Yes, you can use ANY eatc!

[haydenm315]

drdave:
You can get the bulbs from some Ford dealers at $10.75 per bulb. If you can't get them, let me know and I can order them for you. I will dig out my notes later and give you the part number that you need.
</strong>

ha... $11.00 per bulb? That's ridiculous just as most other dealer requests are. I can almost guarantee that the junk yard checkout dude would just tell me to pass on through if I showed him a few bulbs. I inspected the bulbs that weren't lit, and thought they looked ok. There was a nice brown burnt ring on the plastic holder, but it was like that on all of them. I didn't see a blown filament. I did see a little bit of corrosion. Is the light circuit one of those like old christmas tree light sets where if one isn't connected, the whole strand won't glow. After messing with the blown ones, none of them glow. I don't think the one's I've tried to replace are 100% in.

<strong>
I'll work on reversing the function of the red and blue buttons as time permits.
</strong>

do it if you like. It's not a big deal to switch the blue and red buttons. They actually interchange. I dont' understand why ford would use different slides for some of the buttons, but whatever. I can switch my philosophy from colder/hotter to +/-. It's not gonna be a big deal. Then again, I'll probably have to take it apart somewhere down the line and I coudl switch it back.

<strong>
Just remembered. The bulbs are almost never bad. They get oxidized being that they conduct with dissimilar metals. Give the bulbs a vinegar bath, or use some contact cleaner on the copper base of the bulbs where they contact the PCB, and clean the contact points on the PCB as well.
</strong>

I'll do that.

thanks for all the help. I sent $30 to the shoforum for people like you that are out there. Thanks again.

 

[drdave]

I think they work by themselves, but I can't remember. Just keep messing with the bulbs; they'll light up for you.

 

[haydenm315]

drdave:
I think they work by themselves, but I can't remember. Just keep messing with the bulbs; they'll light up for you.

They're kinda a pita the turn. I'll grab another screwdriver or something. Much thanks again.

 

[haydenm315]

I thought everything was good until I discovered that the automatic and defrost buttons got swapped. What shall I do now? I don't feel like putting it back together with the auto and defrost buttons swapped. Definately sucks. Leave it to me to find a potential hole in the, "yes you can use any eatc celebration". I blame the junkyard for not having any crown vics or grand marquis. Bunch of useless crap in that yard this time around.

<small>[ January 26, 2004, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: haydenm315 ]</small>

 

[Zap]

From what you are saying, if I can find an EATC from a Crown Vic. or Grand Marq. that it should identically match the SHO button nameplates and be an easy swap? I'm actually an EE student, so soldering is second nature for me. I take it that this is a much cheaper alternative than trying to find and buy an actual '95 SHO EATC? How much do these EATCs usually go for?

 

[haydenm315]

Zap:
From what you are saying, if I can find an EATC from a Crown Vic. or Grand Marq. that it should identically match the SHO button nameplates and be an easy swap? I'm actually an EE student, so soldering is second nature for me. I take it that this is a much cheaper alternative than trying to find and buy an actual '95 SHO EATC? How much do these EATCs usually go for?

There's a 95' sho unit up on ebay currently at $66. I've seen them go upwards of $100. There is one up there that's supposedly from a grand marquis and has the same button configuration as the 95' unit I grabbed from a lincoln. I haven't been able to get this unit to work. I think you may be in trouble if the vent and norm/ac buttons are swapped. In other words, if there is a normal a/c button to the right of the max a/c button instead of the vent button, you're gonna have a fun time wiring it up and getting all the buttons to work. The punks at ford decided to be holes and make it not possible to swap button positions due to different width button slides. Maybe it was error control for the assembly line workers, but it really ****** me off.

 

[DJ SHO]

IF anyone was wondering (don't know if someone's posted it here yet) but the EATC in a Mark VIII has the Crown Vic style bigger buttons, but it has the correct buttons, in order (MAX A/C, VENT, VENT/FLOOR, FLOOR, FLOOR/DEF, DEF) just as our SHO's have, along with an outside temp button.

<small>[ February 12, 2004, 02:23 AM: Message edited by: DJ SHO ]</small>

 

[Bizzy]

I can get the 95 ETAC bulbs for 9.70 at my local dealer. IF anyone needs them they are a 3 day special order. If anyone would like I'll post a classified to garner interest, then make one large order. I believe that the newer 96+ EATC units use the same bulb, or if it is different someone please let me know and I'll see what my pricing is on them.

I'd offer the bulbs at my cost, plus postage, and whatever minimal amount paypal would charge me. Prolly when all is said an done it would be like $10.20 or so for bulbs shipped to your door. Last time my dealer said I needed to order a minimum of 5 bulbs, cause of the special order status.

 

[drdave]

Talk to your dealer. Tell him that you know for a fact that they can do them for $8.75 each. It took a little work, but my dealers will do them for that price.

 

[haydenm315]

DJ SHO:
IF anyone was wondering (don't know if someone's posted it here yet) but the EATC in a Mark VIII has the Crown Vic style bigger buttons, but it has the correct buttons, in order (MAX A/C, VENT, VENT/FLOOR, FLOOR, FLOOR/DEF, DEF) just as our SHO's have, along with an outside temp button.

I saw a few mark VII's today at the yard, but they were all missing the eatc. I'm in desperate need of a new face. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the whole lincoln unit and swap out the blower motor controller?

 

[Mike Gallion]

haydenm315
I saw a few mark VII's today at the yard, but they were all missing the eatc. I'm in desperate need of a new face. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the whole lincoln unit and swap out the blower motor controller? [/QB]

 

[Mike Gallion]

Mike Gallion:

haydenm315
I saw a few mark VII's today at the yard, but they were all missing the eatc. I'm in desperate need of a new face. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the whole lincoln unit and swap out the blower motor controller?

[/QB]

Sorry about that last post. I'm still kind of a newbie to this forum. I do have some experience with the Ford EATC units and I am pretty sure that the pinouts are different from Taurus to Mark VIII. In fact, I believe the Blue Oval did this intentionally madflame

 

[haydenm315]

Mike Gallion:

Mike Gallion:

haydenm315
I saw a few mark VII's today at the yard, but they were all missing the eatc. I'm in desperate need of a new face. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the whole lincoln unit and swap out the blower motor controller?

Sorry about that last post. I'm still kind of a newbie to this forum. I do have some experience with the Ford EATC units and I am pretty sure that the pinouts are different from Taurus to Mark VIII. In fact, I believe the Blue Oval did this intentionally madflame [/QB]

Those cumm gobblers did more than that to **** us off with the eatc's. The slides on the norm ac and vent buttons are different so you can't simply swap the buttons. The pinouts are all the same, however the unit cannot be made to work simply by swapping a few wires. Different buttons are tied to the same wires and fixing one button screws up others. The punks also used a different size light bulb on those units.

 

[drdave]

You don't even know the half of it with the EATC units. Where they all look the same, after 95 it's hard to find two that are alike. It's almost like they decided to make a different unit for each car, and the different departments didn't know about the other's work.

On a lot of the units, the buttons can be moved without a problem. The big problem is that you never really know what you're getting into just by looking at the outside.

Hadenm315, I’ll work this out for you. I just haven’t had any time to dedicate to this lately.

I've had my hands on more than 100 of these now, and it's always something different.

 

[Slo-Sho]

This thread is still going? eek! For those lucky enough to have a 95 unit it's a 15 min swap with a newer EATC.

 

[haydenm315]

drdave:
You don't even know the half of it with the EATC units. Where they all look the same, after 95 it's hard to find two that are alike. It's almost like they decided to make a different unit for each car, and the different departments didn't know about the other's work.
</strong>

you crack me up drdave. After dealing with my 2 units and noticing all the differences, I understand where you're coming from.

<strong>
On a lot of the units, the buttons can be moved without a problem. The big problem is that you never really know what you're getting into just by looking at the outside.
</strong>

The differing thickness of those slides is such an inconvenience. Why did they do that? It would make matters much easier if i could just physically swap those 2 buttons.

<strong>
Hadenm315, I’ll work this out for you. I just haven’t had any time to dedicate to this lately.
</strong>

I've got full temperature control. The only problem is my automatic button is now my defrost button and the other way around. The +/- buttons were swapped but they can be physically swapped, so that's not a problem. I still need to get the bottom row of lights to work.

 

[haydenm315]

I was working at some retirement community last week and eyed up a recent model gran marquis. It had the rubber button unit but the button positioning was swapped for vent / norm a/c. Do the rubber buttons easily swap?

 

[haydenm315]

I think my eatc battles are over for a while. Someone was looking over me while in the junkyard yesterday. I found a new addition to the yard... a 90 black on black mtx. The car posessed a hard button green glowing eatc with a yellow case. It works perfectly. I know this wasn't oem equipment in a 90. Where did it come from? All buttons are positioned and labeled like my original unit. I love it!!!

 

[SHOMA]

FWIW, I now have a EATC with a face from a 99 Lincoln (round buttons). Same seller as the one that was on ebay, but I swapped him some old EATCs and some $$ for it. Its sweet!!! Definitely an awesome upgrade!
Kevin

 

[SHO92]

Figured I'd bring this post back from the dead instead of making a new one. I am trying to convert an EATC for a friend of mine. We have a unit from a Crown Vic, and a unit from a 92 SHO. The problem is that the SHO unit is a 12 wire unit, and the Crown Vic is the 16 wire unit. DrDave said he had that figured out but he never posted how to actually do it. Has anyone actually done this? I saw that someone earlier said something about the fan speed control added with the other 12 wires, but the problem is that both units have a fan speed control with the same number, location and color of wires, so that doesn't really seem possible. Hopefully someone has an idea on what to do. Thanks.