I wasn't ever happy with the inability to manually direct the climate control airflow in my 93. I decided to see if I could transplant just the ECC head from the 97 which adds the Mode button for this function. It somewhat worked but the Recirc function didn't operate and the AC was always on. Today I installed the HVAC programmer and happiness was restored. There were no modifications needed to install either the head or programmer. It was simply a plug and play swap.

nice work!

Lose the self-diagnostics, though? I would also like this swap if I could keep the code display.

Hmmmm. Good question. I wonder if that is a function of the programmer, head or both. I might have to experiment some more.

What controls the dimming of the ECC display with that setup? Stock it'* the stereo, but what about now?

Yep, you are going to lose the dimming control for both the stereo AND ECC, right? Because prior to 96 it was controlled by the HU, 96+ was controlled by the ECC. But, since you have a different HU.. that probably won't be affected, since I am guessing the HU isn't wired into the dimmer switch, whatsoever?

Cood mod, but I still swear my '89 can do that.. I have a battery now so I could test it.. but I will wait until the car is running first. Or the snow melts [yes, we have snow! :(].


-justin

I'm not sure cause I already have an aftermarket radio installed. I'm curious too so I'll pop the OEM radio in and find out.

How does the new ECC match the interior at night?

I too noticed that nice feature missing in my 1990 the oither day when driving it home.
I am gonna have to do this mod now since I have the 1997 controls already.

Ok, call me a dumbass -where is the HVAC programmer? I have the controls in my 1997 yet, but am not sure if I sent the programmer to Harofreaks dad with some other modules.

From what I can tell in the day time, green display and red backlighting for the buttons. Same as the original. The dimming is not controled by the radio though. I'll have to research it further when my books arrive.

The programmer is located right next to the heater core access door on both the 93 and 97. It'* actually mounted to it. I've never had to dig into the one on the 90 but I think it'* located in the same spot.