The Porsche 996 was the first 911 to feature a modern climate control system – set the desired cabin temperature and the electronics would do the rest. At the heart of the system is a control box in the centre console with buttons and a large, clear LCD display. It works very well but, as the cars get older, it’s becoming common to find faulty LCD screens – usually one corner fails leading to an orange smudge. The same unit is used in early Boxsters, too, by the way.
I had one of these recently and Porsche quoted me around £500 for a complete control unit, which seemed excessive when it was working fine with the exception of the display. A quick look online brought up an American company ModuleMaster that sells an LCD repair kit. The cost was $70 (about £45) plus shipping to the UK, which brought it to £70.
The kit arrived within a week and I was impressed by the thought that had gone into. It contained a replacement LCD, alcohol wipes, instructions on a memory stick and even a pair of cotton gloves. All I needed to supply was a small Phillips screwdriver and some long-nosed pliers.
The unit was easily removed from the car; after pinging off the plastic surround there were three screws to remove, followed by a couple of multipin plugs.
It was then simply a case of following the very clear instructions on the memory stick to dismantle the control unit and remove the screen.
It’s then a case of using the alcohol wipes to clean up the switch contacts and then donning the cotton gloves to handle the new LCD which drops neatly into place, and it’s then a quick job to put everything back together again.
In fact, it’s no more than half an hour’s work from start to finish, and then a five minute job to plug the unit back into the car. The new display is slightly brighter than the original and some of the graphics are slightly different, too. It works well and is a worthwhile repair if your Porsche 996 or Boxster climate control panel LCD is failing.
