I'm about to give up driving at night!

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GY3 71 Demon

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I'm down to one working dash light bulb in my 71 Demon and don't know what to do. After a recent car show that ended in the evening I couldn't see a darn thing on the dash.

I have no idea how to get at the bulbs to replace them. Granted my motion is somewhat limited (I was in a car accident that resulted in me getting some metal rods in my spine) but, even after removing the driver's seat and laying on the floor there's no way for me to get my hands up behind the dash to pull the bulbs.

I had my better half, who is very tiny, try it and she couldn't reach the bulbs either. There's all kinds of stuff (wires, dash bracing, steering column, etc.) blocking access. :wack:

Is there a trick to getting the bulbs out in a rallye dash? If so, I'd appreciate the inside scoop....
 
I have never changed a dash bulb but I think it might help if you had a large pcture of or an actual dash in front of you so you could see where the bulbs are to easier to reach them. Barring that it isn't hard to remove the entire dash and replace all the bulbs that way.
 
Just remove the cluster as a whole then you can clean and inspect contacts and replace the bulbs. Change them ALL at the same time.
 
It is not exactly the easiest thing to do but as jkeck55 said, get a picture of the back of a dash and have it with you. I have an extra dash that I look at and was actually able to change out one of the circuit boards with it all in the vehicle. Wear short sleeves and no jewelry on your arms.

Oh, one more thing, if you have rubber arms, it makes it a lot easier!
 
I changed most bulbs in my 69 Dart at different times. 71 may be harder. I was young and skinny then and it wasn't easy, allowing just 2 fingers on some. Probably easier to pop the dash out. While there, check for speedometer wobble (may need a shaft bushing), loose pins on the circular connector, Vreg, etc. I put LED bulbs in my cars since they are supposed to last much longer. Search on ebay for the bulb#.
 
I just this evening finished a modification to the dash cluster lighting that is VERY bright. It is late now but I will try tomorrow to send you pix. Here is the LED strips I used . they are inexpensive and work wonderfully

http://tinyurl.com/mj9xymr

I used a higher wattage bulb, 68 I think and itdid a good job, but nothing near as good as these leds
 
easiest/quickest is just pulling the dash. Theres notches on the caps that can be a pain in the rear to get lined up blind. Unscrew the dash, remove the speedo cable, this will allow the dash to pull out enough to get to the bulb without havingto disconnect the wiring harness.
 
Pawned said:
I just this evening finished a modification to the dash cluster lighting that is VERY bright. It is late now but I will try tomorrow to send you pix. Here is the LED strips I used . they are inexpensive and work wonderfully

http://tinyurl.com/mj9xymr

I used a higher wattage bulb, 68 I think and itdid a good job, but nothing near as good as these leds
Click to expand...

I just looked and I did not take pictures of the modifications.
I routed 2 strips along the top of the cluster "can" and each one turned the corner at the ends.
I then connected each of the strips to the PCB at the most convenient light hole. They are very bright when 13 VDC is applied and will dim to almost nothing. I left the turn signal bulbs with the "68"s for the turn signals and brights indicator and Brake light. I am not using the Oil light so that is empty. A bunch of soldering and I chose to drill tiny holes in the cluster can at the top and sides to put in supports to hold the leds in place.
I used 26 guage wires and twisted them outside the can, you can also make the holes larger and use small tie wraps. On another note, I highly recommend converting the voltage regulator from the original mechanical one to a semi conductor. I got mine at Radio Shack. $2 each for the regulator and the capacitor.
If and when I remove and open the instrument cluster in the near future I will hopefully remember to take pictures of this
 
Well my wife was able to get out one of the dash bulbs - but, I guess I've got other issues. The filament in the bulb she removed looked good and when I tested it outside of the dash it worked. Even though I only have one working bulb which is located behind the tach, at least I know that's getting some voltage. I guess I'm not getting voltage to the right circuit board (the one behind the temp/oil/fuel/charging cluster.)

Funny thing, when we were done the temp guage didn't work. But when I moved around the wires in the firewall connector above the accelerator pedal it started working again.

I looked at a wiring diagram and couldn't determine what wire connects the right hand circuit board to voltage. If I find that maybe I can trace it back to the connector to see if it's loose/corroded etc.
 
Connectors are largely the issue

Bulkhead connector terminals

PC board harness connector

The dash cluster is not solidly grounded. You should consider installing a ground pigtail to the dash frame or column support
 
The procedure for removing the inst' panel is in factory service manuals 67 through 72 editions.
I've got a bad back too so I've had to develop my own method. It's quite different from how the service manual details. It allows me to drive the car without an inst' panel if necessary.
 
replacing the bulbs is simple, step one is put your seat back in

step 2 is to remove the gauges from the dash itself, you'll likely find the copper on the board is broke in one spot and can be fixed with solder

removing the gauges can be done by sitting in the seat with no awkward sitting positions
 
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