BMH95

I was just bragging about how problem free my '05 has been, and in the last two or three days I've started having little things pop up. hhhhhhhh

I lost the drivers headlight, and then last night the oil pressure gauge light burnt out. The needle isn't lit, and it's dim to the upper right. Has anyone changed the instrument cluster bulbs? Can you buy them at Auto Zone? How hard is it to do them? I'm one that normally replaces all of them while I'm in there, if the bulbs aren't $20/piece from the s_t_ealer. You laugh, but I had to buy a $40 transmission fitting that should have been a $0.40 piece.

ratlratl

I have the o.e. part # for the bulbs, 4839738 AA, of course I don't have the std model number for the bulb. Probably a PC74 but I'm not sure. Retail at the dealer for $.75 each.

Chris

mitternocht

The oil pressure gauge is fake anyway; so what bother? Just mount a real gauge in front of it. The ECM just moves the needle around to keep the driver happy. I guess if the oil pressure drops below some value it goes to red or a light comes on or something.

Rpainter

anything less than 7 psi and you get a warning light above 7 psi and you read normal

MikeRP

I learned in 1986 and again in 2000 NOT to brag about junk.

1. In 1986 I had a Ford Ranger. My Dad was with me and I was bragging about how good it was running. We were out in the middle of nowhere. As soon as I got out of my mouth "Man this thing runs good" it quit. White smoke everywhere and it quit. Well we were stranded and had a long walk. 5 minutes later I looked up and I said Dad here comes Mom in the VW Rabbit. We argued about whether it was her or not cause she was supposed to be 100 miles away and sure enough it was her. Anyway, the Big Guy has a sense of humor.

2000 story for later.

Mike

BMH95

I've been thinking about doing just that. It'd be cool to get a real gauge fit in the fake's place, but I imagine the computer will have something to say about that.

Smkn600CTD

My oil pressure backlight on the right side went out....or so I thought.

If I hitt the top of the dash, above the the gauge.....the light will come back on for several days, then go out again. Its been like this for about a month, havent had time to pull the dash and tighten the bulb up.

FMB

Yeah, I replaced mine one at a time. Each time I replaced one, another would burn out. After three new bulbs, I was told by a friendly tech guy to turn the lights on real dim before I turn them off and replace the 4th bulb. After I replaced the 4th bulb, I turned the dash lights back on (dim) and then brought them back to full brightness. No issues since then.
Taking the cluster out isn't difficult, nor is changing out the bulbs.

BMH95

How many bulbs do I need? I want to replace all of them while I'm in there.

1-2-3

My Cruise Bulb was out. When i had my dash out, i decided to replace it. The back of the cluster was covered in littl bulbs mounted in a twist lock holder. Since I only have 2wd, and all the bulb sockets were filled in, I swapped the cruise bulb for the 4 wd bulb, so you might not even need to buy anything.

You'd just need to carefully pull off the black bezel, real carefull. Those things are pricey. Start at the ash tray. it helps to to tilt the wheel down and puth the gear selector in the lowest place it will go. Then unscrew all the phillps screws around the cluster and pull it out. There's no cables to the speedo anymore, just a giant plug in on the back. It may take a little bit of wiggling to get it unplugged.

Swap the bulbs, then put it all back.

FMB

I think you need one. I also think you want 10, as that is what I count in the drawing in the book.

BMH95

I hear you, but I learned early on that taking the dash apart too often costs small broken parts and causes rattles and/or squeakes. So I just don't like having to take it apart any more than I have to. My buddy, Murphy, would reward me with another lost light within a week or two if I don't take measures to keep him from visiting me.

soulezoo

Murphy was an optimist...