I doubt you need new buttons. What you probably need to fix is inside the assembly. When I changed some console lights on my 2000 LX I noticed there is a plastic retainer piece that keeps the buttons in place. It's not going to do you any good to just replace the covers as there are little buttons connected to the CB that you're actually pressing to use those functions. Removing the front console piece is very easy, just get a wedge at the top and start pulling (carefully). Once you have it out on a bench you should see the problem immediately.
Broken buttons in the dash
- Thread starter digitalmarker
- Start date
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ccasteel
SILVER Star
@BillBoyer it worked for me. Granted it's only been about two months.
I was getting ready to replace all the tiny blue switches so I bought a spare with the HVAC buttons not working. I was going to practice on it before possibly making mine worse. When I took it apart I found all the little switches worked when pressed directly. So since it was an easy process to pull it, I went ahead and checked mine. Sure enough, all the switches worked. When it's apart it's easy to tell where to add tape to close the gap a little. At first I added to much. I ended up using about three pieces of gaffers tape because I thought it would stick better. Two months still working great.
I was getting ready to replace all the tiny blue switches so I bought a spare with the HVAC buttons not working. I was going to practice on it before possibly making mine worse. When I took it apart I found all the little switches worked when pressed directly. So since it was an easy process to pull it, I went ahead and checked mine. Sure enough, all the switches worked. When it's apart it's easy to tell where to add tape to close the gap a little. At first I added to much. I ended up using about three pieces of gaffers tape because I thought it would stick better. Two months still working great.
I've been having this problem for years. One button never worked while many worked only after repeated mashing of the button. Finally pulled the boards apart today and pulled off one of the blue rubber caps. I inspected the black pill in the back of the cap and measured resistance, which varied from 70 ohms to 500 ohms depending on where I touched. Lightly cleaning the black pill seemed to actually increase the resistance. After I made sure I was able to reinstall the cap (tricky but doable) I pulled off all the caps for the hvac. I inspected the caps and saw that many of the black pills had two parallel shiny lines on them, from where they were making contact with the metal pads on the switch when depressed; those were areas of higher resistance - sometimes kohms.
I thought that if the caps were reinstalled in a random position, then it is very likely that any shiny/high resistance areas on the pills would be in a different position, allowing the part of the pill that wasn't worn out to make good contact with the metal pads on the base of the switch.
Even though the metal pads on the switches looked like they were in good condition, I sprayed electronic cleaner directly onto them (CRC quick dry electronic cleaner with straw attachment) then reinstalled the caps (I did not clean the switches). It took between 1 and 5 minutes to reinstall each cap depending on how much trouble it gave me. I did tear one cap when I went to pull it back out in frustration so be patient - good thing I had a "spare" cap since one switch isn't actually connected to a button.
I put it all back together, plugged everything back in and fired up the truck. The first try every button worked with just a light press.
It's possible that pressing the switch harder, such as by reducing the distance between the switch and the button, the contact area changes enough to trigger the switch.
I thought that if the caps were reinstalled in a random position, then it is very likely that any shiny/high resistance areas on the pills would be in a different position, allowing the part of the pill that wasn't worn out to make good contact with the metal pads on the base of the switch.
Even though the metal pads on the switches looked like they were in good condition, I sprayed electronic cleaner directly onto them (CRC quick dry electronic cleaner with straw attachment) then reinstalled the caps (I did not clean the switches). It took between 1 and 5 minutes to reinstall each cap depending on how much trouble it gave me. I did tear one cap when I went to pull it back out in frustration so be patient - good thing I had a "spare" cap since one switch isn't actually connected to a button.
I put it all back together, plugged everything back in and fired up the truck. The first try every button worked with just a light press.
It's possible that pressing the switch harder, such as by reducing the distance between the switch and the button, the contact area changes enough to trigger the switch.
