ok i just installed silver face gagues to go with my auto meters i'm tryin to switch out the 194 bulbs for some brighter ones but i can't get the stock bulbs out of the gray plastic pieces that twist and hold them into the socket in the back of the cluster???? anyone with the know how of how to remove them PLEASE let me know how?!??!!

thanx

 

The only way to remove the wedge type bulbs out is by pulling straight out. There is a unsafe and not asured, and I came apon on accident. I was removing bulbs from my rearview mirror and if youve ever done this, wow its tuff! I tried to get with hands and wouldnt work. So i wrapped some needle nose pliers in electrical tape and squeezed the bulb out. Well, you know what happened, smashed bulb. The thing is, your replacing them right. So if you smash them over a garbage can in a controled way, with safety glasses, then pull on the fillament, while holding the base. That should work, but rember to be safe. Also, there is a tech article floating around about converting the wedge style bulb ( 194 ) to light emmiting diodes ( leds ). It looks really good. It would look really good with your new gauge face. Just somthing to think about. Good luck and be careful.

 

heres the thing i wanted to convert them to LED but i didn't want to go through all of the trouble but i found a company that makes LED's in a 194 form and aslo xenon 194 bulbs the problem is the stock bulbs have copper pieces on the sides so that they make contact with the back of the cluster for power and the after market ones don't have them. so i just rigged them up but since the LEDs need + & - termanals and i coulden't tell which was which the LED's don't work but the xenon's work great and are about twice as bright as the stockers

 

Some of those, although they're the same bulb, are actually manufactured as part of that plastic base, and will not come apart. Generally speaking, the grey ones are one-piece and have "Replace As A Unit" printed on the side.

The black ones and green ones (again generally speaking) are usually plain sockets that a normal 194 can plug into.

If you ever pull that bulb out, you'll see that it didn't want to come out because the wires were all one piece, and there aren't any "contacts" to speak of.

 

yea i have the damn gray ones but i got them out and rigged them up but can i buy the balck or green sockets???

 

I did for my car, they are cheap too, 5 sockets and 5-8 bulbs were about $10 CAD.... not sure I had any grey ones..

I got blue ones too

Woot, my 100th post.

 

I grab a handful whenever I go to the u-pull-it.

 

anyplace else to get-em cause by me its hard to find a u-pull-it yard, due to insurance reasons most junk yards are tell me what u want and we'll get it for you

 

I got mine from UAP/NAPA

just think of parts places in your area and start calling them