Gear indicator lights

1990 HONDA ACCORD

160,000 MILES • 2.2L • 4 CYL • 2WD • AUTOMATIC

MITZI GIBBS-HARTMAN

MEMBER
36 POSTS

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

Apr 10, 2018 at 4:43 AM

STEVE W.

✓Experienced Mechanic
15,360 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

Images (Click to enlarge)