Dash light replacement in an 80? OEM vs new LED

[bart0]

Hey, thanks for the info. Agree a single LED replacement would be problematic for the reasons you mention. It's either replace with 1x OEM bulb, or do the whole lot of LEDs.

 

[bart0]

An update: I took out the dash carefully following this YouTube video and didn't break any clips (that I know of)! Replaced with new bulb to find… D still did not work Confirmed this by switching the N and D bulbs back and forth. So there's something else going on. Spoke with previous owner and with the L480E swap it turns out he's hacked the dash light wiring to activate the correct shift position based on the position of the L480E transmission. Unfortunately he can't remember specifically how he did it as it was 6+ years ago but guessed he "fiddled with the relay" to get it working, and that maybe the D wire is shorting out somewhere. D worked when I bought the vehicle, but after a little while sort of 'sputtered out' over the course of a week or two. I have no idea how to troubleshoot or fix, but I have a few other electrical things I want done by an auto electrician so I'll see how keen they are to troubleshoot this problem. That is all

 

[JoeCova]

An update: I took out the dash carefully following this YouTube video and didn't break any clips (that I know of)! Replaced with new bulb to find… D still did not work Confirmed this by switching the N and D bulbs back and forth. So there's something else going on. Spoke with previous owner and with the L480E swap it turns out he's hacked the dash light wiring to activate the correct shift position based on the position of the L480E transmission. Unfortunately he can't remember specifically how he did it as it was 6+ years ago but guessed he "fiddled with the relay" to get it working, and that maybe the D wire is shorting out somewhere. D worked when I bought the vehicle, but after a little while sort of 'sputtered out' over the course of a week or two. I have no idea how to troubleshoot or fix, but I have a few other electrical things I want done by an auto electrician so I'll see how keen they are to troubleshoot this problem. That is all

You should test it before full install. I found mine didn’t work initially and it was just due to the bulb contact on the ribbon. The ribbon wiring can be finicky.

 

[bart0]

You should test it before full install. I found mine didn’t work initially and it was just due to the bulb contact on the ribbon. The ribbon wiring can be finicky.

Do you mean test the physical metal ribbon paths that go to the globe? That's a good idea. I've put it all back together for the moment as I need the car today, but I will check this in the near future now I'm familiar with how the dash comes out. Thanks.

 

[JoeCova]

Do you mean test the physical metal ribbon paths that go to the globe? That's a good idea. I've put it all back together for the moment as I need the car today, but I will check this in the near future now I'm familiar with how the dash comes out. Thanks.

Yes but to keep things somewhat simple you can just plug in the middle section, turn the key to on (not start), cycle through the gears to see if they work and if not you can just unplug it quickly and troubleshoot. That way you arent plugging and unplugging everything and the dash is already apart.

As I mentioned mine was that the contact from the bulb and ribbon was not good and once i fixed it, no issues.

 

[bart0]

Yes but to keep things somewhat simple you can just plug in the middle section, turn the key to on (not start), cycle through the gears to see if they work and if not you can just unplug it quickly and troubleshoot. That way you arent plugging and unplugging everything and the dash is already apart.

As I mentioned mine was that the contact from the bulb and ribbon was not good and once i fixed it, no issues.

Great, thanks for the info. I'm a novice with electrics, how do you go about fixing that ribbon-bulb contact? In this case I assume the issue is the contacts have worn. Dab a little bit of solder?

 

[rannon]

Thanks for the info everyone—I've only been a forum member here for a couple months and it's incredible how much knowledge there is on ih8mud and the eagerness for punters to share. It's like the oldskool internet!

I have considered replacing just the OEM bulb, but having not removed the dash before I feel it's a big task and therefore wanted to replace bulbs with LEDs so I wouldn't have to deal with it again. I quite like the idea of a generally white dash cluster over the lime green, BUT I do particularly like the emerald green of the P and D. I've read that the quality LEDs are dimmable, which is important if I decide to go white for the cluster. Last thing I want is to be blinded by the instruments while driving at night. I have the luxury of the 80 being a second car, so can leave the dash out for a few days while I try LED fitment and reorder parts if necessary.

Related, has anyone found a diagram/explainer on the PRND cluster and which bulbs affect which letter? There are way more bulbs that letters and arranged in a weird, stepped (?) pattern:

View attachment 3497125Ok so this image right here - is this considered the "shift cluster" or "shift indicator"? I need to find what these bulbs are and buy some. Any help appreciated - cheers!

 

[jonheld]

Post in thread 'Definitive led thread for 80s'

Nov 13, 2019

Okay bit of an update to my chart, specifically for cross-referencing the neo-wedge bulbs if you want to stick with halogens instead of LEDs. I have learned more about miniature bulbs in the last few days than I ever cared to know. I started to get really confused with how bulbs are described online and found it was because of metric vs yankee measurements.

Take for example the "Type B" Neowedge 10mm-base bulb that is used in quite a bit in our truck. When searching for LEDs you'll want to search for a "T4 neowedge". The T stands for tubular shaped and the 4 in this case is the diameter...

• jcardona1

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