dash lights in cars........grrrrrrr

[vacuumfreeeke]

Hey guys... ever since I have had my Honda Accord (2 years, it's about 11 years old now), the back lights for the a/c fan speed and mode button for the climate control have been burned out. I went to the dealer, but they wanted 120 dollars and made me wait 3 hours to tell me that so I left. Well, a couple months ago on the way home from a quilting class, the odometer light burned out. Last night as I was driving home from work, I noticed the light under the gearshift designations was also out. It worked when I got the car, and I'm not sure when that one went out. It put me over the top.... I HATE it when things that are supposed to work don't and burned out lights in a car just drive me crazy. I got a burst of testosterone (very rare for me) and decided I could replace them myself. I tore the center console out and after several HOURS, finally got the bulb under the gearshift replaced. I also ripped the climate control panel (not easy, the clips didn't want to submit, and I scratched the dash doing it) and fished the burned out bulb out that was behind the knobs there. The auto parts store doesn't even carry those bulbs, so I have to go all the way to the Honda dealer (45 minute drive!) and pay like 20 dollars to get the bulbs I need! I just don't know why they make it so difficult to replace bulbs that go out. Everyone I talked to said they just let it go when their bulbs burned out, but they bother me too much to do that! I think something like that is more likely to bother someone who is into appliances for some reason! Wish me luck, tomorrow I replace those bulbs and put the center console back together... and I'm not at all mechanically inclined.

Just wondering if things like that bother you, and if it's happened to you, if you got it fixed or did it yourself or just let it go? I know most people these days don't keep cars long enough to experience burned out dash bulbs!

 

[cfz2882]

special japanese bulbs

were they the tiny little bulbs with the plastic base about
3/8 dia.-seen lots of those on japanese cars...

 

[vacuumfreeeke]

Yes... I have to buy the base part too apparently!

 

[reversajet]

I know...

Try looking for a dash bulb on a 10-year old VW Jetta! I'd also like to see my heater controls mid-console again; and have you noticed some window lift buttons on the door are lit from behind now? That must need a whole assembly. I drove my GM cars into the ground and the only thing that didn't fail were the dash lights!

 

[hydralique]

Dashboards can be a pita . . .

I've never disassembled a dash in a Japanese car, but over the years have removed or opened up dash parts in various makes, including Saab, VW, Porsche, Citroen, Fiat, Jaguar, Chevy, Alfa Romeo, and DeTomaso cars. None of them are easy, and most of these cars were from the '60s or '70s with less plastic and more exposed fasteners than in new cars. Probably the wackiest of the bunch was my sister's old '65 Jag: to reach the fuses (something one becomes very familiar with on an old Jag!) you first must open the middle hinged dash panel that holds the minor guages and most switches. Jaguar thoughtfully provided two big knurled knobs to allow this panel to hinge down without using tools. However, there is a little plastic panel at the bottom of the big hinged panel that identifies all the swtiches such as lights and wipers, and if you don't go and find a phillips head screwdriver to take this off first it will happily crack when the main panel hinges . . . obviously a product of two design teams who didn't speak to each other.

Probably the smartest lighting solution I've seen is the way Fiat used fiber optics to light the console mounted controls on the X1/9, so instead of many small bulbs there was one large one in a not too difficult to reach housing. Of course I never had that bulb go bad in any of my X1/9s, even over several hundred thousand miles.

 

[58limited]

Never had to replace a bulb on a newer car. Older cars are pretty easy most of the time, but you have to be a contortionist to reach up and get to them.

 

[rp2813]

I remember the instrument panel bulbs on the mid-60's Lincolns weren't your average type, so this is nothing new. And access to them was no picnic either. In order to remove the instrument panel front, the process started way up at the sun visors, which had to be removed, then the chrome trim down each side of the windshield, then the top of the dash, and only then would you be able to access the actual instrument panel and remove the knobs and screws before pulling the panel front off. I can't even tell you how many screws were involved in that entire operation.

 

[dnastrau]

1960s Lincolns

'61-'69 Lincolns: Interesting cars to be sure - suicide doors and probably one of the heaviest "unit body" cars ever made. I remember my uncle talking about changing the power steering pump on one and what a terrible job that was. Instead of being belt driven and mounted on a bracket like other cars it was mounted underneath the crankshaft pulley and was keyed directly to the nose of the crankshaft. The power steering pump also powered the windshield wipers on these cars - they were hydraulic. Talk about overkill and over-engineering!

 

[petek]

Not fun and something I think about when I see new cars on the road..all those added lights on the door mirrors etc. How much to fix em or replace the mirror unit if it gets busted. A lot of money. The new LED lights some cars sport, well I've seen plenty of them driving around where a few of the LED's aren't working, that would annoy me to no end and again, probably an enormous amount of money to fix.

 

[danmantn]

Try to find a green bulb for an 85 Buick....they did not exist as early as 1990. It bugged me to no end, but better than having green and white speedo lights. I wonder where that car is now...probably part of my new dishwasher.

 

[strongenough78]

This is why I love my Chevrolet. I can have the whole dash apart, bulbs replaced, and back together in like 15 minutes.

 

[ronhic]

I must.....

....be lucky.

I've never had to replace a dash light on any car I've owned from Australian assembled Renaults, Triumphs and Morris's to Daihatsu and Citroens....

 

[jaxsunst]

That's one of the reasons I got rid of my Malibu. it was continually popping dash lights, and the bulbs were leds soldered into the cards. You had to replace the entire climate control module, the entire instrument cluster, ect. That, the neurotic automatic climate control, the trunk release(I replaced it twice and it still wasn't working when I traded it), and the remote start, were why I didn't keep it. It was mechanically a very solid car. Also the suede stuff in the seats stained with everything that touched it.

 

[peterh770]

2004 Toyota 4Runner... Yep, the clock light went out a week ago; the fan speed light has been out for months. I was going to ask my mechanic for an estimate to get them replaced next time I go in. I was ok with the climate lights going out, but the clock I need.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Common problem nowadays?

My '01 VW Passat lost a couple dash lights some years ago. Got it fixed for less than $25 and no trouble since.

What WAS an issue was those 6-taillight Chevrolets from the 60s. They were forever burning out! I had a '64 Bel Air and must have replaced a bulb at least once a month. My sister has kept her '65 Impala all these years, looks showroom-new. She keeps a couple replacement bulbs on hand at all times to fix burnouts.

 

[jaxsunst]

I had a Volvo S70 that was always blowing headlights. I loved that car though, I still miss it, I had an accident and it was never right or reliable after that. I'm unemployed right now, I'm thinking about selling my Caddie and getting an old 240.

 

[volvoguy87]

Old 240, always a good decision!

I can pull my 1987 240 GL's instrument cluster in less than 10 minutes and replace the bulbs in it with no awkward reaching. I haven't had to in 12 years yet, though. I only pulled the cluster to clean the reflecting mirrors for the dash lights and replace a broken gear in my odometer. The accessory gauge lights are even easier. The central panel is cake too.

A few words of caution on buying an old Volvo 240. Wonderful though as they are, they are now old cars, the newest of which turn 17 years old this year. Mileage isn't going down either. If you get one, you MUST perform regular maintenance AND expect occasional repairs. If you buy one, expect to spend about 1 to 2 thousand dollars in maintenance and repairs in the 1st 6 months you own it (assuming a shop does the work for you) in order to get it into good shape and to a level of reliability you trust. It's cheaper after that.

Feel free to email me about Volvo 240 advice. I got mine 11 years ago next month, when it was 12 years old. It's 23 years old now and continues to faithfully provide me with reliable transportation. Over the past 11 years, however, I've logged considerable time in it, on it, and under it taking care of maintenance and repairs. I'm pretty familiar with 240 quirks and common issues.

Dave

PS: My roommate and I just did a round trip road trip between Cincinnati, OH and Decatur, IL in his 1982 240 station wagon with 218,000 miles. The only problem was a failure to start one day because he didn't replace his very very worn out spark-plug wires (which he knew about beforehand).

 

[qsd-dan]

Anyone notice a lot of new cars having headlight and brake lights out? I've even seen new cars with the temp license still in place having these issues. Wanna bet the bulbs/leds now come from China?

On another note, my '99 Honda Accord is pushing 12 and I have yet to replaced one single bulb anywhere on that car (I'm the original owner). My '84 Toyota truck has gone through a couple sets of headlights and a bulb here and there for brake/signal lights over its life, but all of the 26 year old interior/dash lights still amazingly function. That old truck never ceases to amaze me.

 

[hydralique]

I've found that poor grounds are just as likely to cause a rear light to not function as a bad bulb. Generally the ground wires are attached to the inside of the car bodies near the taillight housings with a lock washer. When the bolts are tightened down, the lock washers will penetrate the paint slightly and make the circuit to the bare metal (remember car bodies are part of the circuit, generally the negative side). After several years it only takes a tiny amount of corrosion to cause the ground to work inadequately and cause funny or intermittant function, such as taillights and brake lights that both work, except if asked to be on at the same time.

The fix is to remove the ground wire, take some very fine sandpaper (800 grit or so), and clean up the area at the base of the stud and also the wire end and lock washer. Reassemble and it'll probably work. I recently did this to a buddy's 20 year old Volvo. He's a Volvo fanatic and maintains his two virtually by the book, but his taillights kept giving trouble even though he'd replaced the bulbs. A few minutes with the sandpaper and they started working reliably.