How hard is it to change bulbs for the dash warning lights, specifically the battery light? My alternator isn't charging, but the warning light never came on. It doesn't even come on when you turn the key on and all the rest of the warning lights illuminate. Do you get to it from the back, or do you have to take the instrument cluster out to get at it? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

you have to remove the cluster, starting with the trim around the shifter, then the radio trim, then the vent trim. just keep removing paneling until you can see the cluster by itself. it's held in by 2 or 4 screws i think. check craig brace's website in the FAQ for pictures of removing the trims. good luck.

 

Well, good news and bad news. I figured out how to get the cluster out. It wasn't too hard, but when I finally got to the suspected bad bulb, it wasn't burned out. I swapped bulbs with the seat belt warning light and it worked fine. For some reason, the charge warning light is not coming on with the ignition switch on. I looked at the wiring diagram and it looks like the warning light gets it's ground from the same wire the bulb check relay gets its ground from. The bulb check relay appears to be working, the rest of the warning lights all come on with the switch on. I'll be changing the alternator tomorrow. Maybe something in the regulator has gone bad causing the warning light to not come on. I'll try leaving the belt off with the new one and see if the light works then. I had an alternator go bad a couple of months ago, also without a warning light on. I checked the light after putting a good used alternator on, and I swear the light was working then. I hope I just got a couple of flakey alternators and I don't have a short somewhere that's causing the car to eat alternators! Thanks for the help.