Hey guys heres what I think is happening. Since i got my lude the air con has been cycling on and off erratically and most often at inconvenient times (i.e. no defog on the highway when its raining = can't see 5m in front of me). We eventually took it to an auto electrician who quoted 2 grand to fix the broken compressor. Common sense told me that the compressor was not broken, there was just something wrong with clutch engagement. I decided to consult the HELMS and troubleshoot the compressor. However with limited time and skill I didnt get very far (dont know how to take the cruise control out without ruining it to test the compressor relay). So since then i have:
Had the car retro fitted to r134a in hope that another auto electricians suggestion would be right that low pressure would be the cause of compressor turning off. This cost $260 because they spent extra time testing why it did exactly the same as before. Low and behold this didn't fix a thing.
The mode control also decided to stop working now so this was another problem to fix. It wasn't completely useless, just most of the time.
Decided to follow HELMS troubleshooting guide for mode control. Followed all the diagnostics and finally came to the last step which prompts to replace the heater control module. Knowing this would be expensive I pulled the module apart to see if anything obvious was broken and puzzled as to why testing each buttons corresponding pin showed appropriate continuity.
Regardless I decided to follow HELMS instructions and forked out $165 plus postage for a heater control module from a wrecker. Replaced and much to my dismay, same problem with compressor. However during this replacement i noticed that the mode control worked - for a few seconds. With the module still out, I (being pissed off) jiggled the cords around, and... I had complete control over the modes! The compressor also turned on. As i left the wires and fiddled with the switches though, the modes became less responsive and the AC turned off again. But moving the plug seemed to always cause everything to work.
Still pissed off I put everything back together (in the dark
) cause I was heading to the coast for the weekend and needed music.
Anyway, all this rambling aside, (now you should have an idea on what is going on) I'm quite confident that there is a fault in the plug, whether it be fatigue or something else. So my main question is, has anyone had any experience replacing a similar plug to this before or do they know how? If so, how would i go about repairing/replacing.
This is the plug (it is green in my car):
Linear Mode
