Re: instrument lites

[Ilias Glavinas <eg1@ee.wustl.edu>]

To add a few things to Shawn's detailed description:


On Sun, 6 Oct 1996, Shawn Meze wrote:

> bottom cover off, you will be able to see up behind the dash a little
> better. Get on your back and put your head on the brake pedal (just
> reference only) and you will be able ro reach up there and disconnect the
> spedo cable from the back of the cluster. Then remove the electrical clips
> from the bottom of said cluster and get out of there. Get in the driver seat

The electrical clips are a little tricky. They are a tight fit, so you 
are tempted to keep pulling until they come out. One of the things that 
can happen is that the things they plug in might snap out of the cluster, 
and that would be bad since those are connected to the printed circuit 
board that wraps around the cluster. If you stretch/pull/etc that thing, 
the printed circuit lines will tear, and you will need to solder them 
back. So: be really patient with removing the el. clips.

> and remove the 2 screws that hold the snazzy little frame in front of the
> cluster. Then there are 2 screws that actually hold the cluster into the

Actually, in 85's there is only one screw at the top center of the cluster.

> getting it out.) I gotta say this also, its a slow proccess, you gotta take
> your time and figure it all out on how it comes out, its a very tight fit,
> but it does come out, I promise! 

That's right. It does seem impossible to take out, but it can be done. 
You just have to try many different positions and see which one lets you 
take it out. Actually, if you simply want to replace one of the two upper 
bulbs (ie, not the clock bulb), then all you have to do is disconnect the 
speedo cable, tilt the cluster, take out old bulb, twist in the new one. 
No need to mess with the electrical clips. Also: you can get the bulbs 
from any good import car parts store, for less than half the price of the 
dealer. 

> The main reason for removing the botton shelf and cover is mainly to help
> with getting the spedo cable installed properly. If you try to do it thru
> the dash, it just wont snap in place. (Its been my experience and im sure
> someone out there does it easily thru the dash, but not me.) 

Exactly, because the speedo cable goes into the speedo through a 
square-cross-section cable, which means you have to make them slide into 
each other perfectly. It might take a few minutes but you will be able to 
tell when the cable is slid all the way, since the plastic surrounding of 
the cable will actually touch the plastic casing of the speedo. 



Ilias

ps: by the way, since we are on the subject of instr. clusters, does 
anybody know of any place that still has the white faceplates for the 
Scirocco's? The 4-5 places I have called told me they are out. I have 
thought of getting some through Europe, but I suppose they will not have 
the mph marks on them. (maybe some of the european subscribers to this 
list can give us some details?)
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