My 1990 Acura has recently started burning out silly little light bulbs like the ash tray light bulb. One particularly annoying missing light I like to fix now that I got my guage cluster out is the light bulb for the automatic transmission’s shift position in DRIVE displayed in the guage cluster.
The instrument cluster lights for AT shift lever position appear to be immediately being a plug socket. I opened the front of the cluster hoping I would expose the bulbs that way, but I find that there is a colored plastic covering over them which seems to be too thick to bend as a popout (although it does also have a very small tab on it also). Even if I could get this covering to pop out, how would I then grab the bulb properly to pull it out and replace without breaking it?
Service manual omits all mention of these bulb. Any ideas?
CP
The bulbs in the guage cluster are replaceable through the rear of the cluster. Just take the cluster out of the dash and look on the bock (where all the circuit board looking stuff is). You’ll see that you just need to twist the little black harness for the bulb and pull and it will come right out. Hope this helps
As I mentioned in my original post, these bulbs are not accessible from the back of the guage cluster due to one of the plugs from the car going into the cluster directly behind them.
UPDATE: The color plate on the front does pop out to expose the bulb. However, when I tried to pull the bulb, it broke. Later, I pulled the broken parts out and found the bulb wires to come out from the brown fixture the bulb was inside. I’m therefore not sure if this bulb was meant to be replaced, or if so I remain puzzled as to how. I will ask the Acura parts dealer if he has such a light bulb. If not, I presume I must get a new white backing part of the guage cluster if I want to have this bulb changed…
The bulbs are accessable from the back. Your probably referring to the speedo cable. Yea its a bitch but it does come out. Keep trying. I recently changed mine to amber. As well as the climate control bulbs. If the bulb doesnt come out of the socket thingy just keep wiggling it. It will eventually come off. If I’m not answering your question correctly try taking some pics.
I’ll say it again: These bulbs do not come out from the back of the guage cluster!
These are the automatic transmission’s shift level indicators in the guage cluster. I know every other light bulb in the guage cluster can be twist removed from the back, but these cannot. There is a socket plug immediately behind them.
Its probably a box looking thing directly behind the cluster. Pull that off and you should see these black rubber thingys. Bulbs are inside those. From what I remember when I had my 98 auto civic there was a box thing that has the bulbs inside it. I wish you can take a pic of the back of it so I can explain better.
There is a plug outlet directly behind them. Are you suggesting that the plug outlet itself also pops out somehow? I’ll have to look more closely at it next time I take out the cluster (I need it in to drive my car …)
I will say that the bulbs in this part of the cluster are definitely not the standard Acura pop-in/pull-out bulbs that I’ve seen elsewhere in the car, particularly within the guage console. They look more like Christmas light bulbs embedded into a brown-rubber plug from what I saw in the front; they definitely do not push-in/pull-out of that plug, nor does that plug come out through the front. Sure wish the Chilton service manual I bought said something about this; these bulbs are totally missing from their diagram.
I will take a picture of next time I take out the cluster, if Acura can get me a replacement bulb to put in. I’m hoping you’re right that the socket on the back of the console actually does pop-out to reveal the removal technique for these bulbs. It would really suck if they are like LEDs permanently wired into the console and I need a new console circuit board to get new bulbs.
I highly doubt that you would need to replace that whole unit. There all replacable from what I know. Let me know when you get pics of the cluster or when you take it off. I’m subscribing to this thread so I will check regularly.
Acura Parts informed me today that these lights are not listed as serviceable. They are LED-style lights permanently attached to the module as I suspected. The man said the only way to change these bulbs is to buy and install a new Automatic Transmission module for the guage cluster (list price $111). In addition to being very expensive for a small light bulb, it is also may be a difficult job because the module is between the speedometer and tachometer, and I think the module needs to be removed out of the front of the guage cluster.
Not worth the effort for a small, missing, nonessential light bulb. I may not be taking my cluster out again for some time (notably only if my speedometer cable start acting up again after the greasing I gave it). I will take a photo and post here if & when that happens.
