Climate control panel light dead after CD player install

Alright guys, a problem to consider. I just installed a new Alpine head unit in my '92 4x4. Everything worked perfectly until that night when I turned on my headlights, only to find the climate control panel was not lighting up.

So, I popped off the ignition cover, and then the climate control panel cover. And lo, I found a little blue plug that was not plugged into anything. It was just hanging there. Observe:

http://users.mikrotec.com/calfee/autoforums/01.jpg

Now, I do not remember unplugging this from anything when I initially removed the dash. But, I assumed it must be why the light panel is not lighting up. I did notice, however, that it plugs perfectly into the backside of the climate control panel. Observe:

http://users.mikrotec.com/calfee/autoforums/02.jpg

But, I mean, the panel is just plastic. There is no connection to make there. So my question: is the mystery plug the reason my climated control panel light is dead? And if so, where does this thing plug in?

Thanks!

I am having the same trouble. Installed a new Alpine CD player and then the climate control lights will no longer light up. I hope somedbody knows what to do. More annoying than anything.

Did you hook up the Orange dimmer wire coming off the Alpine harness? The CD player that was in my truck originally just had this wire taped off, but I went ahead and hooked it up on the new unit. Maybe this causes a problem?

Oh, and by the way, do you have this blue plug behind your panel, and if so, what is it plugged into?

There are actually a few of us trying to solve this problem, the same thing happened to me with my 91 SR-5 pickup. I have no idea what's going on with this

That blue plug is for the digital clock I believe, Mine sits right where that little plastic rectangle(just left of the A/C switch) is in the back of that panel that you're holding in the second picture. Does yours have that digital clock, 3 buttons, green lite LEDs somewhere else? Is yours an SR-5 model or just a regular 4x4? It might have something to do with it.

Next week I'll have a chance to pull apart my dash and take another look, I've been driving with the climate control panel in the dark for about a year now looking for solutions.

Mine is the 4-cyl regular cab, not SR5. And I don't have a digital clock anywhere. The little panel to the left of my A/C button is just blank plastic. I suppose that blue plug is there even if the truck isn't equipped with a clock. But then again, I really don't know.

Actually, I was hoping the blue plug provided power to the climate control lights! And I just needed to plug it in somewhere. But, I guess that's not the case.

This is a really annoying problem. I think I am going to pull everything out and clip the orange wire (the dimmer wire) coming off the Alpine. That was the only wire I attached that the previous installer had not attached on the old CD player. Maybe it causes a screwup in the circuit.

But in the meantime, if anyone has any answers/comments/observations please jump in.

The blue plug ia for a digital clock, it was prewired from factory, nothing to do with your problem!! Do not hook up the dimmer switch for the radio into your dash light wiring, if you did so remove it and see if your panel lights up!!

Alright ... Today I pulled my dash off and unhooked the orange dimmer wire completely. There are ONLY seven wires running from my Alpine harness to the Toyota harness. They are: front left speaker (+), front left speaker (-), front right speaker (+), front right speaker (-), yellow battery, red ignition, and black ground. (I also have the blue remote wire running from the Alpine to my external amplifier.)

Just for experimentation, I completely unplugged the Alpine harness from the Toyota harness. (This means there was no radio hooked up at all.) The climate control panel still would not light up. Since the radio wasn't even hooked up, this leads me to believe the light is simply burned out.

Also, note that the A/C light DOES work, even with the Alpine hooked up.

I think I'm going to go to a dealer and get it looked at, and an estimate on replacing this light.

Any comments?

The A/C bulb is not control by the light switch but comes on when you push the A/C switch on so it's not even connected to the problem!! Here is a little clip I borrowed from 4crawler.com that might help!!
"Speaking of the heater control lamp, mine was also burned out. To get
to that gem, you simply have to slide the heater controls to the
middle, pull the knobs off and then pry out the plastic face with a
small screw driver. The mini lamp socket is behind the face. I found it
is not very well supported from the back and when I pushed in the bulb,
the socket popped out. It works best if you slide one finger up from
behind to hold it in place while pushing in the tiny lamp."

Nice find! ... I'll have another look behind the dash, and see what I can see.

Problem solved! Like the post on 4Crawler says, there is a little 1.4W bulb behind the climate control panel. Once you pop off the main black plastic panel, there is another one behind it. It's a milky clear color. You have to pry open a tab on the right side of this cover and then pull it off. Then, behind that is the bulb. And sure enough, it was burned out.

I picked up a new one (they come in packs of two) at Advance. But BE SURE not to throw away the old bulb just yet. It has a green rubber cover that you need to transfer to the new bulb, else your panel will light up with white light, and not green light.

Curiously, I could not find the glove box light. I'm thinking maybe all trucks didn't have these. Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.

Not all truck were so equipted but here's some more from 4crawler on the subject and I'll give you the link to his site for more good tips also!!

"However, all the time I spent looking for the resistor was not wasted. I found that if you pull the two screws attaching the glove box hinges to the dash out, the whole glove box can be taken out, revealing all the guts inside the dash. A real handy way to get to a lot of the stuff back there. And if you look up (w/ head on the floor) where the glove box was, you'll see the little light bulb that is
*supposed* to illuminate the box when it is open. Mine didn't, but now it does. It's a mini-bulb, same one that is used behind the heater controls. Is it a coincidence that there are two of these bulbs and
they come two to a package?"

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/index.shtml#Thermostat

Thanks, I had already found the rest of the 4Crawler site (that's how I found out about the glove box light). There are some great tips on there. Thanks for the help :smile:

Nice find - I'll work on mine this afternoon.

Jobu - do you remember what type bulb it is? I would like to buy the bulb before tearing my dash apart. You said 1.4W in your post but do you remember what type/size?

Well, the one I got was a Sylvania "74" at Advance auto. The bulbs they had didn't have a wattage indicator on the package. (The ones at Autozone did, but all they had was a 1.2W). I basically just took a guess on which one to get, because the Sylvania "73" and "74" looked exactly the same size. I just assumed the 73 was probably 1.2W and the 74 1.4W. The new bulb fit a little bit tighter in the socket than the old one, so keep that in mind.

Also on Sylvania's website, they have a replacement guide:
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/LampReplacementGuide/

This doesn't mention the dash light, but does specify the glove box light as a 191 I believe. I don't remember seeing this one at Advance. If I were you, go see what I could find and choose whichever you think fits best. The worst that could happen is your light will be dimmer or brighter than before, depending on the wattage you get.

Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate it, the 74's will work perfectly.

when you guys say "climate controll" do you mean the lights that are supposed to be behind the heater/Air Conditioning dials??? Because if so, mine dont work either, and I wasnt sure if my truck even had them, because I just got the truck about 2 weeks ago. Please answer my question... Also, since the light has been out since I got the truck, I am not sure if it went out after the CD player was installed.
Jon

Yeah, lights behind heater/air conditioner. Sounds like yours is burned out too. I'm sure installing a CD player isn't the only thing that causes this to burn out (I guess they could burn out over time, just like any other bulb). It just seems odd that two different people would have it burn out immediately after installing a CD player.

I have got to say thanks for this thread. I've had my truck for 1.5 years, and never had a light behind the heater controls. I didn't know it had a light there. I do now and I will fix it asap. Thanks again for asking a question it would have never of occured to me to ask...

Trons

It's such an easy fix. This thread helped me out alot. I have a feeling that while we were digging around in the dash - installing our CD players - that the light got jarred and burned out. Hope this thread helps other people out. Thanks and good luck!