Every other light in the car works. The back lights on the AC - Heater controls do not light. When I press the AC button, I can hear the compressor kick on but the light that indicates it is turn on does not light. When I select the rear defrost, I can a click in the back of the car, so I assume it is working but the light does not lite to indicate it is on. When I press the recirculate button neither of those lights work either. Otherwise everything works fine as far as the heater and AC is concerned. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi Booman,

I have personally never taken apart the Center console/AC controls. I know it is required when upgrading/changing from the stock stereo head unit though. So that would be a good place to start looking to at least understand what will be required to safely take apart the unit. It sounds like the bulbs are just burned out. In most cases you can easily replace the bulbs once you have the climate control unit taken out. With that being said, there is also a possibility that these lights are soldered on LEDs. In which case you would need to test the leads for power and verify it's a burned out LED or if it's something worse(fried board). LEDs rarely fail so I'm betting these are simple plug and play bulbs that can be replaced.

If you do some searching on 350z tech you should be able to find the factory service manual specific to your year Z. From there you should be able to find more detailed information on what needs to be done to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Good luck!

 

Those are all LEDs (soldered on). The wiring that goes to that piece is a ribbon cable. I'd check to make sure that it is fully connected at both ends. If it is, check to see whether it is damaged or not (kinks, cracks, separations, etc).

If it turns out to be the LEDs that are bad, then you can pick up an entire shifter surround piece with A/C controls in the private classifieds for cheap. However, I highly doubt that all of those LEDs went out at one time.

 

Aha! Tpete makes a good point. If there is a ribbon cable feeding those controls/leds, then that would be the most logical place to check. Does your Z have an aftermarket radio head unit? Or has any work been done on it recently involving this part of the center console?

Either way, you will need to take things apart to investigate. Good Luck!

 

I bought this from the insurance company, it was a theft recovery. unfortunately I have no way of knowing if these lights were broken before the theft or not. I did have to replace the factory radio and water fall assembly. The bad guys did a number on the interior. The ribbon cable appears to be good but I will check again. Is this ribbon cable a replaceable part or would I have to get the entire assemble behind the AC controls the ribbon cable connects to?
If anyone has a schematic of the ribbon cable, I could check for voltage when I have my headlights on. And just one update. I pulled each fuse on fuse block by the dead pedal. After I did that, the indicator lights for the defrost, AC and started working, weird>> Perhaps I should try disconnecting the battery for a few minutes? I any case a schematic of the ribbon cable would be greatly appreciated

 

PM me your email address. I'll send you the entire repair manual. It has the A/C wiring diagram.

 

The problem ended up being the contacts on the AC/Heater controller itself. If you have an intermittent problem with your AC/Heater fan running high all by itself or for that matter anything else that seems to have a mind of it's own on the AC/heater control this just might fix it. I took a sewing needle and bent the contacts down on the controller itself. If you look at the back of the controller>>at the connector were the ribbon cable connects>> you might notice one or more of you contacts pushed up into the connector farther than the others. I took a sewing needle and bent each of my connectors down enough so the face of the connector stuck out just past the white plastic piece that separates the contacts. It fixed the lighting problem.