Heat / climate control problems
 

Part of my climate controls burnt out, thought it was just a light behind the knobs but after that happened I noticed that when I put it on hot air and let it run for a while it'll randomly blow cold air out and swap. Does the same thing if I set everything to auto.

2006 300C

Any help is appreciated

Automatic temperature control is different from manual heater/AC. If you try to run it like a manual system you will find it doing weird things. If you crank it way up to a very high setting, it will over heat the car interior and then start trying to cool it down.
The best way to operate it is to dial a moderate temperature setting, like 72° or so, hit the AUTO button and leave it alone. If after at least five minutes you are not perfectly comfortable, adjust the temperature up or down in 2° increments and give it at least five minutes between any further adjustments. Wild swings of adjustments will only confuse the system and make it uncomfortable in the car. Leave the windows closed. Open windows let in random gusts of outside air with dust, noise, insults and smells and just make the whole ride more unpleasant as well as further confusing the temperature control system.
If proper operation of the system doesn't cure your problems, it may need further attention.

I didn't try to set a temp then auto everything, I'll try that when I get home. Do you think the heating / cooling issue is related to the lights going out? Also how hard is it to replace those back lit lights? Or do you think its something as simple as me messing with the controls in a weird way? I feel as though putting everything on red then maxing the fan to high should push out warm air ... but it doesn't :\ I'll try the temp setting though when I get home.

It's possible that the connection between the body computer and the heater controls has failed. The controls of the heater don't really control the heat. They tell the computer what settings you have made and the computer decides, based on that and some other information it has gathered, like sun load, ambient air, internal air temp, coolant temp and your daily horoscope, what sort of instructions it should send to the various dampers and doors that result in heat or cooling to come out of the various openings in the car. The data bus is how the computer communicates with the control head and vice-versa. The computer also tells the light bulbs to come on and how bright they should be over that same data bus. So your data bus may be acting up, or the bulbs might just be burned out. On my Sebring, and on my old van, the bulbs were easily accessed once you pulled the control head out. The bulbs are not stock auto-parts-store bulbs but are proprietary in design, which means a trip to the dealer or junkyard.