'94 C180 Air Con control panel disassembly

[Robert Cox]

Took the front console panel off my C180 looking for the cause of the vacuum leak which keeps closing my centre vents (didn't find it - just disconnected the lever that closes the vent, accessible when glovebox removed. Front manual wheel does a good job of closing the vent :wink: ).

Thought I'd spray the rheostats of the temperature wheels with contact cleaner, since either the air con is freezing cold, or the heater comes on - nothing in between. It wasn't clear how the front comes off the control module. It's obviously held by the multiple clips moulded in the front plastic cover, but do the fan speed knob and air direction knob pull off, or can they stay in position?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Robert

 

[it_tim]

The fan speed and air direction knobs just pull off. It took me a while to figure this out when I needed to change the light bulb behind the fan speed knob.

Tim

 

[Robert Cox]

Thanks.

Now I can tackle disassembly with confidence... :wink:

(Not so sure about reassembly... )

Cheers.

 

[it_tim]

When re-assembling the heater unit, the part I found really tricky was re-aligning the air direction prongs into the rubber sockets. I hope you find this easier!

Tim

 

[Robert Cox]

You're not wrong...

I've already encountered this when removing and reinserting the unit in search of the vacuum leak. Many times upon reinsertion, the prongs had simply been bent down and weren't in their sockets, and as you push the whole thing in, you lose sight of the prongs and sockets are doing. :x

However, with a very powerful torch I did find that at one point I could just see the prongs starting to enter the sockets.

I confirmed that the knobs simply pull off - thanks! What I'm really concerned about is that once I have the knobs off and then remove the front panel to get at the rheostats moved by the thumbwheels, is something going to go "sprongggg..." and bits fly everywhere???