Changing bulbs in the instrument pod

[Phil K 0]

OK, so I got my exhaust welded this morning and got rid of the "sounding too much like a rally car" problem only to take her to the pub tonight and discover that my rev counter no longer lights up... How do I change the bulb and is there any risk of losing the mileage by disconecting the instuments? Are there any easy but cool mods I can do while I have this out for sorting?

[G60Jet 1]

if they are like the mk1 golf ones the front and back half or the cluster unscrews and you can change the bulbs, but be VERY carefull if there is a plastic filter over the bulb as they will be very brittle.

[Phil K 0]

8) now just a matter of working out how to get the clocks out... it's funny you should refer to the mk1 as it made me think - I owned my mk1 for nearly 7 years of its 21, I've owned the corrado for 8 months of its nigh on 10 year stint, in this time I've had more problems with the corrado than I ever had with the Golf- I WANT MY MK1 BACK :lol: Nah, not really, very happy with C ownership just a shame that they're so problematic :roll:

 

So any step-by-step instructions on removing the clocks would be great if anyone can make it sound simple :)

[Majik 0]

its easy to take out clocks, and as they dont have mechanical sppedo cables its even easier.

Undo 2 screws from the bottom left/ bottom right of the plasitc cowling wihch cover the instruments there may be plugs on the screws so prise these out CAREFULLY!.

Undo the two vertical screws at the top of the same plastic part.

undo the two screw either side other the cluster and it should come out dont forget to unplug the wires.

Remove the plasic cover by removing the two screws at each side then you can change the bulbs.

[Henny 0]

just to add, you don't need to remove the steering wheel like on a MKI, just use the adjuster to drop it right down... 8)

[woody 0]

henny did you do this and instead of using bulbs did you use blue LED's instead and also put a blue filter over the grren LCD displays

[Henny 0]

nope, I used light bulbs as normal and I've removed the green instrument filters completely so they're lit with white/yellow light and put red filters in behind the LCDs...

 

I tried blue filters on my MKII Golf, but I found it tiring on the eyes... :?

[Phil K 0]

Sweeet, thanks chaps.. it's sooo anoying not having everything lit up as it should be! will be doing this on Saturday - after getting the exhaust replaced (under warranty) the monkey at ATS didn't weld it properly, it lasted for 50 miles LOL!

[corradovr6sc 0]

Before you pull the clocks out give the dashboard a sharp blow with your fist to see if it's a bad connection.

[Phil K 0]

Did that until my hand hurt :lol: deffo the bulb :mad:

[Jim 1]

Did that until my hand hurt :lol: deffo the bulb :mad:

 

LOL! :lol: I can see it now....

 

"Damn Corrado!! Why must something ELSE break as soon as I get something FIXED!! ARRRGGH"

 

*thump* *thump*

 

No, definately not a bad connection! :)

[dubster82 0]

surprisingly works....

[Majik 0]

the fist theory did work on a BMW 3 series, with one headlight and one sidelight working, one bang other sidelight came on, two bangs other headlight came on :D

[Phil K 0]

Where as Corrado = lots of bangs = no damn light = sore hand :lol:

[woody 0]

Henny where did you get the red filters from and are there any brighter bulbs which can be used inside the instrument pod for indicators and dial lighting.

[Henny 0]

I got hold of some rolls of lighting gel film (one blue, one red) off a mate who works with lighting for a living... you can get it from Maplins for around £5 per roll and it's available in lots of different colours... 8)

 

There's 2 types of bulb in the standard clocks. 1.2W and 1.8W I've changed ALL of mine to be 1.8 now, and I've also now reversed the LCD polarised sheet and I'm gonna wire the 2 bulbs behind it to be powered off the ignition so that they light up as soon as you turn the key... Looks well sweet... I'll put some photos up later when it's a bit darker so you can see the effect... 8)

 

I actually cheated with the reverse LCD thing and bought some polarised plastic sheet and cut that to the correct size to replace the original stuff... I found that as you peeled the old sheet off, it left marks where the glue stretched which looked a bit crappy. With the replacement film, it's black as night with no marks and no finger prints on it 'cos you can just wipe it clean 'cos it's not sticky! 8)

 

Pics will follow... 8)

[woody 0]

Where could you buy

1 polarised plastic sheet

2 1.8W bulbs Steeler?

[Henny 0]

1.8W bulbs are steeler only (they're blue based ones, they're easy to spot on Etka 8) )

 

Polarised sheets can be bought from Greenweld electronics for about £6 per 10cmx5cm sheet... you can do both LCDs with one sheet, but it takes some carefull planning as you have to cut the rectangles out at 45degrees to the edges of the sheet else the polarisation won't match up properly.. :roll:

 

Here's a quick preview as promised... 8)

 

Yeah, I know there's a crease in the rev counter... :roll: this is my test set of clocks, the actual ones that are gonna be used aren't finished yet... ;)

[woody 0]

Sorry henny

Is that picture have you wired up the bulbs to backlight the display or is the effect created with the polarised plastic sheet getting the light from the three bulbs at the top of the display

[Henny 0]

in that picture I've removed the original green filters from both LCDs and replaced 'em with red ones. I then changed the polarised sheets on the front of the LCDs to reverse the lighting effect (numbers light up instead of the background).

 

I've also removed the green lighting filter from the top of the clocks so that they are lit with normal unfiltered light.

 

The 3 bulbs at the top only light up the speedo, rev counter and fuel/temp gauges.... The LCDs are lit (as normal) by the bulb behind each LCD.

 

Think of it this way: All of the lighting is original, all I've done is changed the filter colours, and reversed the LCD's polarisation so that it's BLACK when off and clear (ish) when on. 8)

[MikeVR6 0]

Henny.

 

Can you list the types of bulbs used in the clocks?

 

Ie. 2 x 1.8v or whatever for the LCDS.

4 x 1.6v for the clocks.

 

The bulb behind my MFA display's dead and I may as well change the all while I'm fixing it.

 

'95 VR6

 

Cheers

Mike

[Henny 0]

I'm using:

 

2x 1.8W for the LCDs

3x 1.2W for the top strip which lights up the clocks...

 

I dunno what the original spec was as I had a shed load of bulbs kicking about and found that this combination worked best for the lighting I wanted... 8)

[MikeVR6 0]

So any bulb works?

 

Are they al the same fitting, or have you soldered or butchered the connections somehow?

 

Cheers

Mike

[Henny 0]

all of the bulbs I'm using came from VW and fit straight into the circuit as they are standard bulbs... You can get the 1.2w ones from Halfords, but the 1.8w ones I could only get from VW...

 

There's no butchered connections on my clocks at all... all as VW intended apart from the colours! 8)