How do i replace my dash light bulbs? i wasnt able to get the wire off of the back of the insurment cluster... any hints? Also, one of my steering wheel control lights is burned out (the phone & PROG button) any way to replace that one? I pulled it out of the wheel, but couldnt see any way to remove the bulb?

Thanks!

ARM

im not sure if the instrument cluster lights are replacable...they may be soldered onto the PCB. When my tranny temp gauge light burnt out, GM warranteed the whole cluster, rather than replacing the light. Sounds stupid to me, cause then GM has to pay 300 dollars for a cluster rather than 2 dollars for a new bulb. :confused:

that seems rediculous! the older trucks had replaceable bulbs!

I bet if you took it apart you could replace the bulbs...GM and the dealers are probably just too lazy :rolleyes:

im not sure if the instrument cluster lights are replacable...they may be soldered onto the PCB. When my tranny temp gauge light burnt out, GM warranteed the whole cluster, rather than replacing the light. Sounds stupid to me, cause then GM has to pay 300 dollars for a cluster rather than 2 dollars for a new bulb. :confused:

GM probably didn't actually throw the old one out, and the one you got may not have been new either. There is an aftermarket industry out there that refurbishes these for swap outs. It's nothing new either. My wife's 95 blazer had digital readouts which were replaced twice. An outfit about 20 miles from the dealer refurbished them for most GM dealers in the Detroit area.

There is a push bottom on the wire connector that has to be pushed in order to take the wire adaptor apart. Then there is a black plastic backing piece that has a number of clips holding it in place and then it exposes the instrument board.
As far as dash instrubment lights go I got the bulbs at a NAPA store. They took my info for my truck and I bought all 8 (I belive that is how many) and repaced them all. These are the twist type with the plastic lock. Can't remember the part number.

There have been previous posts about burnt out light bulbs on the HVAC Control Module, dash lights, and radio lights. I never looked at my dash and radios lights, but I found replacement lamps for my HVAC Controller on my 2002. It sure beats the $125 the Dealer wanted to charge to sell me a new Control Module, and that didn’t include installation, (which is simple).
The right side of my HVAC Controller went dark. I disassembled the controller to find four lamps soldered on the PC Board. Two lamps are wired in series, so a single bulb failure causes two bulbs to go dark at a time. My 2002 has only 2000 hrs on it, so this bulb failure seemed pre-mature. I replaced all four bulbs, so I hopefully don’t have to replace these again soon.

Voltage drop across each good bulb is 6 to 6.5 VDC, at.2 Amps. The OEM bulbs had no Mfg # on them.
Lamps look like these: http://www.spctechnology.com/asp/photos.asp?skuID=50N8182

Bulb Type - T-1 ¾ Bi-Pin Base
Voltage – 6.3 VDC (my best guestimate)
Current - .2 Amp

Searching for bulbs On-Line, the only .2 Amp lamps I could find were either 6.0 or 6.3 VDC lamps.
I installed the SPC Technology 7381 lamp, with a 20,000 hr life, with a brightness and filament similar to the OEM bulbs, purchased from:
http://www.spctechnology.com/asp/searchResults.asp?nwkpNo=&spcpNo=&keyword=&mnfrpNo=&first=1&qSearch=50N8182
FYI: Newark has a $20 minimum order.

Manufacturer info:
http://www.spctechnology.com/prodinfo/specs/TA-271.pdf
SPC also has a model 7349, (6.3 VDC @.2A), with a slightly different looking filament and only a 5000 hr life.

I had found similar looking bulbs On-Line at Chicago Miniature, but that link disappeared:
http://www.chml.com

that seems rediculous! the older trucks had replaceable bulbs!

This is progress! It also lowers the manufacturing cost. The more of this sort of thing I see in newer vehicles, the more I plan on keeping the older ones longer.

before i get too carried away on this, i have seen many many posts about the pre 03's.. anyone know about the 03's and up? the cluster is different, thats y i ask!

I have a fairly late '03 and all of the cluster lights are soldered in. The service manual sort of implies that earlier '03 versions had a few user-replacable bulbs, but the large majority were soldered.

I actually ripped into my cluster at 30,000 miles and soldered in new bulbs to the circuit board. I had a thread on it back in 03. Would'nt recommend it, a lot can go wrong... trip odometer switch came apart and a piece got lost, getting needles off and back on re-alligned, if the needles don't come off the servos rip apart, first attempt using mini sockets and screw in bulbs didn't word so I had to solder pigtail bulbs directly to board, ended up opening cluster half a dozen times. 3 out of 7 of my guages aren't working anymore, 2 more bulbs have since blown out....should have just bought a new cluster.
Found the original thread, link to pictures won't work though.
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6910