Blue gauge bulb "condom"/hat

[ckadiddle]

I had National Bad Bulb Replacement Day last Saturday. I have a single stock tinted condom or hat that goes on the stock gauge light bulbs. I will send it to you free of charge if you need one to complete your car-ma and align your automotive feng-shuei.

I needed both gauges to look the same. I am driving with bareback gauge bulbs from now on. :eek:

I had one replaced some time back, now I know why they always looked slightly different at night after that. One bulb had a hat, the other didn't any more. Some doofus lost my tiny condom.

Please send me PMs if you need a condom.

[CBT]

I had National Bad Bulb Replacement Day last Saturday. I have a single stock tinted condom or hat that goes on the stock gauge light bulbs. I will send it to you free of charge if you need one to complete your car-ma and align your automotive feng-shuei.

I needed both gauges to look the same. I am driving with bareback gauge bulbs from now on. :eek:

I had one replaced some time back, now I know why they always looked slightly different at night after that. One bulb had a hat, the other didn't any more. Some doofus lost my tiny condom.

Please send me PMs if you need a condom.

Lol, don't need light condoms or any other sort, but both my gage bulbs are out of commission and need to be changed. Is removing the pod easy, I heard you put the shifter in low, then pull straght out on the pod, yes no?

[ckadiddle]

You bet it's easy if I managed to do it. I did both cars in the same day - also did fog lights on blue and license plate lights on both....

Park on a flat, level surface if possible.
Set the parking brake!!!
Move shifter to farthest position away from the gauge pod.
When I was sure the car wasn't going to roll away, I moved to the pasenger front seat - I'm fat and need a lot of room.
Feel along the pod sides until you find the back end of it on both sides.
Pull forward and upwards towards you with steadily increasing pressure on both right and left rear ends of the pod.
When it comes loose, there may be a horrible loud noise that sounds like you are torturing your Marauder to death. It's OK, try not to wet your pants. It's bad for the leather.
Look at the back of the gauges, there are two loooong silver bolts that hold each one in place.
Get your socket set and loosen the nuts on each of the four bolts until it is almost ready to fall off the end of the bolt.
On the back of each gauge, the bulb sits in a black plastic twist lock thingie. If you have the nuts at the end of the bolts, you have enough wiggle room to unlock the bulb and get it out where you can swap it out. The old bulbs may be a little tight, a couple of them I had to convince to let go with gently wiggling the bulb. Might want to use a cloth or something on the outside chance the bulb might break while you are wiggling it loose.

After swapping both bulbs, remember to test BEFORE you go to the trouble of putting everything back together. It's recommended by A.R. MM lovers to change both bulbs at the same time so lighting looks the same on both gauges. Choose the LL (Long Life) bulbs if you wish. I don't know if it helps or not, but they were less than a buck more than the standard ones, so I went for the LLs. Heck, maybe the only difference is tha packaging...who knows?

I left the nuts on the ends of the bolts so I wouldn't lose them or get them cross threaded. I am really bad about losing small parts, so I am overly paranoid. It would be easier to change bulbs take the nuts all the way off the bolts, but I did it MY way. ;)

The pod goes back in at the same angle it came out. It will snap loudly into place and feel firmly seated. I had to try a few times to get the clips in the back to line up just right.

Oh yeah......Put car back in Park and take off the parking brake. ;)

[CBT]

Thanx my blue brutha, now to thread search where I asked someone the part number for the bulbs, lol.....

[hot-rauder]

Thanx my blue brutha, now to thread search where I asked someone the part number for the bulbs, lol.....


It sould be on the bulb itself, or autometer should have it.

Glad to see someone using the search function though.

[ctrlraven]

Standard #194 bulb or you can go with a brighter #168 bulb. I replaced all my gauge cluster bulbs with #168 and the tag light to be brighter.

[ckadiddle]

Standard #194 bulb or you can go with a brighter #168 bulb. I replaced all my gauge cluster bulbs with #168 and the tag light to be brighter.


What he said! There are about four possibilities that will work based on my research here on mm.net ....sorry my notes are at home dangit. Tag light and gauge lights are same type, base is glass with wires wrapped around it. Very small. The different bulb part numbers have different current draws and different brightnesses I assume. I think I bought 168 for gauge lights and 194 for tag lights.

Here is what they look like, this is the 194:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=SYL&MfrPartNumber=194LL

[ctrlraven]

My gauge lights were all 194 bulbs, I noticed 194 bulbs put out just a tad less light and don't last as long as 168 bulbs. But yeah either will work just fine.

[ckadiddle]

Found my notes. Based on what MM.net members have used or recommended over the years, you can use 158, 161, 168, and 194 part number bulbs.

[fastblackmerc]

Found my notes. Based on what MM.net members have used or recommended over the years, you can use 158, 161, 168, and 194 part number bulbs.

Or LEDs...

[ckadiddle]

Or LEDs...


Yep, I might try them next time. I didn't see them in my FLAPS (it's really small), will have to look around elsewhere when I am not in a hurry.

[ctrlraven]

Or LEDs...


Yep, I might try them next time. I didn't see them in my FLAPS (it's really small), will have to look around elsewhere when I am not in a hurry.

www.superbrightleds.com (http://www.superbrightleds.com/)

[ckadiddle]

www.superbrightleds.com (http://www.superbrightleds.com/)
Added it to my favorites. Thanks.:burnout: