Climate Control Flashing Questions

[csavaglio]

I took the car to Phoenix for a day and the car did great on the trip....it was a lot of fun on the 2 laners coming back through the hills.

About 75 miles into the drive home, I stopped for a bathroom break and when I started the car, the climate control button light flashed, whichever button was selected. It flashed for a minute or two and stopped. Everything seemed to work ok after that, although I have no idea if the AC was actually working since it was very cool out, but the vents/defrost all responded correctly.

I've seen it flash once or twice before....usually for less than 10 seconds before acting normal again.

I know the climate control will flash when it has a trouble code and I have the listing of the codes in the FSM.

Since it stopped flashing, I didn't have a chance to pull the code off of it. Will it store the code after it stops flashing or do you have to catch it while it's flashing?

I ended up having to disconnect the battery last night. My LT4's lights started to dim a little here and there and when I got home from work, the negative cable was loose. I tried to tighten it but it just turned...the bolt was stripped. Because it was Thanksgiving and all the shops were closed, I had to rob the bolt from the neg cable on the Z to get my daily driver back in action. I'll get a new battery bolt on my way home from work tonight.

Obviously, I know it won't store the code after the battery's been disconnected, but I'm wondering if I see it flash again, will it store the code.

It is entirely possible that the head unit just needs to be pulled, cleaned and make sure the connections are good. Every once in a while....as in once or twice since I've owned the car about a month and a half ago, the unit will put itself into auto (then turn off fine when I hit the off button) and the raise temp button will not respond for a few pushes.


Chris

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by csavaglio

I took the car to Phoenix for a day and the car did great on the trip....it was a lot of fun on the 2 laners coming back through the hills.

About 75 miles into the drive home, I stopped for a bathroom break and when I started the car, the climate control button light flashed, whichever button was selected. It flashed for a minute or two and stopped. Everything seemed to work ok after that, although I have no idea if the AC was actually working since it was very cool out, but the vents/defrost all responded correctly.

I've seen it flash once or twice before....usually for less than 10 seconds before acting normal again.

I know the climate control will flash when it has a trouble code and I have the listing of the codes in the FSM.

Since it stopped flashing, I didn't have a chance to pull the code off of it. Will it store the code after it stops flashing or do you have to catch it while it's flashing?

I ended up having to disconnect the battery last night. My LT4's lights started to dim a little here and there and when I got home from work, the negative cable was loose. I tried to tighten it but it just turned...the bolt was stripped. Because it was Thanksgiving and all the shops were closed, I had to rob the bolt from the neg cable on the Z to get my daily driver back in action. I'll get a new battery bolt on my way home from work tonight.

Obviously, I know it won't store the code after the battery's been disconnected, but I'm wondering if I see it flash again, will it store the code.

It is entirely possible that the head unit just needs to be pulled, cleaned and make sure the connections are good. Every once in a while....as in once or twice since I've owned the car about a month and a half ago, the unit will put itself into auto (then turn off fine when I hit the off button) and the raise temp button will not respond for a few pushes.
Chris

Hi Chris--I had the same problem and fixed it by cleaning the contacts between the A/C control head and the back plate. Dynomite has a write up on what I did--a few false leads at first but then solved it.
Here is the thread on it. --Bob

http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?p=181960

[csavaglio]

Bob, did yours flash also (throwing a code), or just have problems with buttons not responding? On mine, the button very occasionally not responding is just because it needs to be gone through and cleaned, but I'm more concerned with the flashing, meaning it stored a code. It just doesn't seem to flash long enough or consistent enough to pull the code when it's flashing.

Chris

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by csavaglio

Bob, did yours flash also (throwing a code), or just have problems with buttons not responding? On mine, the button very occasionally not responding is just because it needs to be gone through and cleaned, but I'm more concerned with the flashing, meaning it stored a code. It just doesn't seem to flash long enough or consistent enough to pull the code when it's flashing.

Chris

I did not check for codes since I suspected it was an issue with the buttons not the system. Once I cleaned it they were fine. My symtoms were the same as yours. For example, the Off button wouldn't work and the Temp button only would go up. The system itself continued to work. I don't think it set any codes. On my earlier car many years ago it would flash when the refrigerant went low on a small leak. But nothing like that this time. Good luck.--Bob

[csavaglio]

By the way, removing the negative cable to steal the terminal bolt is the first time I've disconnected the battery since I got the car. Since it's going to have sat about 24 hours before I can get a new bolt and reconnect it, it should clear any residual codes stored.

Once I reconnect, if it blinks again, I'll pull the code it sets and go from there. It's just odd to me that it's so intermittent. I found somewhere it only stores current codes and once the conditions that set the code clear, it dumps the code (unlike the ECM, as I recall, that stores past codes until reset), unless it's a low freon code.

C

[csavaglio]

Bob,
What you're describing doesn't sound the same as mine....mine flashes intermittently. All the buttons, including the off button, work fine except that every once in a while, the raise temp button has to get hit a couple times before it acts fine, and that seems to be better now that I've been using it a bit more. I've driven it more in the last month and a half than it was driven in the last 5 years.

I won't know much, I think, until it does it again and I can pull the code. I was just wondering if anyone saw intermittent flashing on theirs. Usually, once something's gone wrong, it'll do it every time you start it up until you fix it. I probably shouldn't have even mentioned the temp button since I don't think it's related to the flashing and its solution is obvious.

C

[vilant]

If the light flashes 60 times a minute it means there was a fault detection. You can pull the code by entering the diagnostic mode. To enter hold the "up" and "down" temp buttons simultaneously for @ 5 secs. The LCD on the Climate control will display any codes stored. 09 is low freon, which is what was wrong with mine. If it is another number I can tell you what it is if you don't have the FSM.

[csavaglio]

Cool, thank you. I do have the FSM.....I'm at work today, so I'll have to dig out the C68 section.

It happens very intermittently......maybe two or three times since I got the car 6 weeks and about 1200 miles ago. Next time it does it, I'll pull the code. The battery has been disconnected since yesterday evening after work, so we'll see how long it takes before it does it again. Maybe I'll get lucky and resetting everything will clear whatever random fault was coming and going. If it's freon, it has to be very close to whatever threshold it has, since it doesn't set the code often.

C

[csavaglio]

After hooking the battery back up last night, I ran the system through all the modes and buttons. Everything worked perfectly....no flashing, all the buttons worked, the compressor kicks on, the vents and temp control all worked like they should.

I played with it for about ten minutes and it was all good. I'll keep an eye on it and see what it does.

Chris

[WVZR-1]

Exercise is good for all of the electrical controls in the car. Mirror switches, window switches, DIC controls, A/C control and of course the radio head.