I've been replacing the climate control with used ones from ebay. I had luck with one for a while then had smoke and the smell of burning electric and it failed...double orange lights of death and the blower stopped working. I replaced with another but it still doesn't work. I suspect possibly the blower transistor or resistor but I haven't a clue about this stuff. I am not particularly handy with car repairs...but I did replace these units myself..those were easy...not sure about soldering.

A guy at a shop bypassed the climate control somehow and confirmed that the blower motor still works so it must be something else that causes it not to come on.

Have any of you been through problems with your climate control and successfully fixed them?

this is an easy one, most of those units are and should have been recalled. the new one you get at the dealer has the revised technology on the boards that keeps the unit from burning out. the auto temp control is prone to burning out, affecting the blower control, or and directional temp control. yes the new unit is expensive, about 350.. but, you wont have to replace it due to it burning out.get a new unit, and be sure to remember to place all points to off during cranking or shutting down the car. when the ac/heat unit is positioned "on" when you crank the car, a surge of power flashes thru the boards, all your memory set points and temps are powered up and powered down and back up again sometimes confusing the memory and overloading the components on the board. resulting in the smell and whiff of smoke.
good luck! :thumbsup:

I could be wrong, but I thought the the Engine Management Unit (EMU) switched out the A/C relay for the period the vehicle was being started. If the A/C relay is de-energised - the A/C compressor solenoid won't energise (to bring in the compressor) and therefore the A/C system won't work.

Thanks for the reply.

I have only seen them for something like $750 to $877 new. Where can I find a new one for $350?

I did find a website that has used ones for $150 to $350. Some say the mileage.

One of the things that happened was all of a sudden the blower changed to full blast on its own then off again and then we smelled something electric burning. It was pretty startling. When bypassed or tested: the blower still works.

Does the blower work on all speeds? If it doesn't and only works on high speed only, then I would suggest your blower power-pack (located next to the A/C control relay) might have some resistors burnt out.

The blower isn't working at all with any of the used ECC's that I've bought. But when tested it still worked.

That's not what I asked.
My question was - does the blower motor operate on all speeds or just one?

ok, i posted the answer because i had the same problem last year. and after many tries to get the cheaper way out i had to get a replacement control box. yes, you are right about the "ac" not running during starts, i didnt say the ac would cycle during a start, if you have the "control box on the dash" turned to a working position the memory in the box ( it works similair to a radio's) then it is on during the crank operation. When you turn the key you get to the full-most position, stop, your warning lights are luminated, your air comes on, not the compressor, but the control box, wait, now you hear the directional selection, and the fan is on. Now, when you normally crank the car you speed thru the point of this, but you also breifly surge voltage to the control box, it starts the memory cycle, but then instantly ther is no power again when the car starts, then when your car is running, it has the power full time. You see, its the power interuption thats shorting out hte controls. And the controls is the center of any climate contol function, if it shorts you will not get desired usage of the climate system. it will blow air, but not in the direction you want. I still have the burned out control box today, you can see on the board the melted area that caused the malfuntion of the system. My conclusion came from HOURS on the phone with the factory parts rep.
Trix, you can get a cheaper used refurbished one from Euroasianauto.com. Even if the site says they dont have the part call any way, ask for Bob, the owner, he will take care of you