QuestionHi Ray, I'm hoping you can help!
After taking my 2000 S80 to a local mechanic for a brake job I found the battery in my car was totally dead. There was no explanation as to why, just "someone must have left a light on". They jumped it no problem and I left. On the way home I noticed that the heater would not turn on and there were no lights or function of any of the components on that section of the dash. (Climate control, defroster, heated seats, STC button, headrest release, etc.) I brought it back to the shop and the mechanic said the whole unit would need to be replaced and I'd have to take it to a dealer. He said there was power going to the unit.
I re-checked every fuse on the car, both the driver's door and under hood ones. All were fine. I decided to try re-setting the electrical system by disconnecting the battery for about 15 minutes. That did nothing. I removed the cluster from the dash and verified that there was power coming in on one of the connectors. (there were some pins with battery voltage and others with 6 to 8 volts) I noted that although there were no lights or function on the panel the fan behind the cabin temp sensor would not spin but oscillate back and forth when I plugged in the harness connector. To me, that tells me that some power is getting to the unit. Before I start searching junk yards to replace the cluster is there anything else I can try? I should also note that a couple of the LED's on that panel had stopped working some time back and more recently I started getting a "air bag service urgent" message. I'm wondering if more electrical problems are headed my way.
Given my economic situation it's either do this myself or buy a junker to get me through the winter. (Can't drive through a New England winter without defrost or heat!) Bringing it to the dealer is not in the cards these days.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Sean
Side note: After the original mechanic told me the cluster was "fried" and I picked up the car I found I now had no directionals, windows, mirrors convenience lights etc. Brought it back again and he checked everything he knew how and said I had to take it to a dealer. My gut told me that something more was going on and that's what made me start taking the dash apart. The mechanic had not re- attached the other harness connectors to the back of the module. Once I did that, everything else came back except the climate control group. I assume that the CAN wiring (read about that here someplace) runs through the harness and so disconnecting any part will result in lots of things not working.
AnswerSean,
Since it lost all thw programming I would try to first disconnect the battery cables touch them together for about 10 mins. Connect all back up, run the car and see what happens. May need dealers help tp reprogram the unit. If you do get a used part that may also need to be programmed to the car.
