I have a 95 and need to replace all the bulbs with my 8 watt ones. What is the best way to get at them. It not s Digital if that makes any differance.

 

Sorry Muffinman:

The only way I know how to change the bulbs in the dash is to remove the dash itself. Not really tough, but not fun either. The last time one of the bulbs burned, I replaced all of them just to be sure I don't have to deal with it too soon thereafter.

 

A handy tool to use for removing the dash is made by Snap On - it looks like
a blunter version of the tool gardeners use to dig out dandelions, bent and
with the "V" at the tip. Watched my mechanic use it when he replaced the
headlight switch. Come to think of it, that switch is somewhat notorious so
maybe you'd want to check it's condition while you have the dash off anyhow.

 

I am a well stocked Snap-On tool man, I thought I was going to have to remove that curved dash to get at all of them. One reason i do them all too.

Thought mayb someone had a trick to get around it.

 

If you have thin wirery arms/hands (or have a willing wife/kid) you can reach underneath the dash and replace them. But it would probably be easier to just pull the instrument cluster.

 

Man I had to take the whole front dash a part and the lower cover. I replaced ever bulb I found too.

I cleaned the inside as well while it was apart. I cleaned the AC duct, took the clear cover off the instrument cluster and cleaned it, Washed all the parts and used blue lock tight on the screws.

For those that need to know, Two sizes of Torks 10-15, A pick to remove headlight **** "Find the little notch and push the pick back towards the **** while pulling"

 

So that's how to remove the headlight ****!! Thanks!

 

It's not so much the headlight switch that goes bad, as the connector at the headlight switch that overheats, melts, and takes out the switch.

IOW, if you have a failed HL switch, the connector usually needs to be replaced as well.

Hmmm. I see that I wrote a post last August on replacing this on my '93, just before I sold it to a friend, but that I didn't actually post it here, only on my own website. I'll go fix that . . . OK, posted here.

 

This is a way old thread, but in case anyone's wondering how to get the PRNDL indicator detached from the instrument cluster (my Aerostar is a 95) the two bolts you have to remove are 7/32" hex head. I used a ratchet screwdriver with a 1/4" drive bit and 7/32" socket, then a magnetic retriever to get at the loose bolts so they don't fall back into the dash or something. It's kind of an odd size socket to have, which is why I mention it. I'm in the process of replacing the instrument lighting with 194 size LEDs.

 

I replaced a bunch of dash lights with some 194 LEDs, and less than a month later, one of them started to blink out. A year later, I think two have stopped working. When enough of them die that I can no longer see the instruments, I will have to go in and replace them. It doesn't matter what car you have, getting into the dash is not a breeze. So I would take a bunch of them, more than you think you need, burn them in on a bench for a few days, and take those that survive. If you can simulate the enclosed environment of the instrument panel, which traps heat around the bulbs that make them burn out sooner.

The LED replacements I got were also polarized, so I had to make sure to install them with their +/- contacts matching those in the sockets.

 

It's a metric vehicle. Probably 5.5mm, which actually is a fairly common size.

 

Same problem, then. I had a 5mm and a 6mm, and neither of them worked.

 

5.5mm was a fairly common size that Ford, specifically, used a lot in that decade.

7/32" is a good work-around, because it's very close, and if you're using a 6-point socket, perfectly acceptable.

I didn't want future readers to think that it's actually an SAE fastener, though. That would be the same as when people talk about working on Hillmans/Whitworth and saying, "you have to use a 9/16" socket for the carby base fittings" when it's nothing of the sort; that's only a work-around for the correct tool, and if you're working with Whitworth vehicles, you should have Whitworth tools.