b0rdin4life

1 of the lights behind my heat and a/c controls is out and I was wondering how to pull it apart to replace the bulbs? I pulled the whole unit out but all i saw was a computer style board and didn't want to break anything. Also, does anyone know what size bulb they are? Any help would be awesome. Thanks.

Purple240

To simply put it, you can't.

From what I understand this is a somewhat common problem with S14's. You pretty much just have to be lucky enough to not have yours go out (mine is out as well). I even swapped the one that was in my parts car, but the same deal.

So I took my spare one and I decided to do what you are wanting to do. There are 3 or 4 compression clips on the unit. Even with pulling the compression clips, the unit still does not just simply slide apart. It seems that the buttons are hot bonded with the fiberoptic plastic (where the light is transmitted to the buttons). You HAVE to take the buttons off to get the unit to slide apart. While doing so, you will loose the position of the optic plastic, never getting it back into the right position. Also, once you remove the button, it'll never go back on by itself.

b0rdin4life

I was able to get the bulbs out from the back and I am going to try to find out what bulb it is tomorrow to get them replaced, hopefully orange to go along with my dash lights. I'll post what I find out. Thanks for your help.

Purple240

How the hell....

Take pictures. Cause IF you can actually do this, I'm sure there would be a dozen people on here that want to know HOW... including ME.

b0rdin4life

I have to run to class but later tonight I'll go out to my car and try to take some pics. Check back early evening and I'll post if I did them. How do I host the pictures? Can I do it on here or should I do it on a different site and link it?

Bryan

you will better off hosting them on another site like imageshack and then posting the pics in the actual post instead of adding attachments

g3bio

yeah mine are dimming as well i sure would love to know how to change the bulb's i have taken a peak but i dont know haha hope to see some pics !

b0rdin4life

Sorry there are no pics yet but I ran around town looking for that kinda bulb and had no luck. Tomorrow when it's light out I want to take the control unit back out and see about putting in LEDs, but the only issue I see is that the factory bulbs sorta 'clip' into this little plastic piece and then when you put that into the control unit, the metal on the plastic piece makes contact with 2 solder tips on the computer board in the control unit. Wow, that's real hard to follow, I don't know how else to say it but I will do my best to get pics up tomorrow of atleast how to get the bulbs out, then maybe someone else will have better luck finding replacements.

phadedj

Speaking of common problems with s14's... is the lighter one? When I bought the car the guy said the rear defroster and the car lighter are out, Just wondering if that's an easy fix... sorry if it's somewhere else, I was just reading this post and it reminded me.

b0rdin4life

Both my lighter and defroster work. The only things I can think of are to check the fuses, check to make sure they are plugged in behind the lighter and switch, and to make sure the plug is plugged in to the defroster lines on the rear window. I'm sure you've checked these but just stating the obvious.

os_carlover

mine is out to. i do deal with it but if it was up to me i would get mine fixed.

b0rdin4life

Sorry for the delay on the pics guys, I've been real busy with school and getting everything situated. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to snap some pics of atleast how to get your bulbs out, and hopefully pics with new bulbs in too.

b0rdin4life

Once you pull the unit out of the dash, you must pop off the back cover piece (mine says 95 240sx). To do so, there are 5 tabs that you must pull up on with a screwdriver to get them loose. After that, the cover will pop off.

Once you get the cover off, there are 3 "pressure clips" that hold the top computer looking board to the board below it. To release the clips you must gently pull on the top computer board being careful not to crack the board or break off anything soldered on. BE CAREFUL NOT TO PULL ON IT TOO HARD BECAUSE THE TWO COMPUTER BOARDS ARE ATTACHED TO EACH OTHER BY 2 RIBBONS.


Once you have gotten the 2 boards seperated, you will be able to see the "caps" that the light bulbs clip into. There are for sure 2 blue "caps" and it looks to be a 3rd black "cap" on the board. Use a screwdriver and spin that cap about a 1/4 turn and you will be able to pull it out and have the bulb in your hand. Be careful once you get the caps and bulbs out because the bulbs DO NOT just pull out, they are held to the "cap" by their metal contacts that wrap around.

I know this is a very confusing write up but this is the first time I have tried to explain something like this on the forum. Post questions or email me and I may be able to better describe certain parts. Also, I have not found replacement bulbs anywhere, but I am looking into replacing them with LEDs. If anyone can find replacement bulbs or has any suggestions on how to replace them with LEDs please post it. Thanks and I hope this helps.

Purple240

Ah, hah!!! The compression clips! I totally missed those! Granted it was like 3am when I was messing with one, and I can be gorilla like sometimes when something pisses me off.

I have all the bulbs out of the unit that I took apart and they all work except for one (the top one for the buttons). Might be something for me to do this comming when when I'm bored late at night after work...

b0rdin4life

That was the same one that was messed up on my unit as well. I went to Nissan and they didn't have the part in stock so they sent me over to Toyota and they did have the part in stock, or so I thought. The parts looked identical but when I went to put the new ones in, they were too big so I had to carefully pull the bulb out of the socket and place it into the old socket. *The bulbs come "built in" to the socket* Also, the bulbs from Toyota had green gel covers on them so the emit a sorta green light, looks good in my opinion. Hope my how-to was helpful. If you find a way to put other bulbs in the unit, let me know.