Airbag light out, Is it possible to replace?

[Kaelidavis]

2000 Ford Explorer
Eddie Bauer 4.0L

The airbag light is out on my dash cluster and it beeps every 25 minutes or so. I have taken out the dash and replaced the bigger bulbs that light the gauges, but not the smaller instrument lights.
Doing my research, people have said it's impossible to replace this light without circuit welding and the only solution is replacing the entire cluster.
I would love to just find the right bulb (almost impossible to find online, the closest I got was T10) and fix it myself.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.

-Kaeli

 

[J_C]

Welcome to the forum!

I assume that picture of the bulb you're holding, is the blown bulb you need to replace? If so, what are the marking on it? It looks a bit like the last character on the top line is an H and the last two on the second line are 94? It makes me wonder if that is a common, 194 bulb available at any well stocked auto parts store, though they tend to charge ridiculously high prices for what should cost under $1. Rock Auto charges about $4 USPS shipping for a few bulbs, will have whatever size that is. Do not use an LED replacement bulb because the circuit might not detect it as working due to drawing too little current.

1998 FORD EXPLORER 4.0L V6 SOHC Instrument Panel Light Bulb | RockAuto

RockAuto ships auto parts and body parts from over 300 manufacturers to customers' doors worldwide, all at warehouse prices. Easy to use parts catalog.

www.rockauto.com

If the marking is difficult to read, can you measure the width of the base of the bulb, the longer dimension of the base?

If the bulb is the one pictured, I do not understand what you mean by " it's impossible to replace this light without circuit welding and the only solution is replacing the entire cluster. ". Didn't it just pull out of the socket it was in, and likewise you can plug a new bulb into that socket, or is the socket itself damaged?

 

[Kaelidavis]

Welcome to the forum!

I assume that picture of the bulb you're holding, is the blown bulb you need to replace? If so, what are the marking on it? It looks a bit like the last character on the top line is an H and the last two on the second line are 94? It makes me wonder if that is a common, 194 bulb available at any well stocked auto parts store, though they tend to charge ridiculously high prices for what should cost under $1. Rock Auto charges about $4 USPS shipping for a few bulbs, will have whatever size that is. Do not use an LED replacement bulb because the circuit might not detect it as working due to drawing too little current.

1998 FORD EXPLORER 4.0L V6 SOHC Instrument Panel Light Bulb | RockAuto

RockAuto ships auto parts and body parts from over 300 manufacturers to customers' doors worldwide, all at warehouse prices. Easy to use parts catalog.

www.rockauto.com

If the marking is difficult to read, can you measure the width of the base of the bulb, the longer dimension of the base?

If the bulb is the jone pictured, I do not understand what you mean by " it's impossible to replace this light without circuit welding and the only solution is replacing the entire cluster. ". Didn't it just pull out of the socket it was in, and likewise you can plug a new bulb into that socket, or is the socket itself damaged?

Hi, sorry for the confusion.
The bulb in the picture is part 194 like you guessed and I replaced all 8 of those.
The light I want to replace but can't figure out how to is the airbag light that I am assuming is an LED soldered into the cluster that can only be removed by soldering. My plan is to take out the dash again and see what kind of LED it is and then see if I can find a working one in the junk yard and hodge podge my cluster.
Know anything about those smaller, LED instrument lights?

 

[J_C]

I don't know anything specific to that particular LED, but I may be able to figure it out as I've worked with several types of LEDs, quite a lot on other projects.

On the wiring diagram I have, it has a symbol like a typical incandescent bulb. Can you provide a good picture of it? Given a picture, I can potentially track down a replacement to buy new online instead of having to harvest a donor from a junkyard, especially since the junkyard might want you to buy the entire cluster for just that one LED.

If it is a small surface mount LED instead of through-hole soldered, I might need fairly precise measurements of its millimeter dimensions. If it is a dome shaped, plastic encapsulated LED, is probably a common size like 3mm or 5m diameter. Is it red colored?

It is unusual for LED bulbs in applications like this, to burn out. Is it possible there is a circuit board trace or solder joint crack instead? An LED can be tested using the diode function on most (fair quality) multimeters. The traces and (probably a current limiting resistor in series) can be tested point-to-point with the resistance feature on a multimeter.

 

[Kaelidavis]

I don't know anything specific to that particular LED, but I may be able to figure it out as I've worked with several types of LEDs, quite a lot on other projects.

On the wiring diagram I have, it has a symbol like a typical incandescent bulb. Can you provide a good picture of it? Given a picture, I can potentially track down a replacement to buy new online instead of having to harvest a donor from a junkyard, especially since the junkyard might want you to buy the entire cluster for just that one LED.

If it is a small surface mount LED instead of through-hole soldered, I might need fairly precise measurements of its millimeter dimensions. If it is a dome shaped, plastic encapsulated LED, is probably a common size like 3mm or 5m diameter. Is it red colored?

It is unusual for LED bulbs in applications like this, to burn out. Is it possible there is a circuit board trace or solder joint crack instead? An LED can be tested using the diode function on most (fair quality) multimeters. The traces and (probably a current limiting resistor in series) can be tested point-to-point with the resistance feature on a multimeter.

Good news,

I took apart the dash and cluster more than I did previously and found light bulbs instead of LEDs, what a relief!
I plugged the dissected cluster back to the dash and turned on the car and only a few of those 23 year old lights are still working, so I'll need to replace all of them. Hopefully then, the beeping goes away.
Do you recognize these bulbs? Are they T10?

 

[Kaelidavis]

Good news,

I took apart the dash and cluster more than I did previously and found light bulbs instead of LEDs, what a relief!
I plugged the dissected cluster back to the dash and turned on the car and only a few of those 23 year old lights are still working, so I'll need to replace all of them. Hopefully then, the beeping goes away.
Do you recognize these bulbs? Are they T10?

The bulb I took out is the one for the air bag -- busted for sure.

 

[J_C]

IIRC the smaller cluster bulbs are size 37. A forum search might find the best price to buy in bulk, but this is what i found so far:

More Information for PHILIPS 37LL

 

[Turdle]

Dorman 639-115 might be the ticket.

I do not believe it is t10 size as 194 crosses to t10

 

[C420sailor]

I did this job recently. 194 and 37 sound right, with 37 being the smaller indicator lights.

 

[Pete Deering]

2000 Ford Explorer
Eddie Bauer 4.0L

The airbag light is out on my dash cluster and it beeps every 25 minutes or so. I have taken out the dash and replaced the bigger bulbs that light the gauges, but not the smaller instrument lights.
Doing my research, people have said it's impossible to replace this light without circuit welding and the only solution is replacing the entire cluster.
I would love to just find the right bulb (almost impossible to find online, the closest I got was T10) and fix it myself.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.

-Kaeli

View attachment 446864

View attachment 446865

The bulb you are holding is a 194. The other bulbs are T type bulb. There is another post after bulb replacement, I post the source and bulbs, and where I purchased them from. Just note : you have too replace all the bulbs. They all might be working now, but Once you remove the cluster or dash panels, you handle all the bulbs and they will fail. That from experience. I had too do it twice.
See this post Tiny Interior Light Bulbs march, 12 2023

Tiny Interior Light Bulbs

Does anyone know which size the tiny bulbs for the message center are? It is a filament bulb. It has a removable green "condom" ( for lack of better term) Here it is next to a 194 socket bulb from an instrument cluster.( 194 on left, Unknown on right)

www.explorerforum.com