997 gummy AC control button removal

[mghorayeb]

Hi,

Just bought a beautiful 2006 Carrera S, and the climate control buttons are nasty. The rubberised coating is coming off. Apparently this is a common problem, especially in hotter climates (I live in Dubai), and some have had luck getting the issue addressed under warranty. My car is out of warranty, and the only repair Porsche suggested is replacing the whole climate control unit (ouch!). Does anybody have experience removing the AC console, and then removing the 2 controls (temperature and fan) from the console. Then it's a simple matter of getting them repainted ("Sticky No More" is highly recommended). Pictures would be a BIG help.

Thanks in advance,

Mark G., Dubai, UAE.

[pk2]

You shouldnt have to remove the entire unit (though I'm not sure what you model looks like). Usualy you can pop the nobs of with a screw driver. Work your way around the knob prying. Another posibility is painting them in place (again I don't know exactly what they look like). Just carefully tape around them with good massking tape. Then tape newspaper around that to protect everything. Peel rubber away, (maybe sand with 220) and finish with 350 or so. If you don't trust your self with a spray can, any body shop should do it really cheap if you have it prepped.

If you have to remove the entire unit, the sides of the center counsel just pop of revealing a bunch of screws holding in the various components. There's a hand full of screws on each side, Remove. Then the unit will slide out..Cable conectors are all different so reasemambly isn't a big deal.

Regards PK

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[mghorayeb]

Thanks PK,

Doesn't look like it's possible to do a good job without pulling the unit out and taking it apart. I will get to it eventually - in the meantime, I leave it on "Auto" ( which is best anyhow). Hopefully someone will upload some pics of the disassembly of the unit. Meanwhile, I will keep combing this excellent website, as the answer may already be here. I will try to post some pics of the offending switches soon.

Thanks, have a good weekend, and safe driving.

Mark G., Dubai, United Arab Emirates.