Instrument bulbs

[Dave Meredith]

Searched the forum for this but nothing shows up in the last two years

Lots of nice green illumination on my dash except for the speedo which is white and the rather important oil pressure guage which is not illuminated at all

I've sorted all the little problems the car had and this is the final peice of the jigsaw. Everytime I go out in the car at night it drives me mad It seems to scream out 'fix me' 'fix me'! The plastic toilet seat in the bathroom doesn't quite match the ceramic bowl and although it doesn't bother me I can now understand how it irritates my better half.

I can get the veneered dash panel off but the metal back plate which holds the instruments is only accesible from the back. I've tried to rest my head on the pedals and attack it from underneath but there's simply no room with the column and harness in the way :mad

I'm now looking to move the entire fascia away from the windscreen a few inches so I can get to the instrument bulbs from the top. There are a couple of fixings at each end from what I can see but are there any in the middle?
Someone out there in Wedgie land must have tried this -any ideas?

Dave

ps I've been following your engine saga Wynn and I'm sure you'll get it sorted

[pwd95]

Thanks Dave, so near but so far
Can't help with dash lights i'm afraid, haven't had that apart yet

[djc1001]

Drop the steering column as low as possible or detach to lower further, remove cover over heater footwell pipe (if fitted) and you can reach up behind the dash whilst sat in the drivers seat. (not easy and it hurts - lots of sharp fibreglass spikes awaiting you.)

best of luck
David

[UKAuto]

The green is from a little green rubber cover on the bulb - not sure where you would find one, but possibly dipping one in green paint would work (don't over do it!).

They are a pain to get at, but you can do it without killing yourself. If you have a bright light, a web cam and a notebook put the cam under the dash along with the light, and watch the image on a notebook... you should be able to move things around until you see the back of the gauge in question; and I find facing the dash board with your face at the level of the gauges and fairly close you can reach the lights without too much discomfort (although you will likely skin a knuckle or two)... for the one that doesn't illuminate you may get lucky, turn the light about 1/8th turn and then back again, it could be a dirty contact. Note that one full 1/4 turn and the bulb will be liberated from the gauge.

Best of luck.

Edited by UKAuto on Wednesday 12th December 05:17

[Dave Meredith]

UK

Thanks for the tip. I have our IT dept working on this as a lunchtime project! I'll let you know how it goes