HVAC display problem
 

Hey Boxster People:

Has anyone else had a problem with the HVAC display where the black material is flaking off from the inside?

This is hard to describe, but on the right side of the display (next to the buttons for selecting bottom, middle and top airflow vents), the black masking material is disappearing on the screen showing which vent is active. I hate to have to shell out $400.00 for a new climate control unit, but this looks tacky and it's SPREADING to the point where the arrow indicating the bottom vent is active is almost not visible.

This is happening on my 2002 Boxster S which is now out of warranty, too.

Any ideas as to why this would happen and/or how to fix it without replacing the whole HVAC display unit? HELP!!!

The display is backlit Liquid Crystal (LCD) similar to most calculators. There are several reasons why an LCD fails this way. The electrodes (integrated circuit) in charge of creating the display at those points failed, there is a voltage control problem at that display point, or you have a leak between the substrates in the display. My guess is that even if it is fixable (which depends on why the unit is failing), it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new unit.

Mine is doing the exact same thing unfortunately.

Haven't found any leads on getting it fixed, you'd probably have to source the spare for those little lcds, which I'm sure would be near impossible.

I'm hoping I can come up with a decent used one for less than $400.

Not fixable. Perhaps a used one might reduce your costs.