I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem.. I'd be surprised if I wasn't

I've had my GTA for 14 years now. When I first bought it, the backlighting in the fog, defrost and hatch release switches worked...... Over time, the lights started to go dead. Last fall, the last working light went out and my accessory switch panel was dark at night.

About 10 years ago, I took my fog light switch out and pulled it apart. (They come apart easy.. They're held together with four snaps)... I found out that they use LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs as backlights. I measured it with a diode tester and found it was burned out.. It seems the LEDs Pontiac used weren't as durable as regular old incandescent bulbs.



I went to a dealer to see if I could get replacement LEDs. I found that they don't stock such an item. The only option was to buy a whole new switch. A new GM foglight switch from the dealer was about 40 bucks back then... I could have picked up a switch from a boneyard, but I had no idea how long the LEDs in a used switch would last.

I poked around looking for replacement LEDs in local electronic stores. I soon found that LEDs are usually 3 volt units. I couldn't find any 12 Volt LEDs at that time.

A few weeks ago, I finally stumbled across the proper LEDs. They are Red 3mm 12V 10mA units. I picked up a pack of 3 for 5 bucks at a local Canadian electronic retailer called Active Electronic Supplies



To replace the bad LEDs. You'll need a fine flat screwdriver, a fine set of needlenose pliers, wire cutters and a voltmeter.

Removing the acessory switches is easy. The accessory switch panel is held on by 2 phillips screws at the bottom. Once they're removed, the panel just drops off. Each switch is fastened on to the panel by two screws. You need a small socket (10mm if I recall) to remove them. Once the switches have been removed from the panel, they just unplug from the harness.

As I mentioned above, the switch is held together with four snaps (two on each side). They come apart very easily if you pry them gently with a small flat screwdriver.

To remove the burnt out LED, you need to reach through the bottom of the switch with a set of fine needlenose pliers. There are two grooves on the base of the plastic assembly that the LED is mounted on, These grooves let you grab the assembly with your needlenose pliers. Once you grab it, just give it a slight twist, then pull the assembly out. It's much like a bayonet arrangement.



The LED is held on the tip of the black plastic assembly by its leads. The leads fit down channels on either side and twist around then pinch on a pair of 'ears' near the base. These ears hold the leads so they make contact with the electrical parts of the switch.

The existing LEDs are easy to remove from this plastic holder with a fine flat screwdriver. You just pry the leads loose. The new LED fits on as shown in the image below. Note that I haven't twisted the leads around the ears yet. (This isn't hard to do with a fine set of needle nose pliers). The LED to the left is the bad one that I removed:



NOW.. The only difficult part of this operation is getting the polarity of the LEDs correct. LEDs are diodes and diodes only allow current to flow in one direction. This means that if you install them backwards, they won't light up. They will only light if they are installed correctly. (You won't hurt anything if you do accidentally install one backward. If you do, just pull it out and reverse it).

What I did was go back in the car and plug each switch into its proper harness. I measured the contacts on the switch with a voltmeter to see where the positive one was. Once I found the positive contact, I twisted the leads to the correct 'ears' so that positive lead made contact with positive part of the switch.

Just for information.... to find the POSITIVE lead on the LED, look for the longer of the two. That's the lead you want touching the positive contact. (See image above of the LED being mounted.. I put a red '+' sign by the longer (positive) lead.

Anyway.. It worked. I now have all three of my switches lit up again

 

This is a great write up. I am in the process of doing this now. However, I want to point out that you do not need to take apart your switches to replace the bulbs. Just follow the following steps.

1.) Remove the switch pod from your dash by removing the bolts.

2.) Remove the wiring harnesses from the back of the switches by unplugging them.

3.) *(may be optional)* Remove the switches from the switch pod by removing the bolts.

4.) As written by GTA Jim, "To remove the burnt out LED, you need to reach through the bottom of the switch with a set of fine needlenose pliers. There are two grooves on the base of the plastic assembly that the LED is mounted on, These grooves let you grab the assembly with your needlenose pliers. Once you grab it, just give it a slight twist, then pull the assembly out. It's much like a bayonet arrangement."

5.) Follow the remaining steps listed by GTA Jim.

I think that the switch lighting is very red when compared with the orange lighting of the rest of my dashboard. In an effort to make the colors match, I am going to install amber/yellow LEDs in an attempt to change the red to orange.

The LEDs I am ordering are located at the following website.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-10pc-3mm-Dia-Clear-Lens-Train-LED-Bulb-Amber-light-/380374413091?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item589014ef23
Does anyone see an issue with this item?

I will also replace the green LED for my fog lights and the orange LED for my defroster.

As a side note, I have disassembled a handful of these switches. Some of them have come with all white (yellowish tint) LEDs, and some have come with colored LEDs. I have read that using colored LED bulbs makes the colors richer, so that is the route I am going to follow.

 

P.S. Be careful when buying these from eBay. Most products advertised as "12V LEDs" are really standard voltage LEDs that include a free resistor. However, it would be unnecessarily difficult to make a resistor work in this application.

 

I finished this job yesterday. I ordered LEDs from the following website.

http://www.led-switch.com/12%20volt%20LED.htm

I rescind my previous statement. This job is easier if you disassemble the switches as indicated by GTA Jim.

I used the Orange (Amber) With Diffused White Lens 600 MCD LEDs to backlight all of my switches. The color is as close as a match as I could hope for with the rest of my dash lighting. I much prefer it to the red color. Plus, the price is great. When installed, these bulbs are a little brighter than the rest of my dash. However, they are just bright enough for me, and they will be a great match if I ever update the rest of my dash to LED lighting.

The problem is that the bases of all the LEDs I ordered from this site are flared. As such, the LEDs are too wide to fit in the hole from the bottom of the switch. I had to grip the LEDs with a pair of needle nose pliers and file down their bases in order to make them fit. In the battles between my steel file and the plastic LEDs, the LEDs often cracked. So, make sure you order extras. (Good thing they come in packs of 5!)

I used a Pure Green Color Diffused MCD 600 as the indicator for my fog lamps. This bulb is insanely bright for this application. So, I colored the tip of the bulb ~50% with a Sharpie. Then, I briefly hit the bulb with a blow drier to bake the Sharpie on so it wouldn't smear, rub off on my fingers, etc. (This process worked well.) You could, alternatively, use a Green Color Diffused MCD 180 bulb. However, I was worried it would be too dim.

I originally used a Yellow With Diffused White Lens 800 MCD LED as my rear defrost indicator. However, it appeared to be dimmer than the green bulb I used in the neighboring switch (bot before and after applying the Sharpie to the green bulb). So, I used a Yellow With Water Clear Lens MCD 1500 bulb instead. I put a few dots of Sharpie dead center on the tip of the bulb, and baked the ink on with a blow drier. Now, the defroster indicator is slightly brighter than my fog lamp indicator. But, it is as close as I could hope for.

After you are done testing your work and are ready for final reassembly of the switches before installing them into your car, I recommend reassembling the top of the switches to the bottom of the switches BEFORE installing the LED assemblies in through the bottom of the switches. (Depending on how tight things are, this may not be possible for you.) If you install the LEDs into the bottom of the switch first, and then clip the top of the switches on, you will inadvertently bend your LED assemblies up or down.

When you are inserting your LED assemblies into the bottom of the switches, do not turn them all of the way to full lock. You only need to go about ~2/3 or 4/5 of the way. If you turn them all of the way, you may not get a good electrical connection. (This is best seen when you are test fitting your LED assemblies into the base of the switches before you put the top of the switches back on.)

On another note, my fog light switch felt like it required way too much muscle to switch on. It felt like it had some rusty gears or something. To fix this, you can CAREFULLY remove the grey switch lever off the top half of the switch assembly with a fine screwdriver. Before attempting this process, ensure you have an extra fog light switch in case you break the tab like I did on my first attempt. Under the switch lever, on the top half of the switch assembly, there is a small spring with two tiny white tabs on it. Put the top half of the switch in a zip lock bag. With the assembly in the bag, using needle nose pliers, remove the spring, and the two tiny white tabs will come with it. (The zip lock bag helps when the spring decides to decompress and go flying, taking the tabs with it. They are so tiny that once they are gone, their chances of recovery are slim.) Cut a couple of coils off of the spring. (Do not cut off too many as there will no longer be enough tension in the spring to hold the switch in the on position.) Then, reassemble the switch and VOILA. No more muscle required to flip the switch.

I hope this helps someone!
Bill

 

Why didn't I find this while I was attacking my own switch?
I learned about the 12V LEDs the hard way by burning out a couple of regular ones, not knowing there's such a thing as 12V LEDs.
Also, I think I ordered them from that led-switch website, too, as there don't seem to be many shops and sites that stock this type.

The hardest part was, IMO, bending the LED legs around the tiny plastic noses on the socket WITHOUT braking the plastic off, so be very careful here.

Just wanted to confirm this works and add my .

 

Does anyone know where this light comes from? Is there a bulb inside that shines down? My car doesn't have one. Any photos of this bulb would be greatly appreciated.

 

My 91 Firebird didn't have any provisions for that light, except the hole in the bezel.
The socket comes as a single unit including the lense. That's all I can say right now.