The buttons and temperature wheel are a bit difficult to read at night. If they’re supposed to be illuminated, where’s the bulb(s) and how would I install new one(s)?

There are 2 bulbs in the A/C control panel, then some transparent plastic is used to route the light to buttons and temperature dial. It's a very smart design, when you push down one of buttons, that button will get more light than other button.

You need to remove the ashtray (better remove the wood panel arround the **** lever first), the radio then the A/C control unit.

To access those bulbs, you have to remove all the buttons, be careful not to break them.

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99 BMW 540i 6-speed 110K Km
03 SAAB 9-5 wagon 80K Km
92 400E (Sold) 245K km
Still missing the days with the Benz, it kept me busy.

Thanks for the reply.
Dou you have any suggestions for procedure to remove the ash tray and wood surround?

Easier way. Above the radio on the underside of the wood trim are two screws. Remove these and pull off the wood panel. Exposed is the entire climate control unit. You will see two small pieces of foil and behind these are the bulbs.

Make a "bulb grabbing" tool out of a piece of plastic tubing. Put some superglue on the end and stick it to the bulb. Let set and pull out! You may want to trim the tube to give the superglue more adhesion room to stick to the bulb. Putting the bulb back in is the reverse, but don't use superglue

"Make a "bulb grabbing" tool out of a piece of plastic tubing." Great idea.
No sooner had I inserted a tool for each bulb, the phone rang reminding me to pick up my daughters (15 & 16) at school, so I left the tools in to dry. My girls comments regarding the climate control's "air freshing additive" were quite interesting.