Gauge cluster lights

[ophidia]

There are several gauge cluster lights out in my 1999 Mountaineer. Is it possible to replace these, or does the whole cluster have to be replaced? How rough of a job is it to get the cluster out (probably a really crappy job)?

I'm sure there's no way to replace bulbs w/o pulling the cluster either...

 

[Joe Dirt]

You'll need to remove the cluster far enough to get to the bulbs, they are behind the cluster. It's not bad, maybe a 1/2 hour job start to finish.

 

[ophidia]

No pulling the steering wheel/ripping off the top of the dash then. Excellent. Do you just take off the plastic trim around it then find bolts/screws holding it in place?

Do you by any chance know what bulbs I would need to buy?

Thanks much!

 

[Joe Dirt]

How many do you need? I have lots of them laying around, I can toss some in the mail for you.

Here is a writeup to get to them: CLICK ME

You only need to go as far as the picture that shows the back of the cluster. The back of the dash lights are the black things. The smaller white ones are for the idiot/warning lights. I just lay mine down against the steering console and reach over and replace them, I don't even remove the gear selector, but I have enough slack in the cable.

All the pics might make it look complicated if you havent' done it before, but it's quite easy. Honestly the hardest part of the whole thing is messing with the two bolts holding the hood release latch to the dash.

You do not need to remove the steering wheel, just put the transmission in "1" gear to give yourself room to get the cluster surround off.

 

[MustangP51]

I would recommend replacing all 6 of the 194 bulbs with 194LL bulbs when you are replacing the blown bulbs.

I would HIGHLY recommend replacing the bulbs with plug and play LEDs. I ended up pulling my dashboard apart twice to replace blown bulbs before i went to LEDs. Its been 4 years or so now and no problems.

Click the link in my sig for more info.

 

[ophidia]

I just finally got around to this today (over a year later). The Mountaineer decided to break it's trouble-free streak with leaking wheel seals, bad front brakes, and a bad starter all at once, so I figured I'd tackle this at the same time. 'Twas easy.