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Z3 HVAC bulb replacement

122K views 111 replies 51 participants last post by  PelvicSorcerer 
#1 ·
The following pics show where I'm at.
Will order the back plate for clearer pics. Have the front piece to show how it comes apart.
The bulbs are part of the bulb socket. More to come.


 
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#102 ·
Both bulbs were out on my climate control switch on 2001 Z3 3.0. I read through this thread, ordered my bulbs, and pulled out my stereo and removed the two screws that hold in the climate control switch. While the switch was still installed and before I released the two plastic tabs holding in the switch, I was able to very quickly and easily replace the "hard-to-get-to" bulb in the middle of the switch by using 7-inch 90-degree bent long nose pliers (this is what Amazon calls this tool). In plain English, this tool is a pair of needle nose pliers with a 90-degree bend in them. With a light to see what I was doing, I was able to grab the electrical connector and pull it out and then I was able to just grab the bulb and pull it out. Replacement was simple: connect the new bulb to the connector, turn on the car lights to test the bulb, then reach in through the radio hole and plug in the new bulb into the switch. I then released the tabs holding in the switch and could easily get to the second bulb on the bottom of the switch. So, my lesson learned that may help someone else someday is the 90-degree needle nose pliers are the perfect tool for the climate control light repair.
 
#106 ·
Willicopo, the BMW part number is 61138353797 and there are two bulbs in the climate control switch. As Vintage 42 indicates, there are many vendors who sell the bulbs. Just search on Google using "BMW 61138353797" and you can choose your vendor. The bulbs run about $12 to $14 each. As bulbs go, they're expensive, but it's worth it when you see the dark hole in the middle of your dash go away.
 
#109 · (Edited)
When I plugged my new bulbs in, they still did't work. I don't think any of my fuses are blown, and all my dimming still works correctly in all other components. What fuse should I re-check? How might I go about cleaning the terminals where the bulb/connector combo plugs into the wiring? Any other ideas as to what could be going on? I have the same issue with my cigarette lighter bulb, but sometimes it randomly works, with the old or new bulb. That makes me thinks there's a short, but I haven't been able to find one.
Also, since I'm new to all things electrical, where would I find the information required to test the connection with a multimeter? (voltage maybe? I don't even know how to use this thing)
 
#110 ·
So I managed to get all the lights working. I just had to do some bending of the metal contacts for the cigarette lighter, and I'm not quite sure what I did to the HVAC lights to get them working. After plugging them and unplugging them repeatedly they eventually worked, so maybe the pins were somehow dirtied up?

My problem now is that in the process of putting my radio back in, I managed to (I think) cause my rheostat/dimmer to fail. None of the lights that used to be controlled by the dimmer switch turn on at all now. I've got a couple of questions. What could I have done that caused a short? Is one of the wires from the stock radio harness tied in to the rheostat/dimmer? If so, should that one not be connected to my aftermarket radio? Regardless of the radio, if I shorted something, wouldn't it just blow the new rheostat/dimmer again when I install it? How do I figure out what happened?
 
#111 ·
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