The climate control display in my 93 SC400 gets these dark smudges on it when cold. After the car has warmed up, the smudges go away. They return again after the car has sat for a while. Is this something that can be fixed, or do I just need to buy a new climate control piece to replace it? If so, how much can I expect to pay for one both new and used?

 

Hi,

I have the same problem with my 94 LS. Have you found a resolution for this?

Thanks

 

Smack it with your hand when it smudges...It should stay on permanently after that..

 

I found out this happened the hard way....My climate control backlight (green light) stopped working one day, but since the controls still showed/worked I didn't bother to change it right away. With the colder weather, my screen started with a black smudge then grew to cover half the screen.

 

Geez, the same scenario is happening to me, as it did to dinh626.

Did you simplytake apart the climate control and change the LED?
How much did it cost you (if you don't mind me asking), if you had someone else do it?

I've seen the pics that OLT posted and it doesn't seem that simple to take it apart to change the LEDs.
Seeing that I'm in Canada, and that it IS getting much much much colder now, I'm seriously thinking about changing out the burnt LED before my screen gets that black, smudgy, thing you just described....

Latahs.
Carib.

 

What in the world are you guy's talking about?

The screen smudging is the LCD drying out. It has NOTHING to do with your bulbs. The lcd doesn't care about hot and cold from a maintenance point of view, the only time hot or cold affect it is when it is already drying out and damaged. THEN you can see the drying effect under different climate conditions. As they warm up, the crystals tend to bond together better and some of the blackness disapears, however your LCD is still damaged and will continue to degrade. Over a period of about 6 to 8 months it will get worse and worse until it is gone and mostly black. This process is the lcd crystals drying from porus leaks in the glass which is just simply age and you are along for the ride.... heat or no heat. It is going to happen.

As for led's. there are NO led's anywhere near the LCD or buttons. There are a few small 1mm led's that light up as indicators green/orange across the very top, otherwise it is all bulbs in your unit... three which light the LCD.

Once you start to go black, begin looking for a new climate unit.

PS- opening the unit up can accelerate the drying process as you fracture the hairline cracks that are already present in the climate unit. I have seen them go black the second they are opened, or 5 months later. The fact is, if yor unit's time is up, enjoy the ride, you have no control over the drying in the glass from there.

 

oh.

 

PS- that post has nothing to do with bad bulbs that don't light, only smudging of the LCD.

 

oops sorry, I guess it was a coincidence it starting going black when my bulb went.

 

I have the same problem as you guys, does anyone know if all model years have the same harness?
LexusFiend

 

the bulbs last about as long as the lcd does. i've seen the lcd's go and the bulbs be fine, or vise versa.

The units are the same from 92 to 96 However the 95-96 may have a color difference and be amber in the display rather than green/blue.