Maybe the sun & heat is getting to me today. I've got my dash half torn apart, chasing down a vacuum leak, and I got stuck taking the instrument cluster out because of the dials for the headlight & wiper switches. I tried pulling on them but they won't come off like the radio dials. Is there some trick I'm missing?

 

yes they have like a little spring clip inside them, you need to take a little screwdriver and push in on the clip to release it

 

Under your dash where your light switch is there is a small button that you push to in to release the light switch rod.Pull it out and there is a flat screw in washer unscrew that and the switch should come out.

 

or that way

 

ITS LIKE YOU COULD READ MY MIND i was just gonna ask that too

Thanks guy

 

Hmm your dash must be different than my year... my dash curves around underneath the light switches and back so far that there is no way under it until the dash is out, and the dash can't come out until the ***** are off... gaaaah... I'll have to look at it in the morning when it is cooler and there is abundant light again.

 

Look at the bottom of the ***** themselves. The small end right before the **** ends and the shaft comes out.

There should be two little slits right at the bottom of them. you may have to turn the ***** to see them.

Make a little hook out of a paperclip, insert it into the slot, and pull forward inside the slot toward the larger part of the ****, pull the **** off at the same time you pull the catch with the paperclip tool you made.

 

Such a bitch to remove the wiper switch...

There's a stupidly designed keeper on the wiper switch ****, it's made of spring steel.

It's got an opening for the rod, a gap, and then (made of springsteel), there's annother offset opening for the rod.

turn the **** full on, and there's a slit in there. Use an allen wrench to get at it (small one)

If you have pulled on this **** out of fustration allready (like me), your effed... I had to cut mine off with a small peice of hacksaw blade... your results may vary, but I couldnt find a wiper ****, so I used a headlight switch **** (round) out of a e series van (smaller, so you can kinda tell)

to remove the light switch ****, take apart the dash peice below the stearing colum, then you get to reach in, and press IN on the pin on the bottom of the switch...

Good luck, PM me with any questions
Dont cut it off untill you find another one to replace it with in the junkyard, or your pretty well effed if it rains.


O, this may sound dumb, but park your truck in the shade, open the doors and rear glass, and set a fan up to blow in the rear glass (i set mine on my toolbox)... Could set it up to blow through the doors also, but moving air is better then stagnet, and you're gonna have alot of fun chasing that leak down.

My suggestion on the leak is to replace every vaccume line you can get your hands on... One peice at a time, and just do everything
~Nate

 

I found the leak, I just can't get at it to fix it until things are torn out. There is a vacuum fitting in the back of the HVAC controls. All the lines that I can find back there still feel supple, no cracking, no dryness or stiffness. But I can't find the one that fell out of the back of the HVAC so I will just tear everything out and hunt it down.

 

You should be able to remove the unit it self instead if tearing out your whole dash.Do you have a O'Reillys auto parts store near you? go Buy a Chiltons repair manual for your truck it will help alot.

 

Well the thing is it seems like the unit can only come out from behind, not from in front. I've got it hanging loose in the back there but it can't come out through the hole that it mounts into.

I don't have any of the books on it yet. I looked at the B&N a couple of nights ago and they had one for the late 80's / early 90's EFI trucks but not for our years. The parts shops in Durham suck and you can't get help unless you speak Espanol like the pendejos behind the counter. I'll have to go for a bit of a drive to find a shop where English is spoken.

 

Thats the reason I sugessted O'Reillys Auto parts they carry one for your years and they are $19.99 each you just have to look through all the Manuals to find it. The one near my house now always has one in stock they are under the counter where you can ask for parts in front so you can look for the one you need it will help.Mine covers 1980-1996 F100-350 trucks