My HVAC control panel icons do not light up when the vehicle lights are turned on. Are they suppose to? The whole HVAC panel is dark at night. My radio and switch panels light up just fine.

 

Just went out and checked on my GP and all the controls like temp., fan speed and so forth are illuminated.

 

Thanks for the reply. I will need to take my panel out to see if something is disconnected. It is two hours to the nearest dealer so I try yo correct problems myself.

 

Mine light up with lights on. Good idea to look for unplugged plug.

 

Well, I took my switch panel and stereo out to look for an unplugged connector on the HVAC panel and everything seemed to be plugged into the HVAC panel. It was a little hard to verify for sure because I could not figure out how to remove the HVAC panel without removing the whole center console, which did not look easy. I guess I will have to let a Mini dealership correct the problem if I ever need to go to the dealer (closest dealer is two hours away). I also suspect the dealership will give be a hard time because I added Ian's auto-up/DCS/garage door circuit card and I also added two switches (in blank spots) to the switch panel.

Did I miss something in getting the HVAC panel out of the center console and is there an easy way to remove the HVAC panel from the center console? I would sure like to solve the panel lighting problem without going to the dealer, especially when I suspect they will say it is my fault because I modified items (even though unrelated) in the center console.

 

Remove the auto-up and re-check the lights - maybe the connectors weren't pushed fully tight.
The way the interior lighting works is that one signal to turn them on comes into the toggle switch panel connector, then it's distributed back out again to other panels - so a poor connection or damage on the toggle switch panel could cause this.

 

Ian,
Thanks for the tip. I did disconnect and reconnect at the switch panel but I did not do the same at the circuit card. I will also inspect the pins at each location.
Mike

 

I resolved the problem. After checking all the connectors/pins and finding nothing wrong. I connected the switch panel to the vehicle harness without the auto-up circuit and still no HVAC lights. I than checked fuses that I thought might be associated with instrumentation, lights, or the HVAC. None of the fuses were bad but the HVAC lights worked after removing and re-installing fuses. One of the fuses must not have been making good contact. They all appeared to be seated well. I have seen other stories on NAM of fuses loosing contact and causing various problems.
Thank you to everyone for the help and suggestions.