Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...) - Maintenance and Repair Forum

Forum Post / Reply
You must log in before you can post or reply to messages.
Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Tuesday, March 04, 2008 5:57 PM
Sooo's... I get around to finally checking the continuity of the harness of my aftermarket dinger (check here if you want to know why), all is flowing properly...


Fact that I was sitting in the Canadian Tire parking lot, went inside and grabbed some bulk crimp connectors (I ran out ), came out... turned on the car... Stupid bulb that illuminates the temp gauge is out. Ugh. PITA.

Anyhow, tried searching, and yes I checked my fuses. I can't find it posted anywhere (our search system on this website is terrible... sorry, but it's a fact), and I could have sworn I've seen a how-to. I'm going to have to remove my dash to fix this, correct?


--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently )
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.

Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Tuesday, March 04, 2008 6:32 PM
You cant just replace the lights in a 2000+ cluster. They are LEDs that are sodered to the circuit board. The easiest way to fix them is to swap in a new cluster.



Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Thursday, March 06, 2008 2:37 PM
De-soldering tools + excess of practice = good stuff

There's no way of screwing up the odometer or the speedos by just swapping clusters, correct?

(The Hayne's instructions are pretty vague on the cluster replacement.)


--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently )
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Thursday, March 06, 2008 2:46 PM
ok there is a very long process of getting this to work. Make sure you follow it step by step

step 1 smack the sheit out of your dash above the cluster

DONE



Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Thursday, March 06, 2008 9:12 PM



Alrighty, off to find a cluster tommorow.


--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently )
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Friday, March 07, 2008 10:55 AM
ill sell you mine i want to go back to a cavalier cluster



Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Saturday, March 08, 2008 12:28 PM
Isn't the illumination done with bulbs on the cluster - I thought that only the warning lights were LEDs - although that seems like a rather dumb idea to me. If they are all LEDs, then it probably is just a cold solder joint. A quick reflow of the joints once the cluster is removed would probably fix the issue.
Fortunately I haven't had to remove one yet - but I'm sure that one day the time will come to find out for myself... about 210,000km on mine now and counting...




Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Saturday, March 08, 2008 12:57 PM
My 2002 cluster only used led's on the idiot lights. The main gauges were standard filament type bulbs




Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Saturday, March 08, 2008 6:35 PM
Are the the bulbs socket mounted?


I honestly can't see why people seem to think spending cash, plus bothering with Passlock, is easier then de-soldering a few joints or popping a bulb out of a socket...


--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently )
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:07 PM
they are not socket mounted. The problem is getting to the bulbs you have to remove the needles which is not hard but i hear they do not function right after they have been removed


And there is not problem with passlock with swaping clusters, mileage is stored on the bcm not the cluser.



Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 10:10 PM
WTF... I was just reading the Hayne's manual and they're showing screw-in type sockets with replaceable bulbs... Guess that must be for the older J's. Mine's a recent edition (listed as 2005 print, covers year 95-04), eh, must be an editor's over-sight.


Aww what the hell, I'm pulling my dash out anyways, to fiberglass some gauge pods in the center.


--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently )
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.

Re: Dash bulb replacement (my car hates me...)
Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:16 AM
The gauge illumination is done with bulbs. Popping needles will ruin a 2000+ cluster. You have to desolder the stepper motor assemblies from the board to get to the bulbs. This might be a good time for an LED illumination mod.

2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd

Forum Post / Reply
You must log in before you can post or reply to messages.

 

Start New Topic Advanced Search