[rohrt]

I read a little in the archives that its just pulls off. Does anything need to be removed before trying pull off the Trim? I really hate breaking plastic pieces so if there are any tricks to it I'm all ears.

The reason I want to pull this is because of the lights on the climate control no longer work. Anyone know what goes out on these and if they are fixable?

[beeblebrox82]

put the car in gear, remove the shifter knob. Pull the center console trim up and out of the way. Put the car back in park. Now pull off the radio/AC bezel, there may be two screws at the bottom previously hidden by the shifter trim. I cant remember, they're gone on mine. unplug the ATC and the traction control if equipped.

The ATC is held in the trim panel by one million small bolts. Remove and then proceed here to fix the display:

http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/showthread.php?t=79995

[rohrt]

Awsome thinks for the link.

Is there a simple set screw that holds the shifter knob on?

[Patel.748]

There is a single screw that holds the shifter knob in. It's a torx scerw. I want to say it's a t-5 or t-6 in size.

[peva]

Another detail on the shifter knob set screw: The tip is unthreaded (turned down smaller than the threaded part) and goes into a hole on the shifter shaft to positively locate the height of the shifter so the lockout release works properly. When you first loosen it, you'll be able to feel the knob move up and down a tiny bit and you'll wonder why it won't come off. You just need to back the screw out a little more until the tip clears the hole. Once it clears and you can slide the knob freely, stop unscrewing it so that it stays in the knob so you don't lose it and have to mess with getting it started back into the threads.

When you re-install the knob, once the screw is rubbing on the shaft as you lower the knob, feel for the tip of the screw to hit the hole, then tighten the screw a little as you make sure the tip is going into the hole, then tighten it up.

[rohrt]

Thanks for the tips. I will be working on that tonight. I really hate breaking plastic pieces so I hope it all goes well.

[UPGI2AYDD]

Though a torx works sometimes, it's actually a hex-key ("Alan Wrench") that holds the shifter grip to the shaft.

[Scooter-Man]

3mm allen wrench is what I use.

[rohrt]

Instrutions were perfect.

ended up taking it out twice. First time I only re-soldered the big transistor. I had to go back and look at the link and figured out what resistors were being talked about.

couldn't find my metric alen wrenches but found a standard that worked.

Got the meter out and figured out the three resistor are in series..18k..36k..54k ohm. Those resistors get hot very quick.

Anyway its good to go now.

[peva]

Yep. The solder can't take the shearing stress from the thermal cycling. This is where surface mount (vs. thru-hole) parts fall down on reliability. But initial cost and compactness wins out over reliability in this case.

I've looked into what wattage those dissipate. If you were to replace the 3 resistors with axial lead ones (to relieve the physical stress) to give the total resistance of approx. 53.4 ohms and wattage rating of 2W or better (3 or 5 would be good - actual is about 1.5), it should last forever.

[Squilliam]

Bill needs to write an FSM for LHs that's helps more than it confuses. If rock the shit out of it!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AutoGuide.com App

[peva]

LOL! Thanks S.Q.