A/C display pulsing??!!###

[Papalazarou]

I was out in the NSX last night and realised that the display for the A/C was pulsing.
The A/C still works fine but the illumination kept fading then reapearing. Whilst sat at idle I revved the car a bit and found that at higher revs the light got momentarily brighter.

Anyway, haven't had time to investigate, but my initial thoughts were; loose connection, bad earth and/or half a ******* day removing the centre consul.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

James.

P.s, forget what I said about those anorak threads, this is important!
P.P.s, No hijacking this thread to talk about your own vehicular issues, I don't care about them.:p

[Steveycaz]

Not sure what could be wrong with your a/c but have you seen those 'supposedly' NSX-R wheels?

[Papalazarou]

Not sure what could be wrong with your a/c but have you seen those 'supposedly' NSX-R wheels?


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.


Cheers,

James.

[Nick Graves]

If your charging circuit seems OK, it could be high resistance on a connection in there.

Might be worthe investigating. Is the button getting hot?

[TheQuietOne]

One thing after another James, sorry to hear about this - stupid question but have your tried our friends across the pond?

[AR]

James does it do it with the lights on and off?

Cheers,

AR

[Papalazarou]

James does it do it with the lights on and off?

Cheers,

AR


I get the pulsing when the lights are both on or off. Obviously the display is brighter when the headlights are off.
Nick: I'm not sure whether the buttons are getting hot, but will investigate tommorrow.

Thanks for the help guys.

Cheers,

James.

[NSXGB]

Do your headlights or other dashboard lights 'pulse' when they are on with the engine running?

If they do, I would say that your alternator is on it's way out. What is your voltmeter doing?

If not, could be your a/c board going south.

[Papalazarou]

Do your headlights or other dashboard lights 'pulse' when they are on with the engine running?

If they do, I would say that your alternator is on it's way out. What is your voltmeter doing?

If not, could be your a/c board going south.


No, just the a/c display.......I hate my car.


Cheers,

James.

[Mr_Spanners]

Bad Earth (wiring) or the display is on it's last legs. I seem to recall that there's a series of resisitors on the rear of the (display) circuit board so it's possible that one is causing the problem?

HTH

~Phil.

[NSXGB]

If you've never had your capacitors changed in your a/c board, I'd recommend that first, will cost you £40 ish to get someone from a tv repair shop to change them for you. Taking out the centre console and replacing is not a bad job.
If they have not gone yet, they will at some point, so you might as well take that out of the equation.

[nigel]

Your CCU has just buggered off. Go to NSXPrime look up Brian K. and send it to him in the US. He'll fix it for $180.00 US. That's about 95 quid, plus post and tax. He fixes them all as well as the speaker amps. Most of the yanks swear by him. It beats spending $2300.00 US to replace it. He gurantees it. He has posted a step by step peocess to get it out and back in, as well as great photos.

Cheers
nigel

[Papalazarou]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the input.

Thanks again,

James.

P.s, to all you with mat stroking white wheel lovers. I hope all your warning lights come on at once and your electric power-steering expires :twisted:

[AR]

Hve you tried PMing BrianK of NSX Prime?

He is the NSX electrical guru and fixes A/C boards and Amps.

Cheers,

AR

[Papalazarou]

That maybe my only option. I'm going to strip it out today anyway, just to see if there's anything obvious.

Cheers,

James.

[NSXGB]

I don't see the point in shipping it to the USA and paying over the odds for the repair if that's what needs doing?

Replacing the 'leaky caps' is not a difficult job if you are handy with a soldering iron. If you are not confident, give it to a TV repair workshop, it will take them half an hour tops. Probably cost you £40. The price of the new caps is £1-2 but the repair shop will probably just give them to you. That's all I paid for mine to be fixed by a local guy and there are two others on here who have used him too.

[TheQuietOne]

Simon, were those the same symptoms then when yours was faulty?

[NSXGB]

Mine didn't have those symptoms, it kept powering down randomly. Some people report that the unit only blows at full power and other strange things.

The unit can have all sorts of wierd and wonderful symptoms because of the nature of the failure. The capacitors leak their contents over the Printed Circut Board, arcing the tracks and creating short circuts, causing the different symptoms.

I would say that if the supply power checks out OK, it's worth getting the caps changed on the CCU board. As said, it seems to be a case of not if it goes but when it goes so you might as well get them done anyway.

[Papalazarou]

Thanks Simon,

It's given me some perspective on it. It just pisses me off when you get a different fault every few months.

Cheers,

James.

[amo]

got a prob with mine as well james no power at all
so was going to send it to usa but as sugested i will take it to a repair shop

thx amo

[WhyOne?]

That's all I paid for mine to be fixed by a local guy and there are two others on here who have used him too.


Hi Simon, as this chap has now happily and successfully fixed 3 boards, why not post his contact details here? As long as he doesn't mind a bit of extra business, it would be very handy for the good people here to be able to just whip their a/c pcb's out (!!!) and courier/post them over to him for repair - this does seem a common maledy!

[NSXGB]

Hi Simon, as this chap has now happily and successfully fixed 3 boards, why not post his contact details here? As long as he doesn't mind a bit of extra business, it would be very handy for the good people here to be able to just whip their a/c pcb's out (!!!) and courier/post them over to him for repair - this does seem a common maledy!


I would do, but I don't think I have his details any more (I will check though if anyone is really stuck).
It really isn't a difficult job for a TV repair shop or anyone handy with a soldering iron to fix. I'm sure he would do more no problem, but everyone must have a TV repair shop or such like near to them, so can save themselves the time, hassle and extra money for posting by going local...

[mart155]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but was wondering how you guys got on fixing this problem.
My climate control has just started playing up, sometimes nothing but hot air and another day its ice cold.
I thought I would have a go at replacing the capacitors. Does anyone have a list of the ones needed. I have seen the list on prime but can't find the equivalent ones on the Maplins website.

If I just took the board to a TV repair shop, do you think they would have them all in stock. Sorry if its a stupid question but I don't know much about electronics and how common things like capacitors are in electronic circuits.

[markc]

Mart155,

Co-incidentally I replaced the capcitors in my CCB the weekend before last. I was getting the all or nothing blower symptom.
Sure enough all the capacitors had leaked but fortunately there was no track damage to the circuit board.

Here's a list of the capacitors you need. Got them at Maplin's no problem except for one, sorry I can't remember which one now. Whichever one it was turned out to look OK any way so I didn't bother to replace it. Works a treat now :)

C6 - 330uf 35v
C10 - 330uf 10v
C11 - 100uf 10v
C14 - 47uf 35v
C15 - 47uf 35v
C16 - 3.3uf 50v
C17 - .47uf 50v
C19 - 22uf 16v
C22 - 47uf 35v
C24 - 47uf 35v
C32 - 47uf 50v
C33 - 100uf 35v
C44 - 22uf 35v

The label on the unit made me chuckle (see pic)

Cheers and an "Eternal SportsMind" for all of you :)

Mark

[mart155]

Thanks Mark, that looks like the exact list off prime that I was looking at.
I wasn't sure if there were some typo's in it. C17 (.47uf 50v) and C32 (47uf 50v) for example. Are they the same thing?
Do you think that C16 (3.3uf 50v) should be (0.33uF 35V)

Did you go into the shop with that list or order them over the internet.

How did you find the job, was it easy to remove the old ones. Did you use a solder sucker or braid.
Any tips?

Thanks
Martin.

[Midnight Blue]

Hi,

You may not be able to easily source the exact capacitors you need from your local high street store, they tend to keep a limited range but all is not lost.
Capacitors have two values printed on them, the capacitance and voltage.
Finding the correct capacitance is usually easy enough but if you get within +/- 10% it will be fine.
Usually finding the correct voltage is harder but the voltage shown is a minimum required. As long as you choose a bigger voltage it will be fine.

For example if you cannot find 47uf 35v, 50uf 50v will do fine.
Do not go down on the voltage.

Regards,

Andy

[NSXGB]

Thanks Mark, that looks like the exact list off prime that I was looking at.
I wasn't sure if there were some typo's in it. C17 (.47uf 50v) and C32 (47uf 50v) for example. Are they the same thing?
Do you think that C16 (3.3uf 50v) should be (0.33uF 35V)

Did you go into the shop with that list or order them over the internet.

How did you find the job, was it easy to remove the old ones. Did you use a solder sucker or braid.
Any tips?

Thanks
Martin.

Use solder braid if you do it yorself.
The TV repair shop will have the caps you require.
My advice would be to let them do it for the sake of £30....

[markc]

I'm one of those people (un-trusting souls) who even though not an expert myself, would rather do it myself than let a "professional" who's competance is unknown to me do it. This even extends to basic plumbing.. which I'm rubbish at :)
I'm on solid ground in this area though as I trained as an Electronic Engineer and have logged many thousands of solder iron hours, albeit some time ago now.

The list is is correct, there are no typo's. I went into the local Maplins and ordered them over the components counter. The chap used the normal customer catalogue to get the p/n's. As Andy said you can up spec on the voltage side of the capacitor rating and I had to do this in a couple of cases. They took about 10days to get the order in! Total cost <£3 :)

I used a solder sucker but you do need to be careful. As is quite usual due to the original automatic insertion technique, the legs of the capacitors tend to point inward (toward each other) so you need to avoid pulling the old component straight up or you risk ripping out the track/hole! I recommend cutting one leg of each capacitor with small cutters (<£2 at Maplins) then remove the component with it's remaining leg attached while heating the solder joint. Because the capacitors are knackered they may well just pull off their legs anyway. Clean up any blackened areas on the circuit board, where the electrolyte has leaked out of the capacitor, with isopropyl alchohol and a stiff brush. Make sure you get all this as it couple lead to short circuits or be hiding track damage ie open circuits.

Your local TV repair man will almost certainly do a good job. It's probably better if he's an old(er) git like me and has experience of actually replacing individual components like we used to in the old days :) They just replace entire circuit boards now.

Mark

[mart155]

Thanks Andy & Mark for the sound advice, I will order the caps then pull the unit out and have a good look at it. Then I'll make my decision whether to have a go or leave it to the pro's.
Martin.

[mart155]

Finally got around to removing the Climate control unit and PCB yesterday and sure enough at least 3 of the capacitors were shot having leaked and corroded one of the legs.

Spent quite a few hours de-soldering and replacing 12 out of the 13 with new ones. Like Markc there was one I could not get ( C16 - 3.3uf 50v) but it looked ok.

Bad news it that I put it all back in the car today and everything seemed to be operating as expected. I ran through the 'function selection and operation check' as described in the engineers manual and all was working as it should.

I have just been out tonight though and on running the car up to temperature, it seems I am only getting hot air on every temperature setting.

The air conditioning is working as far as I can tell. I can hear the compressor coming on and off and there i definitely gas flowing past the inspection glass at the font of the car.

[NSX 2000]

I have just been out tonight though and on running the car up to temperature, it seems I am only getting hot air on every temperature setting.


Martin, could be because it is so cold tonight that no matter what temperture you set it to it is going to blow hot air?
This is only a guess!
Paul.

[mart155]

Hmm, I'd like to think you are right Paul but I have my doubts.
Simple question then to all owners.

If you set your climate control to lowest setting of 18, in this cold and frosty weather, do you get cold or hot air coming from your vents?

Also, when following the self diagnosis circuit check on page 22-12 of the service manual:
Turn the ignition switch ON and turn the FAN switch to AUTO position. Wait for at least one minute on each TEMP display18c through 32c.
Then push both AUTO and OFF on the control unit at the same time. Any problems in circuits "A" through "I" listed in the diagram below will be indicated by the respective indicator coming on.
Does anyone know if this means that the indicator is displayed only while the AUTO and OFF buttons are held in?

[NSXGB]

Did you clean up the board before you put it back?

....time to take it to your local tv repair man I think?

[mart155]

Pretty Please ... Somebody !

Hmm, I'd like to think you are right Paul but I have my doubts.
Simple question then to all owners.

If you set your climate control to lowest setting of 18, in this cold and frosty weather, do you get cold or hot air coming from your vents?

Also, when following the self diagnosis circuit check on page 22-12 of the service manual:
Turn the ignition switch ON and turn the FAN switch to AUTO position. Wait for at least one minute on each TEMP display18c through 32c.
Then push both AUTO and OFF on the control unit at the same time. Any problems in circuits "A" through "I" listed in the diagram below will be indicated by the respective indicator coming on.
Does anyone know if this means that the indicator is displayed only while the AUTO and OFF buttons are held in?