i noticed that some of the GCs came with automatic climate (or temp) control w/ digital display. mine does not have it but if i found one could i simply plug it in and will it work?
Old fart with a wrench
Unfortunately no. The whole system is different, including the heater box.
Senior Member
Yes, it cannot be done, trust me, I've looked into it as well. 
There are apparently temp. sensors located throughout the GC, and the Laredo (which was the only WJ GC equipped with the manual dial controls)... the auto. temp. controls are also hooked to the ECU of the WJ, which the Laredo's manual dial controls aren't, so you'd not only have to mount temp. sensors in the Jeep, but also reprogram the ECU to work with the auto. temp. controls.
There are apparently temp. sensors located throughout the GC, and the Laredo (which was the only WJ GC equipped with the manual dial controls)... the auto. temp. controls are also hooked to the ECU of the WJ, which the Laredo's manual dial controls aren't, so you'd not only have to mount temp. sensors in the Jeep, but also reprogram the ECU to work with the auto. temp. controls.