replacing bulbs behind temp controls

[enzo83]

Careful with the screws that hold the ashtray track to the console. On my 01, the crews are about a half inch. I've lost both on mine when I has to replace radio. Lol ever time I remove my ashtray the tracks going in fall down.

[dianer]

Ok I took the subaru parts number from the website I was using before I found this thread:

How to... Climate Control Panel Bulbs

and googled it and found the answer here:

http://www.scoobymods.com/showthread...cement-91.html

No ashtray involved.

[dianer]

Just got an after photo so I can share my efforts. Yes I know the radio LCD backlight is still out but I managed to fix the HVAC illumination.

[EGbeater]

Just did this on my parents' '97 Legacy Outback wagon... their HVAC control panel illumination has been completely dead for years.

Thanks to the previous posters for sharing their information on this easy DIY fix!

Total cost of four (they come in two-packs) #272-1092 replacement bulbs from Radio Shack (April 2013): $3.98 + tax, not including gas to drive to "the Shack" and back.

Disconnecting the mechanical cable hookup for the heater slider lever is a PITA, but the overall difficulty of this DIY is only about a 3.5-4, 10 being the hardest/worst imaginable, assuming you're comfortable doing basic work on automotive interiors, like installing an aftermarket car stereo or gauges.

Total time for me: under two hours, taking my time, and including about 10 minutes of fruitless fuse-checking and 20 minutes to remove the two circlips to unhook the heater control box cable (working with the very limited selection of crappy tools in my parents' collection).

Here are some pics I took, mostly of the back of the HVAC control panel circuit board where the bulbs are:







Took me a while to discover that this plastic cover panel on the back of the main HVAC control assembly slides UP, not out! Doesn't come off if you pull on it in entirely the wrong direction...


Looking down at the rear-facing circuit board, with the sub-board for one of the wiring harnesses in place:


Two views with the sub-board pulled out (there's two black plastic clips that need to be released for it to slide up). I've already replaced the blown OEM microbulbs in two of the plastic screw-in bases in these pictures:

[dianer]

Nice pictures. Since I didn't have a proper tool I didn't remove the circlips. I saw a post that someone put up that the cable is easy to disconnect at the other end and did that instead.

[EGbeater]

Originally Posted by dianer

Nice pictures. Since I didn't have a proper tool I didn't remove the circlips. I saw a post that someone put up that the cable is easy to disconnect at the other end and did that instead.

Ah, that would have been the smart thing to do! But I'm pretty used to working w/o the proper tools... I just used a medium-to-smallish sized flathead screwdriver and a needle-nose pair of Vise-Grips to remove and reinstall the circlips at the HVAC control panel end.

NOTE: pinch the clips down the slightest bit with the Vise-Grips to "tighten" them before reinstalling them, since they get stretched out a little during their removal, just to ensure that they aren't loose enough that they might fall off later.