My HEVAC system doesn't work perfectly, but I can get warmth in the winter and turn it off in the summer so it's not so bad! This week the display has behaved erratically, losing bits, going blank and then working fine again on the last journey. I've watched a Youtube clip showing how to fix it with a Zebra Strip. My question is whether I can buy a suitable strip cheaply from a local source, as a generic item, and, if so, what precise size should it be? I see that there is a strip on Ebay for that specific job, but it is £13.16 inc. p&p for just the strip or £20.95 for the strip and bulb kit. There are bits of strip of various sizes on Ebay, but all from US suppliers. It seems like something that might be just a couple of pounds, if I could find the right spec. and a supplier. Anyone been here before?

Marty has been there, and has the T shirt to prove it!
He sells them on his web shop. Buy local and save!
http://p38webshop.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=75&product_id=85

I ordered a strip from Marty and downloaded his instructions. It worked like a charm.

I think I'm going to have to order one too. My HEVAC is fine except on very rare occasions when the weather is cold, one segment is out but comes back as soon as the interior warms up again. Now my car hasn't been used since Friday, didn't get used over Christmas and Monday and Tuesday I used the Ascot as I'm replacing a bathroom with a wet room so it was full of building type stuff. Got in mine today and half the segments on the HEVAC were missing! They eventually all came back after about 100 miles or so but it seems the answer is to just keep using the car. Give it time for things to start to fail and they do.....

I think P38's get tee'd off if you don't get them involved in something nearly every day.

If they see you using another vehicle I think they decide to get a hump on and develope a fault immediately. If you take them out for a little run, much like a boxer dog, then they are quite happy and they know that you do really like them !!!!

Pierre3.

I bought one over two years ago after the HEVAC display intermittent partial failures started getting a bit too common. Damp and low battery seem to be what surfaces the problem although the root cause is connection deterioration due to old age.

Thing started behaving again immediately except for very occasional loss of a couple of segments when damp and battery low. Magic.

I guess the magic is wearing off though as almost all off has become pretty common since early December. Even a good long run to de-damp everything and get the battery right up didn't cure things for long.

Need to check a blend motor too so I guess I shall be digging in soon when things warm up.

Clive

Pierre3 wrote:

I think P38's get tee'd off if you don't get them involved in something nearly every day.

If they see you using another vehicle I think they decide to get a hump on and develope a fault immediately. If you take them out for a little run, much like a boxer dog, then they are quite happy and they know that you do really like them !!!!

Thankfully I don't have to get involved with anything on mine every day, other than driving it. It shouldn't really get the hump if I'm using the Ascot as it knows that other than being a 4.6 HSE instead of a 4.0 litre oddball spec, 2 years older and with 250,000 miles less, permanent ABS and TC lights on and a book symbol on the HEVAC, it knows which one I prefer and would likely get offended if I started piling sheets of plasterboard and boxes of floor tiles in it.

I fitted the zebra connector a couple of years ago and all was fine. Last winter, however, the display started to lose a few segments but recovered quickly as the car warmed up. Unfortunately, the problem gradually worsened so a month or so ago I decided to disassemble the HEVAC unit to see what could be done. I discovered two problems:

1. The two screws immediately under the display unit that holds the internals all together and provide most of the clamping force for the connector were loose and the threads in the plastic housing had stripped - I was probably a bit overzealous in the previous reassembly in trying to ensure a good contact. The application of a few drops of fibreglass resin into the holes sorted that problem out.

2. The display connection strips on the board (not the display itself) were very discoloured. They had been cleaned when I first installed the zebra connector but I was very gentle. Probably too gentle. This time I used a plastic scraper (a clean spare small glue spreader in my case - definitely non metallic) to firmly but carefully scrape away all the discolouration using contact cleaner as ‘lubrication’. This took some time to get all the strips looking brand new. I also carefully recleaned the contacts on the screen itself for good measure even though they looked OK.

Once reassembled the HEVAC display has been back to rude health at all times . . . . . so far.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on ones attachment to work, I am now retired so therefore I don't use a car for perhaps three or four days. I am close enough to a large, local supermarket to walk and not have to worry about parking. But I have found in the past that the P38 gets grumpy if I use the Lexus every time I need to go out.

Nine times out of ten it will show up some kind of error, currently the issue with the leak off pipes, or the timing chain, or the FIP, and also the odd message "Gearbox Fault", which goes away if I move the gear shift backwards and forwards a couple of "clicks". Then, having given me a few unwanted surprises it will be happy for a few weeks, or even months. Now I keep a big stuffed lion on the back seat to see if that helps, to keep the car company, like always keeping two horses together and not one on its' own.

I had the missing pixels on my HEVAC display and I tried the zebra strip repair but for me it didn't work. I just decided to send the whole lot to Marty Cox and I bought a repaired unit from him. That way I could be sure that if there was a problem then it would probably be something else. The display has been perfect for over a year now.

Pierre3.

Thanks for all your helpful contributions on this thread. P38 Parts Shop is a bit cheaper! Happy New Year to all.

I'm also retired but that means I'm not wasting 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on work so have much more time available to use the car. Compared with my usual 20-22,000 miles a year I managed 28,000 last year despite lockdowns and essential journeys only.

Changing the zebra strip is actually easier than Marty's excellent instruction make it seem. My mate Danny did it and he's as ham fisted as they come.