DIY: Interior bulb replacement

[shazapple]

I didnt write this, but kudos to whoever did!

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/apples/bulbreplacement.pdf


Ive used it on probably more than half of my interior bulbs and it works great!

[pdawg]

This is good. Can we sticky it so it does get lost?

[95LegacySTI]

That is good but I disagree with how this person removed the slider. In the left corner of the passenger floor board is the end of the slider wire. all you have to do is push it up and it disconnects to whatever it is connected to.

[gil_ong81]

my worry about do it that way (disconnecting at teh bottom) is that you might end up screwing up the routing when you put things back together.

[Legacy4Life]

I've removed my climate control both ways and when I found out how easy it was to remove it at the bottom I kicked myself for not having tried it before.

It's so easy, one clip and the cable comes free. There is tons of room to put it back, you can almost reach your arm in there and reach the other end (almost :-)) No concerns about not getting it back on at the bottom, BIG concerns about getting it apart and back together properly at the top!

[shazapple]

That god damn clip at the top is so hard to put oin im surprised I didnt break it, or shoot it halfway across the room.

[Huffer]

Good find! I've downloaded it.

[gil_ong81]

That god damn clip at the top is so hard to put oin im surprised I didnt break it, or shoot it halfway across the room.

WUSS!!! all i used was a pair of needle-nose pliers and yank hard.

[Legacy4Life]

Hmm, I'm surprised you had so much trouble Lee. I've never used anything more than one hand... honest. Mine goes on easily. (and no, this is not the girlfriend and the stick thread!)

I remember the first time I was trying to take the climate control apart to replace some bulbs, I had gone to a dealer in Saint John and asked them if they would change them. They said yes, at a minimum of $65 for one hour. I told them forget that.

So I sat in the front parking lot and took it apart myself to get the bulbs. I made a mess trying to get it apart up top to get the cable off. I had looked underneath the first time and thought it would be way too risky. Eventually the guy came out from the shop (had pitty on me), looked at things a moment and then asked why I didn't just take it off below. He didn't even look, just reached underneath and "pop", off it came. Grrrr.

Ever since then I've always done it that way! I wouldn't imagine there would be much of a difference between years.

[OUTBACKWBEER!]

That god damn clip at the top is so hard to put oin im surprised I didnt break it, or shoot it halfway across the room.

That's a Jesus clip!...LOL!

[Legacy4Life]

[quote="sha_zapple":39xsnnv0]That god damn clip at the top is so hard to put oin im surprised I didnt break it, or shoot it halfway across the room.

That's a Jesus clip!...LOL![/quote:39xsnnv0]

Do you guys actually remove the clip? All I do is pop the jacket out the top of the clip (leaving the whole clip there) and then remove cable ring from the arm. 123... I'll have to take a few pics and post them to see if it's the same as yours.

[Tim]

Ok, I did my cruise, fog, and defroster. How hard is it really to do the climate control? Will it just end up frustrating me? Sounds like that clip is hard to get apart.
Thanks,
Tim

[shazapple]

Its just really tight, so all you need to get it off is some pliers and force. Otherwise the HVAC is easy.

Apparently down inbetween the footwells theres a way to disconnect it there (read above for more info)

[Brockley]

did anyone else change the color of thier bulbs???

I just left them clear for now (which makes it glow an orange/pink) but I plan to change to red. Anyone else just used a sharpie?!?

[shazapple]

I used a sharpie, but it fades over time so you'll have to open it up again.

[Brockley]

like how long are we talkin?

6 months? more/less?

[Plays_with_Toys]

Ok, so anyone actually have a picture of everything running (HVAC, hazard, fans)? Bought the bulbs for these 3 things and plan to do this over break, by disconnecting at the bottom (since i've read it to be much easier there)

[Reason]

Where are u getting the bulbs? Are the all the same size speedo lights and HVAC?

[Plays_with_Toys]

The bulbs are from radioshack. They are super tiny. Like smaller than gerbil poo. The bases are each different for each light, but the bulbs themselves are the same. They were $1.69 at radio shack and were not ordered by the 7219, but by the 272-**** number.

Not sure about speedo, but all the lights in the center console use this (fan speed, vent selection and hazard).

This is the thread I am using for reference:
http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26408

[shazapple]

Id say they last about 6 months before turning to a orangy colour.

I got mine at radio shack. The gauge cluster bulbs are much bigger, but everything else in the dash takes the tiny bulbs from the first post.

Here's a crappy picture, but it doesn't show the cruise and defrost buttons
http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=red10jj.jpg

It also doesn't show the AT shift pattern or the air conditioner button lit up.

[vtlegacy95]

just did mine today, it was driving me nuts.

it took all of 1/2 hour, 4 bulbs for HVAC and hazard and one lost E-clip that I had to get from autozone, oops

[Plays_with_Toys]

good to hear! A huge snow storm is rolling into CO, so I may knock this out on christmas eve.

[bb.bloomquist]

since the markers seem to fade is there a source for the little colored bulb condoms?

What about a LED retro? I think I will have to go bug radio shack tomorrow and see if there is an LED style that is close and in CoLoRs!

Brad

[xXGTBspecXx]

good idea i might have to do the same..

[bb.bloomquist]

I bet that with LEDs you would not be able to dim them?

BRad

[Reason]

my LED bulbs dim for my cluster.

[xXGTBspecXx]

so do mine(in the cluster) im sure they would still dim. if there rated at 12v and you take some of the juice away it will dim

[MarkCH]

Hi everyone!

There some great tutorials here on how to change those darn heater control bulbs, but they're all for manual controls. My 1998 Legacy SST has an electronic control. Has anyone ever changed those bulbs in an electronic control unit?
How does that work?

[Reason]

Hi everyone!

There some great tutorials here on how to change those darn heater control bulbs, but they're all for manual controls. My 1998 Legacy SST has an electronic control. Has anyone ever changed those bulbs in an electronic control unit?
How does that work?

I never heard of a SST, what country are you from?

[MarkCH]

I never heard of a SST, what country are you from?

I'm from Switzerland - I guess around here SST stands for "Super Station" ...

[MarkCH]

So I went ahead and tried - and guess what: There's no way....
I can't even get the plastic cover out that replaces the cup holder (my car doesn't have a cup holder). It's got two holes on the underside but nothing moves in there when I try to move it out with a screwdriver...
It's really a pain.. Has anyone ever seen this or done this? Pleeze help:)
I'm putting 2 pics in here so you can see what I mean:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2009/02/sub1-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2009/02/sub2-1.jpg

[MarkCH]

It worked.
I bribed a Subaru employee into telling me how to do it. With the electronic controls you have to take everything apart -bottom up. And I couln't get that cover out because the metal clips that are supposed to hold it in place were completely bent (thanks to the unknown guy who was the last one to take it out). I had to get new ones.

Plus another thing: The electronic heater-a/c control has different bulbs from the "regular" one - there's five of them plus they are smaller. Of course, Subaru gave me the wrong ones - I had to go back to the shop. They didn't have the smaller ones and couldn't order them either, except for orange ones. Mine are green.
But then we realized that Rover uses the exact same green bulbs in the Land rover dashboard. They're a little bit shorter but the socket is the same. Plus: they're cheaper than Subaru bulbs (even though they probably come from the same factory) So in case somebody else ever runs into that problem, you'll know where to look :)