Interior lighting burnt out-can it be fixed?

[troverman]

So I have just started driving this Explorer (96 LTD) after it sat for 5 years. On my first night trip in it last night, I noticed a few things. First, the headlights aren't great, even with the tiny, useless fog lights on. (OK, maybe spoiled by the projector bi-xenon HID headlights on our Land Rover). More importantly, the bulb that lights the top of the speedometer in the gauge cluster is burnt out. Its hard to see how fast your going! Can this be changed? How do you remove the instrument cluster?

Some of the bulbs in the climate control panel are also out; it is only partially lit (It has the digital / auto climate control). Can these be replaced?

The message center has a bulb out, can these be replaced?

The radio preset buttons don't all light up, I doubt these can be replaced. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Can I put in 'performance' headlamps without melting the plastic lenses?

Thanks

 

[schmoken]

Dead Link Removed will walk you through your instrument panel removal.

 

[TheJackal]

The climate control bulb is easy, the speedo bulb is possible but a PITA.
I don't know about the message center (never had one), and the radio has LEDs that are supposed to never go out but the solder joints become weak.

make sure when you remove the black bezel that holds the radio, you pull it STRAIGHT OUT or you'll break the retaining pins.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

if your are talking about the lights in the buttons of the message center, you can change them. i think they are the same size as the ones in your switches on the right side of the radio (or if you are good at soldering, you can put leds in there).

 

[troverman]

One of the message center bulbs had gone out because the contact pin had worn through the copper contact. I re-bent the pin so it touches a different part of the copper and voila! It now lights up fully. The climate control is easy, I took it apart yesterday and will call Ford dealer for the bulbs today. I will look into the instrument panel too. The last problem is the neon hi-center brake light; cleaning the trailer socket didn't seem to help so maybe a junkyard trip.