My A/C button needs replacing. The other day I hit the A/C switch and a few minutes later I noticed I was still getting warm air and the green light was not on. I thought I forget to hit it.

Unfortunately, it was on (the switch was pushed in and the detent was holding). I had to wiggle the switch to engage the green light and another slight wiggle disengaged it. The compressor kicked on and off each time I was getting and losing the green light, so for sure the switch is bad.

I can't stand the thought of the dealer prying off dash trim pieces with an exposed screwdriver, and me having to push for new trim pieces (or worse the tech butchering the actual dash). I'll hit the service manager with a complimentary warning that I'll be looking for damage and to avoid a bad scene (for him and me), please assign a decent master tech and not some butcher flunkie. I'm tempted to pay for the switch and do the install myself.

How do you pull the trim that surrounds the two switches, three dials, and recirculate slider? Can it be pulled without first pulling the nav surround that gets pulled for the jdm hazard job? Does the rectangular piece under the 12v outlet need to be pulled at all? Can someone with Helms please look it up, or someone who's done the jdm hazard (or a/c defrost delete) please comment?

Thanks. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I know the kind of butchery dealers are capable of (having been on the receiving end before), and having worked on an auto assembly line for fifteen years (GM, no less). Hell, I've done some damage myself on a bad day, I just don't want carma to catch up with me at this point, LOL.

 

You're not the only one. I just got back from taking the Fit on vacation, and I was having that problem as well. I believe that a few weeks back another person started a thread with that exact same problem, but I can't seem to find it using search. I would like to find that to see what they did about the problem.

 

so now i know 3 people with the same problem.

 

got the same problem here.. and when that green light is it, that button gets really hot o_o

 

Holy crap I thought I was the only one. It shuts off here and there, and if I lightly tap it it shuts off. I dont know notice till it starts getting hot as hell in the car. I went to the dealership but they were busy and told me it would take about 3 hours. Im going back this week to get it fixed. I really hate going to the dealership but I thought I would be the only one with this problem. I hope those idiots dont screw anything up.

If someone tries to do this please post up how. I want to avoid having the dealership do it at all costs.

 

i havent had the problem yet. but the button definitely gets hot.

 

The problem is intermittent, and definitely related to excessive heat. The day I noticed it, I had been travelling about 75 minutes at night. In 85 degrees F during the day, it occurred within minutes.

Reproducing the problem for the dealer will be a hit or miss proposition, and it's possible the replacement may exhibit the same problem. This is really screwed up.

 

Mine does it 100% of the time no matter the weather or how long ive been driving. I can replicate it 100% of the time.

 

if you bring it to the dealership i'd suggest you take pics of the area immediately prior to dropping it off. just in case they do mess it up and want to give you a hard time when you complain.

 

Excellent suggestion.

+ rep for you.

 

A few days ago, my switch was acting up again, and I happened to be near a Honda dealership in Glen Burnie, MD. I drove it in and had the service manager observe the problem, given the intermittent nature of it, and the need to verify the issue before they do anything. He didn't even want to come out, and only after threatening to call North American Honda did he take the ten steps toward the car and witness the issue.

Anyway, they couldn't reproduce the problem today, but my previous actions still paid off. Knowing I'm not shy about using the phone, they called Honda "techline", who admitted to three other failures just like mine, and instructed the dealership to order and install a new switch.

I guess we'll see if they can install it without butchering my car. I took pictures of the dash before going in today, and will do so again just before the install.

I hope this information helps others experiencing the same problem. Warranty claims just shouldn't be this difficult, but it is what it is. Even with the b/s, they're still nowhere near as bad as Mazda has been with my '08 CX-9.

 

No problem here either, but I did notice the "hot button" issue. I had this issue on my last car as well--it got so hot you could barely touch it and the surrounding area would get hot as well. My friend's aveo has the same thing. Must be something with newer models in the way they light the buttons.

Weird.

-P

 

yep i think all of the little lights are normal bulbs. i want to chang them all to LED's

 

Hello! The light of the defrost button stopped working just 5 months after I bought the car. The Dealer said bulbs are not covered on the warranty. Does anyone know if I can push to cover it? or if it is a easy way to replace bulb without removing all stereo??

I appreciate your answers!

 

I still need to get my AC switch replaced. It was working fine the first few weeks of warm weather, but now it's acting up again.

 

Same problem here.
After a long drive (say one hour) with the air on. The button becomes very hot to touch compared to everything else on the dash. Then the button feels loose, and switch itself off. If you gently displace mine to the right, it lights up again and the air comes back on.
Is that a bulb overheating or is there a short in there?

 

If it's not making contact except if you wiggle it, it's a bad switch. The contacts are worn, broken, or corroded. There's an incandescent indicator light bulb in there that's going to get a little warm (mine does). I doubt a bad switch would be a fire hazard but I'd get it checked; a poor connection might add to the heat a little.

 

Honda "Techline" is aware of the issue, and if the dealer service department makes contact with them, they'll instruct the tech to order and install a new a/c switch. The heat produced by the incandescent bulb is a design issue, and the new switch will heat up as much as your current defrective one. It's unrelated to root problem.

The dealer might deny the problem unless you can demonstrate it. One way to induce the condition is to wiggle the switch slightly to the left or right while the detent is pushed in (i.e. while the switch is at the on position). When the green light goes out, the clutch and compressor will not engagle. At that point, your blower will simple force warm air indefinitely.

Hope that helps.

 

Any way to remove the bulb from the switch, or disable the bulb while still maintaining A/C operation? Sounds like the bulb heat is the issue, and I've noticed it too. You can see/feel if the switch is on (recessed) so the indicator bulb isn't too important, especially when it seems to be the root of this problem.

 

Just chiming in--wifey's Fit exhibited the hot button a while ago. She says it has happened a couple times since, but not as scalding hot. I guess I'm relieved it's not just her car. I'm staying tuned for a TSB.