Climate control cluster lights turning off
 

My climate control lights keep going off and on. If I hit the cluster they will pop back on but I do the want to have to do that. I know it's not the bulbs cause they still light up occasionally. Is there a way to fix this rather than buying another cluster? And solder points that can be fixed?

Do you have automatic or manual temperature control? On the manual box, you can easily remove it from the dash and open it up. The bulbs screw into a printed circuit board. Before you re-solder anything, make sure the plugs and connectors are clean. Follow the conductors on the circuit board to see if anything needs re-soldering. People on the forum here have reported success in re-soldering to fix other problems.

I believe it's manual, it has the three knobs, Fan speed dial, cold to hot dial, and type of output dial (feet, body, feet and body for both heat and AC as well as defroster setting) and a defroster button. So these bulbs are soldered in? But Is it actually the bulbs or wire connections? Because I can hit the thing and the lights come on leading me to believe it is a loose connection somewhere. there are two modules of wires that plug in/out while removing the cluster.

The bulbs are not soldered in. As I stated in the previous post, they screw in. The bulbs have a plastic base that screws into the circuit board. You can only get the bulbs from a Chrysler dealership. Auto parts stores don't carry them. On the back of the control head you will see three round holes. At the bottom of the holes are plastic circles with a slot in them. A small screwdriver will fit in the slot. Turning the screwdriver counter clockwise will release the "circles" which are the bases of the bulbs. The bulb can then be removed.
There are two plugs in the back of the control unit. A larger plug that leads off to the blower and the various heater doors in the plenum, and a smaller plug that goes to the computer data buss.
To get to the circuit board inside the unit, remove the screws holding the back cover on and you can open it up.

Then would I find the traces on the circuit board leading to the bulbs and resolder them? I wonder if I should go to pick apart and grab the two plugs and and splice them on first to rule out the plugs. I'm not sure if it's the plugs, the bulbs, or some cracked solder or lose connections that is the problem. I only know I've read a lot of people this happening to and they just buy a whole new cluster but it seems unnecessary to me if I can find what's causing this one to not light up all the time.

Rather than picking the plugs apart and risk damaging them beyond repair, try pulling the control head out of the dash and then turn the lights on with the plugs still in place. Tug and wiggle the wires to see if that will affect the lights. If not, you have probably ruled out the plugs as the cause. At that point it would probably be appropriate to pull out the circuit board and check it with a continuity tester for open circuits. Then you would want to start re-soldering points on the board. Try to approach the task logically, one step at a time. Ultimately you might wind up buying a replacement controller. If you get a used one, try to get one from a late model car, like 2005-6 rather than an earlier one fro 2001 or 2002. The newer ones seem to work better.