Dash lights question?

[1986Silverado]

Well had the dash apart this weekend installing the speedo someone from the borad gave me(Thanks Tyler!)anyway I see that a couple of my bulbs in the guage cluster are out so I replace them, turn the lights on and immediately one of them turns white...it looked as if it filled with smoke. What does that mean? The bulb did quit burning after it turned white. Thanks

[cliffsta]

maybe check / clean the contacts on the printed circuits. i have a dirty contact on the left speedo light, the only reason i haven't taken the bezel off is mine is brittle and already has a broken corner.

[updatelee]

probably just a bad bulb. replace and retry.

if you are a good contortionist you can accually reach up behind the dash from underneith and replace all your bulbs. the only one I had a problem was with the high beam bulb, its directly above the steering columb and was kinda akward. just feel up there and give em a twist, the bulb and the holder come out as a unit. good time to clean the contacts on em and give them a slight beng outwards to make a better contact. I hate have a nice bright new bulb flashing every time I go over a bumb.

[leastbay]

i have an 85 and im pretty sure you cant reach in there and pull them out they just push in on mine they dont twist in either

[crossy]

the bulb just lost it's vacuum seal, if it still works now it's about out of time. When the new series of trucks came out in 73 one of the things they advertised was that the gauges were serviceable from the front without taking the whole cluster out. It's true that the bulbs too are accessible this way. although it is a lot of screws.:-( it works.
1.REMOVE- dash pad
2.lower column pieces, 1 metal, 1 plastic
3.gauge bezel
4.plastic lens & gauge shroud.
At this point you could also paint the backside of the gauge shroud with the reflective silver and get a little more out of the brightness without removing the whole cluster to paint the inside of the gauge housing. I've done just the shroud and it does help. also a good opp to scrub the top of the dash pad , clean those defrost ducts & grates, and blow all the junk out of the dash controls area.,

If you don't want to do all that then just removing the lower column pieces will allow good access to the backside of the cluster to reach up and replace the bulbs. If you have A/C remove that horizontal duct.
Hose out the ducts while you have them off and spray the inside with something like 2001 or Ozium and you'll get a fresh smell everytime you use it.
Clean the dust off the plastic gauge lens and if you don't have plastic polish try a dab of toothpaste on a soft moistened rag.
Martha Stewart and I discusss these things on our weekends in the slammer. :-), DAVE

[updatelee]

my truck is a 74, I dont know alot about the differences between the 74 and the 85 but maybe there is just to much crap under the dash in the later years, I dont know. With my 74 its tight, but it can be done.

the bulbs push into their receptical, the receptical is what twists in to the cluster from the rear, it would be next to impossible to twist them (the receptical) in or out from the front.

[crossy]

You DON"T twist them out from inside the housing, you merely pull the bulb out of the socket leaving it in the housing. DAVE

[updatelee]

exactly.

- the BULB's push into the receptical (socket)
- the receptical (socket) twists into the cluster from the rear

if you want to change the bulbs from the front you remove a hole lot of dash stuff till you finnaly get to the cluster, you then pull the old bulbs out, and push new ones in.

if you dont want to have to unscrew any part of your dash then you reach up behind the cluster and twist out the recepticals (sockets), the receptical and bulb will come out as a unit, pull the bulb out, push new bulb into receptical and reach up and twist receptical and bulb as a unit back into the cluster.

works very good on my 74. I dont know about other years, I assume their simmilar but I cant say for sure.

[crossy]

yeah?? but as i said there are benefits to doing it the hard way as listed above. I also mentioned removing the 2 lower column pieces to get at them easier from under the dash and behind the cluster. DAVE

[mckpaul]

Assuming they can be reached from under the dash (even if lower column pieces are removed) how many are there so I'll know many I'm feeling around to find. And can the turn signal bulbs be accessed the same way? Right now, I think there's only one bulb working in the dash, VERY partially lit at night. For now, just want to get them working. In the long run I plan to do the chrome paint thing.

[cliffsta]

uhhh, lets see, ill try and count them on my 80. there is one behind the gauges to the left, there is one on left of speedo, one in middle between speedo and feul, one on right of feul, and 2 in AC, which equals 6, which is how many LMC says is required.