1998 Buick Lesabre digital climate control unit went blank

JERAMIAH9999

MEMBER
1998 BUICK LESABRE
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
100,000 MILES

I have a 1998 Buick Lesabre. The other day the digital climate control unit went blank and heater and ac wouldn't work. Sometimes when I start the car all the possible options will be lit up on display, other times it is just blank. The unit seems to be getting hot. Digital clock above works as does radio. The lights in buttons also work. I'm not sure exactly when this happened, but the day it happened two things happened. First I spilled some juice which was sitting on dash, it appeared to drip down the face of unit. I also got stuck in a ditch, I was able to get out of ditch but I reved the engine quite abit in the process. Thanks in advance for any input.

3 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,741 POSTS

Don't think wandering through the ditch is part of the problem, juice, maybe, but broken connections are real common. On some modules, simply unplugging them and plugging them back in will appear to solve the problem, ... For a little while. The scratching action of sliding the connector contacts cleans a spot in the light film of oxidation. There can also be broken solder connections inside on the circuit board. These two things seem to be responsible for half the failures. Various lights flickering on and off, unit going totally dead, and some functions not responding are common complaints.

Hmm. Not responding. I wonder if it was built by Microsoft?

If you pull the module out with the ignition switch turned on, wiggle the connector and flex the unit. If good things happen, (or you see things changing), suspect intermittent connections.

Caradiodoc