Ford Explorer FAQ » 1995 Explorer » Replace in-dash lightbulbs on 1995 Explorer XLT

Replace in-dash lightbulbs on 1995 Explorer XLT

Question:

Howdy, I have a light bulb or 2 (in particular, behind the fuel gauge) that have gone out. The dealer (while estimating other maintenance charges) said it’d be $80 to replace the bulbs. I can live without them for $80, but the price makes me suspect that 99% is labor charges, meaning 1.5 hours worth of work.  Is this a correct assumption? (for a first time bulb changer?) At any rate, can I get replacement bulbs at my local Autozone or Pep Boys? Also, what is involved in replacing the bulbs?  Are there a series of screws I take out to pop the dash off, or do I just reach behind and feel my way? One last question, my odometer stops working from time to time (I hear a clicking when it stops turning, so my guess is it’s cable driven and the gears are skipping), while I’m changing the bulbs will I be able to get to and diagnose the problem with the odometer? Thanks, Mike

Response:

> At any rate, can I get replacement bulbs at my local Autozone or Pep Boys? > Also, what is involved in replacing the bulbs?  Are there a series of screws > I take out to pop the dash off, or do I just reach behind and feel my way?

See http://www.glue.umd.edu/~singletn/web/pages/instruments.html . Haven’t done this myself, but have the same bulb burned out on the wife’s ‘95. I’ll replace all the bulbs so I only have to do it once.

Response:

The illumination bulbs are #194. Get the 194LL bulbs, if you can.  They have longer rated lives.

Response:

> At any rate, can I get replacement bulbs at my local Autozone or Pep Boys? > Also, what is involved in replacing the bulbs?  Are there a series of screws > I take out to pop the dash off, or do I just reach behind and feel my way?

Mike, I just replaced all of my bulbs in my 95 Explorers dash. I noticed a few would go out and after a while only one worked. I bought my bulbs from Wal-Mart. There’s quite a bit of labor to unscrew all of those screws but the whole job took me about an hour to complete. From 1 to 10, 10 being the worst I would say it is about a 7. HD

Response:

Thanks for the info y’all, 3 good useful response, off to the auto parts store :)

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> At any rate, can I get replacement bulbs at my local Autozone or Pep Boys? > Also, what is involved in replacing the bulbs?  Are there a series of screws > I take out to pop the dash off, or do I just reach behind and feel my way? > Mike, I just replaced all of my bulbs in my 95 Explorers dash. I > noticed a few would go out and after a while only one worked. I bought > my bulbs from Wal-Mart. There’s quite a bit of labor to unscrew all of > those screws but the whole job took me about an hour to complete. From > 1 to 10, 10 being the worst I would say it is about a 7. > HD

Response:

Has anyone seen these photos…it appears to be pretty detailed: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46290&highlight=…

Response:

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