Fixed none working climate control panel + light switch illumination

[Vinneh]

Hi All,

I've spent the last 4 days trying to fix a problem with my car (Signum 2.2 06) which I've finally resolved so thought I would share what I did in case it helps someone else as the info I could find was sparse.

Problem 1:
Climate control panel not working. Dials lit up as with the rest of the interior lights but the buttons (AC, rear window heater etc) didn't come on to indicate their active. The dials didn't work either (no fan on any setting 1 to 4).

Problem 2:
The light switch panel wasn't illuminating although the controls worked fine.

Things I tried:
-Inspected fuses in fuse box on passengers side (mainly 2, 23 and 25). Replaced several fuses anyway just to be sure. No difference.

-Bought a multimeter even though I've never used one before or know anything about electronics but thought I could use it to test the other fuses I didn't replace. All fuses working fine. Glad I bought one though, very handy tool.

-Removed climate control panel, took it apart and gave the PCB and sockets a good spray of wd-40. Still nothing.

-After learning how to use the multimeter I discovered the right hand side of the fuse box wasn't receiving any power expect for 23 (40a fuse). Read someone resolved this by replacing the relay at the back of the fuse box (need to remove glove box to access). I removed the relays and tested them, all fine, gave them a spray of wd-40, still no joy.

Resolution:
Removed the chunky cable connected to the fuse box (at the back) gave the socket and plug a spray of wd-40, hooked it back up and like magic the climate control panel worked and light switch illuminated.

I'm not a mechanic or whizz at electronics so everything I tried may not be the right way to do it but I would suggest to try some of the things I tried as, you may have a similar issue, but the cause may be different.

Hope this helps.

[Dog_Book]

Use contact cleaner instead of wd40 as it’s an oil and you don’t want that on circuits

[Vinneh]

Sorry for the delay in reply dog_book, thanks for the tip.

I just wanted to add to this post as my initial success was short lived and wasn't the actual problem after all. I'm adding to this post in hopes it will help others solve this issue as there were very few search results in regards to this particular problem.

I'm no mechanic and I've not done anywhere near the level of work some of you have but I do get curious and try to fix things myself.

So as stated in the first post the heater control panel wasn't working, it illuminated but the none of the heater settings (1 to 4) worked or the buttons (AC, rear heated window etc). The head light switch also didn't illuminate but the buttons and settings worked without an issue.

I ended up testing every single fuse and relay although it was a basic test on the relays. No issues found. I bought a replacement blower, control panel and resister pack which didn't resolve the issue.

I did find a post about someone putting the K3 relay (yellow one behind fuse box on the passengers side) in the wrong socket but as I thought I'd tested it to my limited knowledge and found no issue I wrote it off as the problem as the diagrams I found didn't mention any relation to the heating system. The post also mentioned that there was no voltage going to the right hand side of the fuse box which after I tested was exactly the same issue with mine.

I ended up buying a new relay, replaced it and now have heating and illuminated light switch panel.

All in all although the relay isn't mentioned as having anything to do with the heating system it does affect the part of the passenger fuse box which hold the fuses for it.

Hope it helps someone else having this particular issue.