Gen 2 Instrument Panel Lights?

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Gavin Allan

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I have a light bulb burned out behind the tachometer. Has anyone had the instrument panel out / apart on a Gen 2 trac? I see projects for Gen 1, but nothing for Gen 2.



Any tips or pages from service manual would be appreciated.
 
Gavin- Use 2008 ST, 2009-10 is not listed. Click repair info and search "instrument". #194 bulbs.



 
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6 screws gets you back there if I remember correctly.

good chance to silence that annoying chime every time you start your truck.
 
Just to verify that removing the cluster will not require dealer reprogramming, correct? I've got a bulb out in my fuel gauge that I need to replace. When I searched back when it happened I found that if you take out the cluster you had to have the PATS reprogrammed at the dealer or the Trac won't start. So I've just been living with my burnt out bulb in the lower left side..
 
ALL of my dash bulbs burnt out one by one within a couple of months in my 2009 Adrenalin. My brother is a licenced car mechanic who has worked at a Dodge dealership for 15 years. I had him remove the cluster and change all the bulbs in his garage at home. There was no reprogramming necessary! Easy peasy!
 
Well, I finally got around to replacing my Instrument Panel (IP) lights with some LED lights that I found on the net. This has been nothing but TROUBLE... and now I am stuck with several more bulbs not working.



Although the LEDs I got cross-referenced the Sylvania number for the light bulbs, and the bases looked identical, I could only get a few of them to light. I am aware of polarity issues, but the problem was that the contacts on the LEDs are not making contact with the printed circuit board they screw into. I tried bending the little contacts, but ended up destroying several of the LEDs trying to make them work. SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG- it should not be this hard. The problem is screwing them in and getting an electrical contact. The few LEDs that did work are very nice.



Any tips or sources for the LEDs that I can try?



Please note, these are not the 194 bulbs of the Gen I, but the Gen II has smaller bulbs and a smaller twist base.



The Video Mark provided above was very helpful. It is very easy to take out the IP from Gen II Tracs.



This was very frustrating...
 
UPDATE:



I've been dicking around with a couple other brands of LED bulbs for the instrument cluster and now give up. Just ordered $40 worth of new incandescent bulbs from Ford. At one point while working on it my truck wouldn't start- everything was dead. Thought I fried the Instrument Cluster with the anti-lock circuit. Wiggled connector and got it working again.

Some things just shouldn't be fooled with, I guess... :fire:
 
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Or perhaps fools should not play with some things?



The LED lights are polarized. That's why only some of them lit. The others were in backwards.

You have to quickly test and flip the ones that don't light.



At $40, you also paid too much for the incandescent bulbs.



The LED's are actually pretty nice. Once you change to them you will probably never have to replace them again.



Also, in my experience on the Gen 1 - use the LED bulbs that are composed of 10 individual LED elements. the ones made up of 5 LED elements don't draw enough current for proper operation of the dimmer.

 
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Or perhaps fools should not play with some things?
Click to expand...



Gen 1 and Gen 2 instrument clusters and the way the bulbs mount into them are completely different animals. Gen I is so simple even a child could change them out.



If you have a source for the incandescent bulbs, I would appreciate it. They are Omron brand, and the only cross-reference I could find for them was a few euro-spec BMWs. US Omron could not even get them for me. Since BMW bulbs were twice as high as the Ford bulbs, I chose to use the Fords.



Thanks in advance for your helpfulness.
 

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