Hi
I recently purchased a 2004 XS model. Everything ok far (repaired the power doors and fitted some parking senors), but I have a question about the automatic climate control in the dash. It works fine, but not every symbol is lit up with the headlights on. Slightly annoying at night!
Is it easy to remove and just replace bulbs, or does it require soldering?
(I dont want to go to the effort of removing it to find that its more than a five minute job)

Also if anyone has a pdf of the user manual for the RB3 Sat nav, it would be greatly appriecated if you could PM me.

Thanks!
Steve

 

Hi Steve,
Bad news, its a soldering job. It actually is for most of the dash illumination as I've had all mine apart and attempted a fix.

What I found, the top row (heated seats, rear wiper, etc) are relatively easy to remove, pop the facia off the dashboard, unplug the power cable and you can pop out the entire row/circuit board (careful, there are small components, you need to keep the switches in the same position when you remove it so it goes back together properly).
You'll see the panel illumination is from a handful of bulbs that are directly soldered onto the circuit board. You can replace them (Several people say Maplin in the UK stock something similar), I tried to replace them with blue 12v LEDs to prolong the life, however I bought cheap japanese LEDs and most have failed within a year (I suspect the power regulators and vibration).

So I also set about the climate control, as this is totally unlit for me. Taking it apart, I found the same issue, small bulbs soldered straight onto the motherboard for the climate control unit.

You CAN replace them, if you are careful with soldering, BUT DO NOT use LEDs like I did. They must cause too small a current draw, reverse voltage, voltage drop or something that the CCU does not like. I ended up causing the unit to 'blow' and it did not display the current fan speed, location, settings, etc on their LED series correctly and it lit up half the LEDs permanently.

(Luckily, I removed the LEDs quickly afterwards and the unit did return to normal operation, if it hadn't that would have been a costly mistake!)

Hope that helps!

 

Thanks for the in-depth response. I feared that would be the case.
I might tackle it when I have spare some time.....

 

forgot linkHi travelmad

please see thread, mine were replaced with a combination of lamps and LED's all still working (I just know I'm going to regret saying that) hope this helps

https://www.chryslerforum.com/forum/...l-bulbs-10916/