Solution To Flickering Fan Speed 2 or 3 A/C

[LilPixieMama75]

I was so glad to see this up at the top. Mine is starting to flicker more and more at 2 & 3. It was driving me nuts during our trip in TN this past week. I was just telling my hubby that I needed to come here and search out the fix for it.

 

[aMaff]

I know. I've seen enough of these threads that it deserves to be sticky for the time being

 

[808MP5]

Also, I was lazy haha. I just pulled the face plate out as far as i could and unplugged the center switch and did it from there. I didn't remove the front face plate completely.

yuppies i should have done this four years ago. like L8R i didn't pull it out all the way. i didn't have any cleaning solution either but instead i just pulled the plug out and gave it a good scrapping with a dentist tool. scraped off a good deal of crap off both the female and male contacts. now my A/C works on all four speeds. its perfect now.

 

[Weborific]

Sweet!

 

[LilPixieMama75]

I'm literally going out to try it right now...

 

[Weborific]

I'm literally going out to try it right now...

....AAAAANND??! (eagerly awaits response...)(peep)

 

[LilPixieMama75]

....AAAAANND??! (eagerly awaits response...)(peep)

I actually went out there with the detailed instructions & the pictures printed up. I got out there & it was so damn hot that I was getting frustrated trying to get each of the pins out. So, I just blew it out really good and plugged it back in firmly with a good wiggle. Guess what...It's working beautifully! The light is no longer flickering! YAY!

 

[Weborific]

I actually went out there with the detailed instructions & the pictures printed up. I got out there & it was so damn hot that I was getting frustrated trying to get each of the pins out. So, I just blew it out really good and plugged it back in firmly with a good wiggle. Guess what...It's working beautifully! The light is no longer flickering! YAY!

It'll be back! hehehe. I think the best way is to squeeze the connectors with pliers. You'll need a tiny pin (I used a tiny precision flat-head screwdriver) to get the wires out... Glad you got yours working again!

 

[Tasty]

Um, Weborific, you're the MAN! Just did this fix, and it works GREAT. Drove it around the block jiggling the control between 1-2-3 and two came on and stayed on every time. It usually only stays on about 40% of the time, and I have to coax it in to working. Thank you!!

 

[Weborific]

Um, Weborific, you're the MAN! Just did this fix, and it works GREAT. Drove it around the block jiggling the control between 1-2-3 and two came on and stayed on every time. It usually only stays on about 40% of the time, and I have to coax it in to working. Thank you!!

Alright, GREAT! Just glad to know we can fix it for FREE! I pulled out the trim around the stereo and it turns out (like L8R mentioned) that you CAN do the fix without pulling everything out. Did you use pliers too? Or did you just clean the contacts? Please add yourself to the poll I made here:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123679430
THANKS!

 

[LilPixieMama75]

Alright, GREAT! Just glad to know we can fix it for FREE! I pulled out the trim around the stereo and it turns out (like L8R mentioned) that you CAN do the fix without pulling everything out. Did you use pliers too? Or did you just clean the contacts? Please add yourself to the poll I made here:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123679430
THANKS!

Yeah...I didn't have to pull everything out either. My trim ring for my pocket, under the stereo, broke so the stereo is just laying in the space until the new one gets here. I just lifted up the stereo and there it was! LOL!

 

[teamsnyder]

AC fixed

I did this on my son's car this afternoon and it worked!!!!! Amazing that such a simple fix for such a pain in all our butts. Thanks for the info.

 

[LinuxRacr]

I did this fix yesterday. I was low on time, so I only pulled out the lug, and used some needle-nosed pliers to sqeeze the contact spades closed a little. When we left, to go to the movies, the A/C was working! It still was having slight flickering issues with the 3rd position, but I will take care of that by cleaning the contacts some, and squeezing the spades closed better.

 

[Weborific]

Amazing how the dealers want hundreds of dollars to fix this. And a new climate control unit won't solve anything cause you'd still be using the same wiring harness....

 

[Tasty]

Alright, GREAT! Just glad to know we can fix it for FREE! I pulled out the trim around the stereo and it turns out (like L8R mentioned) that you CAN do the fix without pulling everything out. Did you use pliers too? Or did you just clean the contacts? Please add yourself to the poll I made here:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123679430
THANKS!

Yep, needle nosed pliers, a little squeeze, and good as new!

 

[DeadGeneration]

squeeze the contact together, that's it? from what I read about the TSB they were totally off if this really is the issue. man that's retarded. I also don't understand how it would behave the way it does due to a loose connector.

 

[terbow]

it depends on the issue. there are some with a burned trace on the hvac control board, which is what the Reasoning behind replacing the hvac unit is for. its more of not working at all rather than flickering. My guess is the loose connectors cause a short that burns the lead on the board then renders the ac useless. So those of u with it flickering are correcting the issue early and possibly preventing the failure.

 

[DeadGeneration]

So when I pull the wires for 2 and 3 they should come off with almost no effort

 

[pasadena_commut]

Amazing how the dealers want hundreds of dollars to fix this. And a new climate control unit won't solve anything cause you'd still be using the same wiring harness....

Well, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I suspect that not all flickering AC light problems are the same. For instance, on my P5 with the fan on 3 the AC usually won't work (the light goes out) if the car has been parked in the sun for a couple of hours on a very hot day. Run it on position 4 for half an hour and 3 will work again. If it hasn't been parked in the sun all 4 positions work and there is no flickering. Hard to see how that could be a contact issue.

The P5s AC is just as mediocre as the AC was on my old 323. In both cases the AC blows nice and cold when it's not very hot, but when it's 95 or more it can't keep the car's interior as cool as desired. The air blows out cold, just not, apparently, with enough volume to remove all the heat soaking into the car. Subjectively it feels just like running too small a window AC unit in too big a room - cold air, but the room heats up anyway.

 

[Chicoloco]

Well, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I suspect that not all flickering AC light problems are the same. For instance, on my P5 with the fan on 3 the AC usually won't work (the light goes out) if the car has been parked in the sun for a couple of hours on a very hot day. Run it on position 4 for half an hour and 3 will work again. If it hasn't been parked in the sun all 4 positions work and there is no flickering. Hard to see how that could be a contact issue.

The P5s AC is just as mediocre as the AC was on my old 323. In both cases the AC blows nice and cold when it's not very hot, but when it's 95 or more it can't keep the car's interior as cool as desired. The air blows out cold, just not, apparently, with enough volume to remove all the heat soaking into the car. Subjectively it feels just like running too small a window AC unit in too big a room - cold air, but the room heats up anyway.

Yeah, at times i feel my AC isn't that good neither. Stupid all year long tropical weather, i want some snow.