Blown Panel Lighting Options

[Tony717]

I have a 2003 ls outlander and it seems the panel lighting where the controls for the fan, ac/heat and venting are all out. Is there anyway to get back there and replace these bulbs/led ? I checked the fuses they all seem to be ok... In addition the ac/heat control knob sticks, I think it may somehow be related. The Mitsubishi dealership I went to wanted $893.00 to remove dashboard sections. Is there anyway around this? Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks in advance... Tony

[tr87526]

$893.00!!!!! Are you talking about the center panel where the three knobs are (AC/Heater temp, Fan Speed and Vent control + 3 push buttons)?

If so, pry off the cover, you will see a clear plastic piece held on with 2 phillip screws. Under that are 2 bulbs with blue tips. Twist / Pull them out.

Go to a part store or mitsubishi dealer and buy new bulbs - $3.00. The bulbs I bought came in a plactic housing (like small christmas light). I separated the bulbs and inserted them in the ones that came off the car.

I didn't peel off the blue tip off the old blubs and now the new bulbs light up console a 1000 times more - oh well

Hope this helps

[Tony717]

your the greatest, thanks a lot :)

[Outy]

(tr87526) forgot to mention; the 3 knobs just pull straight out and then inside where the buttons were there are 2 philips screws that you have to remove before you can pull the panel. I did replace mine with LEDs. Tryed blue LEDs but the red part of the display turn kinda purpleish so I installed Xenon white ones instead. These work perfectly and they won't burn out (so they say). The third picture shows the bulb I pulled out and the LED one I replaced it with. Today I decided to replace the clock bulbs because one of them was burnt so I also replaced these by LED's. You can compare I put up the pictures.


As for the knobs sticking that is a design flaw. There is a rubber seal that flips over like a wiper blade and makes it hard to turn but if you turn your knob the opposite way and come back you will have flipped this seal and you will find it flows through the whole cycle fairly easily.

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[Tony717]

After removing the two screws , how do I remove the panel without scratching it up, does it just pull out? I have some free time and wanna start working on it. I really appreciate your help buddy :beer: .OH! and the images look cool, might follow your lead. :liebe011:

[Outy]

4 clips hold it in place. Grab it by the inside bottom where the knobs were and pull straight out, then you can pull the top the same way. 4 more screws will hold the light diffuser and switch buttons which you have to remove to access the bulbs. They are wedge bulbs so they just pull out. If you go with LED's, these are polarized so you have a 50-50 chance it won't light up on first install if it doesn't just flip it 180 degrees. Then reverse the process to re-assemble.

[Tony717]

Thanks Outy, mission accomplished, I managed to get identical bulbs from a nearby auto parts store. You've been a great help, much appreciated :beer:

[Outy]

You can make your own dash bulbs. I purcased parts from digikey, LED Xenon white "OVLEW1CB9", 510 Ω resistor ¼ watt to limit current and a 1N914 diode as blocker so you don't apply reverse voltage to LED. These are quite bright. You will have to file edge of the LED base so it fits inside base unless you get a 4.75 mm LED. You have to solder resistor and diode quite close to the base of the LED so the whole thing fits in base. These are very small but fun to make in spare time.

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[Outy]

Tony717, I gave you a solution to a different problem than what you were experiencing, because mine started sticking worst than just the flippin' rubber. The solution I found was cleaning and relubricating groove and guide pin on heater box mechanism just above gas pedal with white lithium plastic safe grease . This part is all greased up and exposed to all the dust you kick-up with your feet. This cakes the grease. Now my control knob is smooth all the way through.

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[Jeffksf]

I'm havingthe same problem with the hot/cold dial, it seems teh cable is kinked and therfore won't operate teh hard to move internal door in te heaterbox. Anyone know if just that cable is available as a part?

[aiexbadboy]

how many bulb is required for the center area?
and what about the bulb size, is it 194?

[Outy]

[attachment=10764:100_9409.JPG][attachment=10764:100_9409.JPG]If you mean center of heater control there is only 2 bulbs under refractor and they are small dash bulbs. Like in the picture above besides dime.

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[Outy]

I stongly suggest you buy some white teflon clips that hold these panels (14 in all) because some will break unless you buy some of course ( These can be seen each side of back of clock in picture (5)). If it is the 2 clock bulbs well that is a slightly differnent procedure. (1)Remove far left small decorative panel. (2)Remove 1 philip screw at left of dash board.Drop steering wheel to it's lowest position. Grab bottom of dashboard bezel and pull straight out then pull top. (3)If you want to pull dashboard remove the 4 screws and pull straight-out. (4)To remove clock you just have to pull panel carefully at centre all the way to the right. The 2 air-vents come out with the decorative panel. If you are going to replace bulbs with LED's the negative contact is at the bottom at both bulb location, or in other words the up arrow indicates positive of LED.

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[aiexbadboy]

thanks for the instruction with pic outy

so the center heater section have 2 bulbs

i assume the clock use 1

have you change the bulb in the speed meter? is it safe to do that, and at the back does it look similar like the clock panel ?
need to get an idea first lol before sh*ts happen, im not good with cars

i got alot more questions later (pm)... hopefully you can asnwer them all

thanks in advance

[Outy]

Always do this with key out of ignition and doors shut. 2 bulbs for clock, 4 bulbs for speedometre,tach, fuel and temp gauges. Same arrangement as clock. Except for shifter indicator backlight, this bulb is totally different(see pictures).Last pictures show my replacement LED for shifter indicator

The front parking lamps just twist 1/6 of a turn counterclockwise and bulbs just pull out.

Rear license plate takes one bulb and I prefered putting in a flange LED because there is no reflector in the back. It just pulls out.(See picture of flange LED)

Front dome and reading lamps just pull out and here also I used flanged LED's.(See picture of flange LED I made for front dome lamp) I like this a lot because Passenger reading lights straight down whitout boddering driver.

Rear dome is a festoon 31mm. (See picture of festoon 31mm LEDs)

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[aiexbadboy]

thanks for the reply & update outy

so all the bulbs uses 194 wedge base right? (the ones didnt mention in manual)
such as front dome, heater, clock, speedometer, only the length is different

i assume the license plate bulb is installed horizontally correct? (and not vertical) thats why you prefered flange bulbs instead
whats the best place to get flange led? superlumination.com got oversized one

i'll try to do the mystery of parking light later today, and take a look at license plate bulb, as well as measure the size of front dome bulb. hopefully i can order some more tonight

let me get some more experience from those first then i might do heater,clock,speedometer in the future..
sux to be a car noob lol

[Outy]

"warden_jp2002" is my seller on ebay

Your going to like your new front parking lights I got the same as yours in xenon white and amber flange side marker.

Dash are smaller than dome. Look at the pictures I even put a dime so you could see how small.

If you click on picture they will open in your jpeg picture viewer.

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[aiexbadboy]

i finally changed the parking light, finally solved my 1 year "unable to remove" mystery
and yeah its way much brighter than original, i didnt know led can be this good

checked the license plate area, should be simple to do
checked front dome bulb and was able to pull it out for measurement
thanks for the info for the ebay seller
your license plate led is the same one as front dome correct?

the dash bulb i mean like do their connector area (flat area of the led) is same size as regular 194 size, in width and depth
because the led website i use got many different types , so i was wondering what if i bought a 194 but shorter in length/diameter, will it allow to stick in the harness or not.

im going to pm you again with other question regarding my low beam error for hid conversion

thanks for all the help outy

[Outy]

I would prefer if you asked or gave comments in forum this way, everybody can benefit from answers.

Rear license plate will probably have rusted screws and be a real pain, so replace them by stainless steel 18-8 after to save you some trouble next time. Same size as dome light yes.

If new LEDs are slightly to big just grind them down to size with dremel wheel. If they are too bright and narrow angle grind down the tip too.

Sorry don't have pictures of grinded LED...

[aiexbadboy]

outy:

today i opened up the ac panel to take a look of the location of bulbs,
i didnt expect the bulb to be that tiny, i mean wow.....
before i opened up i thought the smallest one i can find on some websites is 10mm x 20mm
and now i know that one wont fit at all, since the opening around old bulb is about the same size
and i dont want to do any diy on it
where did you get the perfect size?
was it from the same ebay seller from the above post?
so i assume again the clock, and sppedometer all use that extreme small bulb correct?
please advice,

thanks