The following is a common tale of how a supposed 30 minute job on a DeLorean turned into a 3 hours challenge.
I had previously purchased LED bulbs to upgrade the instrument cluster and A/C Panel but was going to wait until after the upcoming DeLorean Revival Test Track event. However as I got in 16606 ready depart for last weekends trip (see previous post) I found I had lost power to the cigar lighter socket. I knew exactly what the issue was since when I was last poking about in that area I had identified that the lighters purple wire connector was loose. This was now payback for not dealing with it at the time. Whilst having gained access to the underside of the cigar lighter unit, to re-shape, tighten, and re-fit the connector, having unscrewed the centre console panel around the gear stick, I decided to fit the A/C Panel LED bulbs.
I set about removing the A/C Panel by pulling off the three dials.
This exposed the four bulbs that illuminate the dial legends and the individual Fan Fail, Rear Defrost and Door Lock indication light bulbs.
In preparation for doing this job I had viewed several YouTube videos and noted warnings that removing the bulbs requires a push and twist motion, and that when doing this, for the four bulbs that illuminate the dial legends, to be careful not to push the bulb holders backwards in to the housing and out the back into the void behind the panel. I also understood that if this was to happen I would likely need to remove the entire centre console to better access behind the panel from either side to reach the retreated bulb housings. Well, I firstly replaced the bulb right of the hazard switch with no problem. I then moved left to the top bulb left of the hazard switch and couldn't get it to push in. As a result of all the handling the bulb came apart and was ruined. I then tried successfully to fit another LED bulb into this same housing. Next I moved to the three bulbs for the fan fail, read defrost, and door lock indicators and these fitted in easily. Following these I moved to the top bulb right of the headlight switch. This housing started to move backwards, I took some tweezers to try to grip the edge of the bulb housing but instead accidentally pushed it back until it fell out the back, bugger! I decided to come back to this housing and moved on to the far left one, left of the headlight switch. Had I not learnt my lesson! It only went and happened again as I ended up pushing the housing backwards until it disappeared behind the panel whilst trying to fit the LED bulb.
So what was I to do. I really didn't want to remove the centre console. Over the course of the next couple of hours, using my right hands' middle finger, tweezers, and a metal coat hanger bent into various shapes, I managed to manipulate the two bulb housings that I located behind the panel through via the lower void and the bulb holes, and eventually, after much frustration and scrapped skin, managed to push them back through their holes out to the front. Once back in place I gripped the housings with the tweezers and fitted the LEDs. As mentioned I had already damaged one of the LED bulbs, so I removed the Fan Fail LED bulb and fitted this one to the far left hand socket.
Next I pulled off the headlight and hazard light switch buttons, carefully removed the bulbs with tweezers and pushed in the new LED bulbs.
Following this I also applied a new sticker to the front of the headlight switch button and then tested the lights as shown below.
I have now ordered a replacement LED for the Fan Fail socket. I will document the fitting of the final bulb and putting the panel back together in part two of this post series. Look out for the next post.
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