Just curious if anyone else's 1st knob for controlling the strength of the vents light has gone out? If so, is this an easy fix it yourself? The actual AC Knob and Defrost Knob lights up fine.
With a flat head screw driver (wrapped with electrical tape or something), pry out the radio trim piece. (look at pic where black arroes indicate), Then take the radio out (4 screws), take out the sub woofer to gain access for popping up the trim piece around the shifter (the piece with the hazzard switch not the round piece with PRND12), I used the end of a breaker bar to pop it up from underneath the shifter. once you get this piece off you can lift the whole center panel up from where the shifter is, it is held on by the same clips that held the radio trim piece on, no screws except for the radio.TallGal said:Tapping did not work for me either...
ShaneS.... is there a trick to popping off the dash or can you suggest somewhere I can get more info on how it is put together. I just don't want to go in there and break something that is holding it together. I do have someone to help me out but would like some info before I call him in.
Thanks for the info.
You could purchase the old bulbs and then color them with some glass stainer or even try using a sharpie marker (as it was suggested earlier). For vibrant color, the best way is to with an LED conversion but to do this with the HVAC controls is much more involved and time consuming than doing the gauge cluster. The bulbs you need for the HVAC controls are placed in a 'custom' plastic housing which you can get from Honda. That's the easiest way anyway. I mean if you really wanted you could replace the bulbs yourself by pulling them out and inserting new bulbs, but honestly it's probably not worth it unless you intend to do the LED conversion. To change the bulbs is fairly easy. Basically you just have to pop off the center console, disconnect the plugs that attach to the HVAC controls and the hazard switch and with a flathead screwdriver unlock the twist bases which you can see on the back of the HVAC controls. They will fall right out. Pop the new ones in, twist lock them and you should be set to go.Also I was thinking about maybe adding a different color to them, can I get the very same bulbs at an auto parts supplier?
Need some help
I did my HVAC LED's the same exact way and had no problem. Great minds think alike I guess.For the lower bulbs, I first tried the same T-1 LED's I used to replace my cruise control and power mirror bulbs, but they were too dim for this application. Unlike those other buttons, the HVAC control buttons are not sitting directly in front of the bulbs--instead, there is a white plastic piece that reflects the bulb's light onto the back of the buttons. Aluminum foil covering this plastic piece might do the trick, but I was unable to disassemble the controls any further than I described above.
My next attempt was T-1 super bright (2000mcd) red LED's from Action Electronics. The problem was that these LED's are not 12V-ready, so I had to add limit resistors. Since these bulbs with a 2.5V max forward drop and 25mA max current, I selected 470 Ohm 1/4 Watt resistors (I can explain the math upon request). I soldered the resistors to the LED leads after inserting them through the twist-lock bases, as pictured below. After I got it looking as pictured, I coated that rat's nest of wire with hot glue to keep it from shorting. Once assembled, these modules can then be inserted normally into the HVAC control box.