HVAC Control Panel Bulb

[flaatr@yahoo.com (Euroroc II)]

This is funny since I just replaced mine last night   :-)

If you are very careful and use an exacto blade and a small screwdriver you 
can remove the back plate from the front panel... the white piece that has 
the light in it.

Now that this is removed take a pair of needle nose pliers and push on the 
two metal contacts coming out the back of the panel, behind the bulb until 
they push out the bulb assembly. The bulb lives inside a plastic tube and 
is not part of the panel. The contacts are part of this tube and the whole 
thing will slide out.

Now that you have this take the needle nose pliers and pull the two metal 
contacts out... Wiggle a little but not much since you will need to press 
these in again. With the contacts pulled out the bulb will fall out since 
it was held in by it's leads on these tabs.

A replacement bulb is hard to find since most of the bulbs in this diameter 
are too long but you can make due with a bulb like the one inside the 
headlight switch. First use a Dremel to mill out the inside of the bulb 
carrier making it deeper. Take the new bulb and unfold the leads so they 
are straight and slide the bulb into the carrier and test fit it into the 
assembly... You need to make sure you have gone deep enough so the top of 
the bulb does not interfere with the clear plastic used to distribute the 
light... you can remove the carrier again buy using a small metal poker to 
push it out from the back side since the leads are not yet installed.

Once the depth is met you need to put the contacts back. Place the new bulb 
into the carrier. The bottom of the carrier, where the contacts go, is 
sorta T shaped where the contact pin fits into the top cross of the T. 
Place the bulb into the carrier and using a small pair of tweezers bend the 
leads so they come down the vertical part of the T...

Text art may or may not work.

_____________________
|                                    |
|________        ________|
               |       |
               |  __  |      <---Lead bent into this channel.
               |____|

With the lead in place press the two metal contacts back in... they will 
pinch the wire when they slide in and hold it in place as well as make 
electrical contact. Test the bulb and if it works slide the carrier back in 
and re-assemble the whole thing using super glue in just a few places... 
Don't use a lot since you don't need it and you may, someday need to 
replace the bulb again.

That's it!
Simple huh?

-Raffi

The easier version of this experiment is to find one of the older panels 
that used replaceable bulb and if it does not have the icons you want 
simply take the two panels apart and swap back plates to make your panel a 
removable bulb panel... but that would be toooooo easy... My way is much 
more complicated and satisfying.



At 02:43 AM 10/27/02 -0800, T. Reed wrote:
>Yeah, it can be done. That's what I did before I got the backing piece
>from the removable bulb plate. Actually, I used a dremel tool to chew away
>the side of the bulb holder "stem". Then I desoldered the old, burnt out
>bulb and soldered in a new dash bulb in its place (the same 2721-ish bulb
>that is used elsewhere). Worked fine, but leaked a little light around the
>side.. the electrical tape I wrapped around it melted so I finally went
>ahead and got a removable bulb plate like I described in my previous
>e-mail.
>
>-Toby
>
>On Sat, 26 Oct 2002, Scirocco-Al wrote:
>
> > Has anyone ever tried to just drill a hole where the plug is and insert a
> > light from radio shack in there?
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Kevin Collins" <kcollins1@socal.rr.com>
> > To: "Scirocco List" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 8:31 PM
> > Subject: Re: HVAC Control Panel Bulb
> >
> >
> > "T. Reed" wrote:
> >
> > > What I did was find a panel in a junkyard that was similar but not
> > > identical to mine. It had words like "MAX A/C" and "VENT" spelled out
> > > instead of the cute little icons.
> >
> > I got a brand new replacement from Potter a couple of years ago and
> > mine has the english text on it too.. apparently that's what you get
> > if you go new at this point.
> >
> > --
> > Kevin Collins
> > Huntington Beach, CA
> > '86.5 16V 2.0
> > '02 GTI 337
> >
>
>
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