radio backlight
 

high i have a 1989 f250 and my radio does'nt light up. i know that the display is working because i can faintly make out what it says when im changing stations. i was wondering if there was a bulb to replace or something but the dials and all for the radio light up just not the display so im wondering if the lcd display backlight is burned out and if so would i be better off just getting a new radio?

There is a small light bulb behind that radio display. I had the same thing happen on a 90 Crown Vic. You have to remove the radio and take off that front piece to get to the bulb. If I remember correctly, I got a bulb for it from Radioshack.

Take the radio out, the bulb is accessable from the outside, via a regular, flathead screwdriver. There's a plastic socket cap at the top of the radio just behind the display.

It will take you 10 times longer to get the radio out than to replace the bulb :)

how exactly do i get it out? i haven't looked yet but do i have to remove the dash? Or does it have those handy 4 holes that you can stick that tool in to get it out like the 99's and up?

Mine is burnt out also ... it worked dimly when I bought the truck in January. Does the bulb need to be soldered in place?

I just looked in the Haynes ... and it turns out to be as intructionally usefull as the roll of paper hanging on the bathroom wall.

This article will explain it:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...yle_radio.html

Thanks .... that is the one I have ... gotta find the tool, different than the VW tool I have.

The 89 shouldn't need a tool at all. My 87 has four torx bit screws holding the radio in behind the trim panel. Just open the ashtray and pull on the bottom of the trim panel to pop it out and get to those four screws.

I didn't see the screws ... dark ... couldn't see how to remove trim panel tonight. Oh well, just ordered the tool ... if I don't need it works on some older VW radios also, and I have lots of VDub friends too. Thanks for mentioning that ... so I didn't break the trim panel.

All was goin well got the radio out face off. Then i thought you had to turn the bulb and pull out and i did then i realized that the black part was the socket %!@@*& the socket went in the radio and the radio is all spot welded. thought to myself Jason you stupid *&%$ing dumb@$$ but after about 10 minutes i managed to stick something gently but securely in the socket to pull it back up and turn it....sigh i did it... :) now off to get a bulb
ttyl

For the ones that need a tool, a bent metal coathanger works great. Why buy an official tool when everyone has coat hangers all over the place?

The older trucks use Torx, which is the way it *should* be. Screws rather than annoying, always bent, springy clips.

89 F250 DEFINETELY does NOT need any special tools, just a torx driver.

i had the bulb go out on mine, too. my solution? new radio, lol! (needed a CD player anyway)

Mike

fixed it works great thanks!

God I love this site! I need to do the raio bulb too and WOW, here is a post on it!

Just changed mine .... and reduced the red dirt dust in my interior by another 2 oz. .

Radio Shack did not have a bulb to replace the one I pulled out of the radio, they used to have a crapload of different bulbs, but now the don't have crap for bulbs.

Went to NAPA and got a #73 bulb, they said it was a flasher bulb. It is a little shorter and narrower than the one that came out, but works just fine.

My 90 does not need the removal tool, just need a torx T-20 and a medium and small phillips to remove the brackets and screws that hold the faceplate on. Bulb pulls straight out.