Heater Controls

[waue1978]

Following its visit to the Pug specialist yesterday, my Escapade has had a couple of issues fixed, but we also have one that isn't.

When I first looked at the car before buying, the blower was permanently on full blast & couldn't be turned down. One of the conditions of sale was that the blower controls would get fixed. When I picked the car up a week later, there was a set of heater controls sat on the passenger seat (which the salesman said was the old set) & they seemed to be working as the blower could now be turned up & down. However, a few days later I had my first drive of it in the dark & found that I have no illumination on the controls at all. This was in addition to the fact that the hot/cold control would not turn all the way round to full cold without springing back.

After 2 phone calls to the car sales which ended in "I'll get back to you" I phoned them back yesterday morning before it went for a service to ask if they were going to get their garage to fix the problem (since it obviously stemmed from them not doing the job right the first time) or whether they were happy to let my guy do it & save me having to drive an hour up the road to Bracknell. Rather than the standard "I'll get back to you" fobbing off, this conversation resulted in the salesman using the also standard "what do you expect from a 10 year old car", "I'm notmaking any promises" & finally "Well it's working now isn't it?" to which I replied that it wasn't if the cold control was springing back. He ended up hanging up the phone in a hissy fit, & I've now ended up footing the bill for my guy to have a look at the controls.

When I picked it up yesterday, the specialist had managed to sort out the hot/cold control (the other guys hadn't attached the cable correctly), but said that he couldn't get the illumination working. He'd removed all of the bulbs without actually having to remove the panel & said that all 3 that he removed were blown, but the new ones that he fitted weren't lighting up either. He suspects that there may be a short somewhere in the panel, but couldn't be sure as he hadn't previously experienced this in a Berlingo or Partner. He also said that if we need to replace the control panel it will be a bit more of a job than what he did yesterday as the cables are a pig to do when completely removing it.

Does anybody here have any experience with iffy heater controls that may be able to point us in the right direction before I go through all the hassle of getting a new panel fitted only to find that it's actually a fault further back in the wiring?

[kaspian]

Interesting stuff this as my 61 plate started all of a sudden when changing from hot to cold the heater control knob would spring back about a quarter of the way. The dealer on first visit said cable was kinked but could not explain why and on second visit greased the cables and then the airflow direction control did the same when I arrived to pick car up! They then replaced the cables as apparently they dont get paid warranty work to grease cables! On picking up the car for the third time I pointed out that the hot cold control was now very stiff and it would spring back round a quarter turn at either extreme. ( the problem that it had just been in to get fixed!!!) Service manager then basically fobbed me off with threats of pulling out the full dash and warnings that it would rattle etc when replaced to access/exchange out the whole heater assembly. I have 30 odd years experience working on cars and the attitude of Citroen garages appears to shroud all their work in secrecy . Your car cannot be viewed while work progresses and no information given that might allow me to inspect myself what was a fault brought on by themselves! Service manager now says Citroen will not replace as the heater still works but both airflow direction and hot cold controls are still stiff and at either extreme will spring back about a quarter of a revolution . I seem to remember someone experiencing this when the cabin filter was replaced from the forum. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Ol'Jeffers]

Sounds as if the service manager doesn't want the workshop do do any jobs that don't pay, irrespective of your rights as a customer with a vehicle under guarantee.
I might suggest a call to customer services at Citroen UK. Your heater doesn't work properly and you're entitled to a remedy. The threat about the dash rattling upon re-assembly just reinforces the fact that that workshop is not competent.
The attitude of some Citroen main dealers seems to be extremely poor. It's time that the manufacturer got to grips with the dire
service that some of them seem to think is satisfactory.

[waue1978]

While I was fitting the stereo today I thought it would be beneficial to have a poke around at the heater controls to see if I could find out what happened with the illumination.

Got the front panel off easily enough (2screws under the display cover at the top & another 2 just above where the radio comes out of along with lots of snap-clips), but I can't for the life of me see how you would remove the heater controls totally as they actually go back into the dash rather than unscrew & fall out the front.

Anyway, I had a spare set of controls which were tossed on the front seat when I picked the car up & this at least allowed me to see what goes on behind them. On the back of the controls there is a provision for 2 plugs - 1 small square one inbetween the motor speed & temperature control & 1 longer one which would be at the far left of the panel (behind the motor speed dial). In my car I don't have anything plugged into the longer slot, but strangely enough, I can't find the plug that should go in there anywhere. The small square plug appears to come from below, but it doesn't seem to branch off from another set of wiring & after poking my hands up the side of the dash from below the glovebox I can't find anything there either.

I'm hoping that the Specialist will be able to help again when it goes in to get the rear wheel cylinders changed (found out they're covered in the warranty), but if anybody can shed any light on where this mystery plug may have disappeared to, I'd rather sort it myself when I get a clear afternoon.

Anybody have any ideas?