my climate control konbs lights go out a few times on me but they would come back on the next time i start up the car. The way i see it if it only happens every so often and does not continue after the car is shut off and then restarted, I wouldnt worry about it

 

[Scooter]

I'm glad I found this forum. Yesterday the lights went out on my air conditioning controls. Nothing I did to try to get them to come back on worked. I checked this forum to see if anyone else had experienced the same thing and came across this thread.
Just like others have posted above, this morning when I started the car, the lights were back on. Strange.

 

[pcguy]

I also have found that manually turning the headlights on and then off causes them to reappear...

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Unrelated to AC, but our Ford Focus is getting a new head unit under warranty. It's got about 40K on it, but had it in 2-3 times before 36K for this. The radio in the mornings would not work. You drive a couple miles, let the car warm up, turn it off, restart it, boom, works all day. Next day, repeat.

Dealer had it 2-3 days last week, finally, this past week on tuesday/wednesday it did it, so I was late for work, but took it to the dealer and showed them. They diagnosed it as an "audio control module" which I think is tech speak for head unit. Either way, new one is here, car goes in on the 12th and hopefully that takes care of it.

 

[Mad*Max]

this has also happened in my car a handful of times in four years, hasn't happened in the past year or so