climate controls backlight

[ayemattyyy]

On a 318is, are the climate controls supposed to be lit up from behind? All the lights work in the dash but from pictures i see others have dash lighting up the climate controls. Any help?

[dashboardmonkey]

Yes they are lit from the backside, you probably have a burnt bulb.

[ayemattyyy]

is it hard to access or is there a way to check? It's been bugging me after i noticed other e30's are bright inside! what kind of bulb does it require?

[Schniddy]

remove:

radio
pop out all the switches above the radio
remove plastic cover surrounding the vent slide
remove the 4 screws behind that cover
remove the temp/fan knobs

Remove kick panel
remove the panel above the steering column
The only thing left is 4 screws holding the havc panel in.
Two above and two below.

edit: also remove the A/C button.. be extremely careful as the panel is known to break right below where the switch sits.

[87e30]

Damn, now you're making me mad that one of my lights is out back there.

[ayemattyyy]

hahaha now you know how i feel, they're all out. what tools do i need? do you just pry the HU out? push in those little tabs and then pop out the cd player/head unit? and how do you pop out the switches? sorry, never seen this problem before on the boards.

[Schniddy]

Theres a write up somewhere on the internet.