Dash/Stereo lights in '98 Blazer

[studly]

A few heater/AC control lights and stereo lights went out

in my 1998 Blazer. I ended up fixing them myself and thought

I would share it here.

 

These bulbs aren't replaced in the old conventional ways

and you can't buy them from the dealer. All they can do

is sell you a new Heater/AC control panel (like $300) or

trade in your stereo unit (more excessive amounts of $$$).

 

The heater/AC controls do use incandescent bulbs which are

soldered to a printed circuit board inside.

 

I took the assembly out. It was simple once the dash panel

was removed (not too bad -- easy once you know how).

I opened the assembly and found three burnt-out bulbs (out

of eight). Removing the bulbs required desoldering them.

This requires minimal soldering experience.

 

Luckily, Radio Shack had light bulbs which were perfect

replacements. They can be seen here:

http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?cat...07%5F000&Page=1

(Refer to bulb in Figure 12).

 

Then, I decided to tackle the factory stereo which, too, had

burnt-out bulbs in the face. This was a little trickier but

still not too bad. You remove the stereo. Snap off the face

plate which will then swivel down (it is still connected by

several wires). Remove the knobs. Remove the nut and washer

on the volume control. On the backside of the faceplate, remove

about ten small hex screws to free the printed circuit board

from the faceplate. I used a power supply to inject voltage

to a bulb which then illuminated all the (good) bulbs on the

circuit board. I found five bad bulbs. I desoldered and

removed the bad ones. Then, I soldered in new bulbs (same

type as above).

 

Before, I thought I was losing my vision with my dash going dark.

Now, it looks like a Vegas casino.

 

It doesn't take a strong electrical knowledge/experience

to change these light bulbs. I recommend a low wattage

soldering iron to reduce the risk of damaging the printed

circuit traces.

To remove the solder, heat it up until it liquifies (only takes

an instant). Then, suck it up with a solder sucker or wick it up

with solder wick (like braided thin copper wire).

 

When resoldering new bulbs, use the standard 60/40 Tin/Lead

solder with rosin core. Do not use acid core solder.

 

You can use a 9 volt battery to test the bulbs right in the

circuit. With two wires, connect it to both sides of a bulb

(polarity doesn't matter here). Since all bulbs are wired in

parallel by printed circuitry, all good bulbs will light up;

bad bulbs will remain dark.