Hey all,

I have a question for you. I recently purchased a 2003 UL and the rear controls for AC and Radio (control cluster with LED screen) was working intermittently and now doesnt work at all. The recline, heat, message, rear shade, etc all work, just not AC and Radio controls. screen doesnt light up, no text in screen.

Has anyone experienced this?

Does anyone know how to remove the control panel in the rear? It is held in with clips on the front and side and a screw on top by the cup holders, but it is connected in the rear somehow and I cant figure it out...

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I have the same problem with my 02 UL. Was getting ready to post the same question, hope someone on the board can give us some guidance.

 

Anyone know how to remove the rear panel? If I can get that off, I'm sure I can figure out whats going on with the controls...

 

Have you tried checking your fuses? It sounds to me like its a bad fuse if all your rear controls arent working.

 

Its only the HVAC and Radio controls that arent working. All other controls on the panel work i.e. recline, rear shade, message, heat, etc... My screen for HVAC and radio was intermittent, so that leads me to believe there is a dirty contact somewhere or a loose wire harness...just a guess though. I just purchased the car a few weeks ago, so its anyones guess as to what might have been spilled on there what else...

 

sounds like you spilled some juice/liquids in there... i had the same problem, the part alone was over $1,000 and I was just out of warranty, but I called Lexus and I was lucky enough they fixed it for free. it's gonna be an expensive repair, I dont know if it's going to be worth it to you...

 

$1000?!??! was that just for the HVAC/radio control, or the complete rear control panel with seat controls etc?

 

I think I figured it out! I found that there are two screws in the back of the arm rest that hold on the lid at the hinge. You must remove these before you can remove the control panel.

Once I got the panel off, I removed the switch cluster and looked inside on the boards for any burnt spots or obvious defects. The circuit boards looked great so I proceeded to clean the connections at the wiring harness. I cleaned the male connections (on the switch cluster) with contact cleaner and a q tip and then sprayed contact cleaner into the female plug on the wiring harness. Once I put it back everything is working as new.

One caveat though is that there is an internal plug-in in the switch cluster, this might have been loose and maybe the process of taking it apart and reassembling is the real cause of switch working, but I am pretty convinced that it was just an oxidized connection at the wiring harness... With that said, I think one could repair this in 30-45 minutes with little or no technical abilities. The only tough part is getting the screws in and out in the lid hinge. I used an angled power driver to make this easier, but you could do it with a small stubby screwdriver. You must remove the trim around the coolerbox to get to the screws, this trim just snaps on. Use a taped screwdriver or better yet, a nylon pry bar to remove the trim piece and control panel.