Replacing small bulb.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Longview, TX
Replacing small bulb.
I suspect most of you know this. I have always been a lone shade tree guy thus not learning from a shop atmosphere. I have tried to replace a small bayonet bulb on the inside lower part of the door for years with no success. Today, I slipped on a nitrile disposable glove and the bulb came out easily.
I guess if I had worn gloves all these years I would have known this.
I guess if I had worn gloves all these years I would have known this.
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 9,182
Likes: 12
From: Gateway to the West
Those particular courtesy lamp assemblies (and the fact that replacing the lamps is such a PITA) are the reason mine no longer have the bayonet lamps in them but white LED strips instead.
Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 8,908
Likes: 1
From: Algona, Washington
You know, later down the road i wish to get all my lamp stuff working. I got an ashtray one, glove box, and i need to fix my dash bulbs. They work but the printed circuit board seems a bit warped so the contacts don't stay connected. I want to do the LED ones but i have to get the cluster out to check out why the connection gets so finicky.
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 9,182
Likes: 12
From: Gateway to the West
With the bayonet lamp sockets that twist and lock into the printed circuit board, you can remove the socket, carefully clean the trace on the board (the copper part) then, if your soldering technique is good enough, you can add a tiny drop of solder to the ends of the traces where the socket contacts hit them. This will alleviate future flickers and shortened lamp life.
If you do decide to go with LEDs in the instrument cluster, either use a new LED array and skip the bayonet sockets or make certain that the LED's you use in the bayonet sockets distribute the bulk of their light to the SIDES and not straight up. The cluster relies heavily on the spherical light output from the incandescent lamps and all too often the LED retrofit versions only put light out the TOP or put MOST of the light out the top. This yields "splotchy" patches of light in the cluster with other areas dark and unreadable.
If you do decide to go with LEDs in the instrument cluster, either use a new LED array and skip the bayonet sockets or make certain that the LED's you use in the bayonet sockets distribute the bulk of their light to the SIDES and not straight up. The cluster relies heavily on the spherical light output from the incandescent lamps and all too often the LED retrofit versions only put light out the TOP or put MOST of the light out the top. This yields "splotchy" patches of light in the cluster with other areas dark and unreadable.
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