Heater dash light

[sammy]

Hello, I've a 3.0td '95 surf, 2nd gen. The left hand side of the heater display is dark and I cant seem to find the bulb for it.
I've had my hand up the back of it (OOH-ERR) but cant feel any bulbs or holders for them. If I have to take the heater controls right out, how do I do this??

Cheers,
Sam

[esson]

Hi

Its a bit fiddly.
Take the knobs of the controls.then remove the front plate.
Then youll see 4 screws in each corner.undo and remove.the one nr the clock is a bit tight but it will undo with a bit of force..........
Then the whole heater control is lose now.twist it about and youll see were the bulb is located.twist and remove.Dont pay silly money for a bulb most dash bulbs are the same apart from the plastic cup some of them sit in.the surf has just a glass bulb.I used a ford bulb just had to remove the plastic base.

Hope this helps

[sammy]

Hey,
Ive done all the above but cant see any bulbs, Really annoying me now, I've had it in bits twice&still cant find 'em!!
Regards
Sam

[esson]

hi

if you look at the front of the heater controls.
underneth the front plate thats the bit with the red and blue lines on it.the bit behind is clear plastic the bulbs are located in this bit ,feel and look round the back of this.and looking at the bit of clear plasic you should see from the front the mould indentations were the bulbs live.

[snake]

Samuel - not sure if you got this PM last week - the steps I took when changing the bulbs
hope it helps...

1. take off the front cover to the heating controls - carefully pry with screwdriver (after pulling off the heating adjusting sliders)
2. Remove the ashtray, underdash panel, front panel and stereo!
3. Unscrew the heater control (3 screws)
4. Pry the heater adjusting cables out of the clips and then disconnet the wires at the heater lever.
5. Disconnect the large wiring harnesses from the back of the heating controller and remove unit.
6. Take inside your house and have a cup of tea to calm down.
7. On the back of the controller there are two round beige covers with a crosshead screwdriver slot (turn them 90 degrees and remove.
8. The bulbs have a green cover on them (remove for a slightly brighter illumination!
9. The bulbs are held to the holder with wire (2)
10. Buy two new bulbs from Maplins (.9watt (12volt)
11. Place bulb to holder and fit wire to holder as they came off (the wires are a bit too long so just snip them if required).
12. Replace the bulb holders into the back off the heating controller.
13. Connect the controller wiring harness to check the bulbs work!
14. Refit all to car and enjoy...

[sammy]

Hey Snake, got the message thanks-will try and do it as soon as I get a spare hour and feel up to dismantling my car (AGAIN!!!)
Regards
Sam

[sammy]

Finally got into the bulb but found I'd bought the wrong one-had to build car back up and drive to halfords! But they failed me-no bulb, Is it just a standard bulb?

Thanks

Sam

[snake]

no - not a standard bulb

The bulbs are held to the holder with wire and they
are available from Maplins (.9watt (12volt) 79p each

You need to take the bulb away from its holder and re-attach
the new bulb from Maplins. Each bulb has two wires which need wrapping around the bulb holder the same way that they came off.

hope you get it sorted - it really makes a difference when driving at night.

the bulbs have green translucent covers on them - I removed these for a brighter light - big improvement...

[sammy]

Finally got my fat a&$e round to fixing the bulb.

Looks so much better, now only problem is that left bulb is brighter than right one-I know I should have replaced both but bought them from toyota and they were about 3 quid each.

Cheers snake-the description was great.

Sam