Just want to thank everyone in advance....These boards have helped me fix nearly every problem I've had so far. :hail: Please don't let me down now!!!


1) Speedo/tach/fuel guages etc....these all work 95% fine. There seems to be a dead spot in the dimmer ****. If you turn it to just under having the interior lights on, the dash lights go out. They work fine at any other point in the rotation.

2) Climate control console....I assume this is supposed to be backlit? If so, can you change the bulb w/o swapping units? I've had the thing out before but didn't go to take it apart because I didn't see a bulb.

3) Back hatch switch....flat doesn't work. Push it all you want...no workee.

4) I plugged up the rear view mirror when I first bought the car. This is the kind with an auto-adjusting surface to prevent getting blinded...anyway, smoke starts creeping out of the on/off switch hole as I'm going about 50 down a road, and I have to unplug it in traffic. What happened?

5) Engine temp guage....works somewhat. When the engine is cold, it hangs dead south down, out of the temp range, below 100 degrees. Operating temp reads just below 150 degrees. I've replaced the coolant temp sensor, and manifold temp sensor. Now what?

6) I just noticed there's a circular plug in the engine compartment, passengers side, beside the smog pump. Mine was unplugged...not sure why. Anyone have a clue as what it may be? It's part of a steel (high-pressure?) line, goes from the AC canister towards the radiator, then down...I'll post a picture of it ASAP.

Suggestions? Ideas? All are greatly appreciated.

 

1. Don't know about Camaros, but on the Firebird, there are two dimmer controls for the dash. One is in the light switch and the other is bolted behind the dash.
2. Being very careful, pull the faceplate off of the HVAC control head and you will see four tiny light bulbs.
3. If you are talking about the one for the light, the bulb may be dead or unplugged. If you are talking about the power hatch release, then the switch may be dead or someone unplugged it.
4. Some kind of short.
5. Get an accurate thermometer and take a temp reading from the radiator or some other major coolant flow point and adjust the gauge accordingly by pulling the faceplate off after removing the trim and pulling the needle off.
6. Some kind of pressure switch for the A/C system probably.

 

1) its common place for the roller **** to get dead spots after so much use, it gets dirty and/or worn out, not really sure if its cleanable never took a look at it
(theres another dimmer control somewhere??)

2) i didnt even know the climate control was supposed to be backlit, mine has a light bulb hiding right above the unit that lights the whole area

3) youd have to check a few things there, theres the switch, a relay, then the actual solenoid to open the hatch, any one of them could be bad (or unplugged, ive found all kinds of things unplugged at this point)

and im gonna stay away from the rest, no ideas there really, hope you get it fixed

 

When mine went dead, it was blowing the accessory fuse if I turned it upward at all. That fuse also sends power to the headlight motors...fun.

2) i didnt even know the climate control was supposed to be backlit, mine has a light bulb hiding right above the unit that lights the whole area
Mine does too. I don't recall my '92 ever having a backlit one either.

 

Thanks guys....

The plug on the AC line is the high-pressure sensor I believe...but I'm still not sure why it was undone. I know the cold air pumped out is a bit cooler than it ever was before.

Maybe the climate console isn't backlit, but I thought most GM ones about that time were....I'll take it out to look one more time, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Neither the rear hatch release switch or the cargo area light work. The levelling motor does though...I'm guessing the power supplies for these are separate. There is one wire in behind the trim panel that is unplugged, but I never found the other end for it....I'll post a picture next chance I get and maybe someone can point me in the right area.

 

last night i had to put my hand over the lil bulb just to see for myself, my climate control is backlit, ill be damned

 

1) There seems to be a dead spot in the dimmer ****.
The rheostat (dimmer part) is a coiled wire that has a blade scrape across it to control the brightness (same thing that's in a slot car controller). It is cleanable but, for the effort to get to it, you may as well replace it (the switch) so you know it's going to last a descent while longer.

2) Climate control console....I assume this is supposed to be backlit? If so, can you change the bulb w/o swapping units? I've had the thing out before but didn't go to take it apart because I didn't see a bulb.
AFIK.. all climate controls were backlit. My ex-'84 was, the 86 hvac control I used to replace the old one was and the one in my current 91 is. All used a single 194 bulb on the right side of the controls. My firebird had 2 tiny bulbs in it.

3) Back hatch switch....flat doesn't work. Push it all you want...no workee.
Start with checking the fuse(s)

4) I plugged up the rear view mirror when I first bought the car. This is the kind with an auto-adjusting surface to prevent getting blinded...anyway, smoke starts creeping out of the on/off switch hole as I'm going about 50 down a road, and I have to unplug it in traffic. What happened?
Never seen one personally but, judging by your description, it fried itself.

5) Engine temp guage....works somewhat. When the engine is cold, it hangs dead south down, out of the temp range, below 100 degrees. Operating temp reads just below 150 degrees. I've replaced the coolant temp sensor, and manifold temp sensor. Now what?
If your certain the gauge is 'accurate', I would guess the thermostat may be worn out or hanging partially open.

6) I just noticed there's a circular plug in the engine compartment, passengers side, beside the smog pump. Mine was unplugged...not sure why. Anyone have a clue as what it may be? It's part of a steel (high-pressure?) line, goes from the AC canister towards the radiator, then down...I'll post a picture of it ASAP.
The a/c switch tells the ECM that the A/C has been turned on and will kick on the fan. Usually when unplugged, the fan will run constantly (even if the engine is not running but the car is on).

Just guessing though....

 

The HVAC requires 3 type 37 bulbs if it isn't completely lit up. I just replaced mine today.

 

i didnt think the hvac controls were lit either, but when i took everything apart, i replaced the 3 and now its cool. also my glove box light was burnt out as was my shift indicator light.

 

Camaro's do not have the same lighting nor controls (cosmetically) as a Firebird. They use different bulbs (Firebirds use the small you indicated) in the Hvac controls.
The poster owns a camaro according to his info.

 

My bad...

Sure, GM has to make everything difficult for everybody. The units look precisely the same yet one has different bulbs than the other, just like the shift indicator.

It's a wonder they didn't downsize the bulbs for the instrument cluster as well... Then I would probably need twice as many when changing them...

 

LoL... I agree .
I really didn't mean to single you out or make you look wrong.
It's the stupid, small subtleties that makes having the correct info, between the two, to fixing these cars suck. It's easy to assume because it looks the same, it should be the same (which would make things too easy).
There are a few more small differences between the controls as well but, irrelevant to the post.
You can, however, swap the hvac units between the cars w/o problems if needed.

 

Hey deadbird....the thermostat is new...I know the problem is within the guage or it's sub-components. This thing (I think) used to work.


Now all I need is to rob a bank or have a Brinks truck explode somewhere proximal to me.


You guys rock:rockon: Thanks many times!

 

Replaced the lightbulb in the HVAC yesterday....it's a dim little fart.

Also, I figured out why the hatch release didn't work....after pulling the cargo trim off, I noticed there were two wires disconnected - one black, one white, with different connectors. The black one hooked into some unit that somebody had taken one mounting bolt out of and was hanging by one side. (They used the bolt to run a "ground wire" from one body nut to another, but no power to it. Long story short, it works now.

Wonder what the white one is for now?

 

sorry to revive a dead thread but my hvac lights dont work, its really hard to change this at night without any light to see where im going too so can anyone post pictures of where these bulbs are? i think mine are blown because i never unplugged anything on the hvac when i swapped consoles.

 

There may be either 2 or 3 of them... My guess would be 2 due to the size of the control head and the size of the bulbs and sockets. They're in the corners of the controls at the top, IIRC, on mine, anyways. Yours may be different. They will probably be in a socket similar to the one for the shift indicator in the console plate.

 

Camaros only have one bulb. You have to unscrew the unit and pull it out a little. Careful to not pull on any of the vacuum hoses. Just over the top right edge from your perspective there is a socket that only needs a short counterclockwise turn to unscrew. Pull out the bulb, replace, screw back in and remount the unit. Voila!