How do you change bulbs behind blower/heater panel?

[bmxJeff]

Hi Guys,

I tried to get to the bulbs behind the blower control panel as they are both dead. I got this far and I'm stuck:



The bulbs are surrounded by these transparent plastic pieces which obviously direct the light. The problem is these transparent blocks are locked in place by the bulb, and the bulb is blocked by the transparent block. Stalemate!




Has anybody else done this with success?

[Forrest]

You don't dismantle the front panel like that. You remove the whole unit by undoing the four torx screws. However, there is a catch. In order to remove the metal lugs at the bottom that will prevent you pulling the unit forward you have to remove the radio carrier so there is a little bit of dismantling to do.

The bulbs are little T3 panel bulbs that can be hard to find or obtained from the main dealer for a hideous price.

As a matter of interest, how easy/destructive was it to remove the front panel? On my vague to-do list is to replace the climate control decal in my 940CD with one salvaged from a US 960 because I hate having centigrade temperatures forced on me by the EU. But everything looks glued together.

[bmxJeff]

Originally Posted by Forrest

You don't dismantle the front panel like that. You remove the whole unit by undoing the four torx screws. However, there is a catch. In order to remove the metal lugs at the bottom that will prevent you pulling the unit forward you have to remove the radio carrier so there is a little bit of dismantling to do.

The bulbs are little T3 panel bulbs that can be hard to find or obtained from the main dealer for a hideous price.

As a matter of interest, how easy/destructive was it to remove the front panel? On my vague to-do list is to replace the climate control decal in my 940CD with one salvaged from a US 960 because I hate having centigrade temperatures forced on me by the EU. But everything looks glued together.

I was worried that would be the case. My heavily modified aftermarket head unit surround and mount was kind of a one-way ticket. It's not something I can remove without destroying so until I really have to, its staying put. Looks like I'll keep feeling around in the dark for the heater controls at night for now.

As for the front panel removal, it was easy to get apart but also easy to damage. I pulled the 3 knobs from their pot switch poles, then the black backing/control decal can be carefully peeled away from a transparent plastic frame behind. It is a thick vinyl material so shouldn't tear easily. The problem is that when I pulled the vinyl-like decal away, a couple of small black flakes of the coloured layer stayed stuck to the transparent frame behind. I've now got these few 'flakes' on the decal where you can see the colour layer has been separated from the hard clear layer. Its a bit like when you get a bubble trapped under your phone screen protector.

If I was to do this again I would warm the decal up to soften the glue with a heatgun or hairdryer to reduce the chance of flakes of the decal being left on the frame behind. On the plus side, the decal resticks quite nicely and perfectly flat with no additional glue.