what would cause the a/c temperature to display broken letters and numbers? for example when the a/c is OFF, the display shows the top half of the letters but cuts off the bottom half. any ideas on why this is happening?

Assuming were talking about the LCD display, try this. Run your fingertip(from left to right or vice-versa) across the display face and see if anything changes. Don't be afraid to push a bit. It's not a permanent fix, but it'll allow you to read the darn thing long enough to set it to your liking. The fix is to replace the pushbutton unit as far as I know.

the problem seems to come and go for now. the dealer wants $700 for a new one! the cheapest i have found is $300.