Gear indicator lights

MITZI GIBBS-HARTMAN

MEMBER
1990 HONDA ACCORD
2.2L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
160,000 MILES

Not all of the gear indicator lights behind the individual letters, ie: parking, reverse, neutral, drive and so on not all of those letters light up when I shift gears at night. Are these very small individual bulbs and how to go about getting to where they go? Thanks

1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,452 POSTS

Those are all individual lamps. However, getting to them to replace them is not a fun job. You have to remove the floor console and then most of the dash pieces so you can remove the dash trim to get the instrument cluster out to change the bulbs. The attached pictures show the steps. The numbers on the screws/bolts/clips are the order of removal and you reverse them to reinstall. The actual lamps are soldered to the instrument cluster board and require it to be disassembled to be replaced.
This video show the panel removal. For the lighting repairs themselves, it is not covered in the service information, a shop/dealer would usually just replace the cluster. I have replaced lamps/LED's on boards myself but each unit is different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVCrjVRK30A

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