How do you disable the dummy light on the dash after you install a new, non-airbag wheel?

I have a '91 Pontiac...

 

Aw nuts. Search is working again.

And...

Nuts... it looks like the only way to do this is to remove the dash light. Is that true? Please say it isn't!

 

Thats correct ..... Have to pull the bulb out, even with every possible thing disconnected on mine the light stays on.

 

I've been told that there is a box behind the dash near the A/C controls that you can disable to turn off the light. I think I should have posted in the "Electronics" board.

 

Its not that hard to just pull out the bulb for it.

 

When I swapped to the 4thgen harness I kept my air bag working off of the 4th gen controls. But I had to put the proper resister in-place of the passenger air-bag that I didn't use. Should be able to do the same on your 3rd gen bag wires..

I can't find the exact resistance in the helms manual, only a total resistance for the whole circuit. So you can either:

1) measure the resistance of the air bag wires from the old wheel and add it to the wires under the dash
2) short the wires together below the column, measure total resistance of the circuit, and then add in the required resistor to fall within spec
3) Disconnect pin A3 on the DERM (air-bag controller), which is the ground connection of the bulb. The DERM is behind the PCM on the passenger side.

Any of those will be at least 10 times as hard as pulling the cluster real quick and unscrewing the bulb.

Kevin D.

 

Hey Kevin! LTNS! How is the car these days?

"Mr. IROC-Z" who lives a few towns south of me has the same problem. Maybe we'll have a weekend of dash pulling to kill a stupid light.

I sure like the new wheel.

 

Car's coming along.. slowly. You should see those seats you passed up now!

Man if you put the new wheel in, yanking the cluster won't take you no time.

Kevin D.

 

Why are people so scared to pull the dash? It really isnt that bad.

The job could easily be done in less than an hour including dissasembly and reasembly time.

In fact i did it last week to test a new gauge cluster I just got before sending it out for recalibration, and the entire job took me just over 35 minutes.

 

It's my daily driver and I tend toward being a spaz, that's why.

Why don't you tell us the step-by-step mister master tech...

 

Not trying to be a smart ***, just trying to express that the job is nowhere near the headache its made out to be.

As for a step by step. Its pretty simple.

#1 remove panel under steering column
#2 remove panel under pass. side dash
#3 remove screws on underside of dash pad, and screws in the center defrost vents
#4 unscrew the two plastic panels under the gauge cluster trim panel
#5 remove gauge cluster bezel
#6 unscrew cluster(the cluster will unplug itself as you pull it out)
#7 If its an early Bird with mechanical speedo, reach behind cluster and feel for the spring retainer that holds speedo cable on and push it toward cluster, the cable will release, if electronic speedo, ignore this step.
#8 At this point you should tilt the steering column all the way down and pull the cluster out.
#9 remove the offending light bulb and be smart and replace all the other bulbs while your there.
#10 Reassembly is in reverse order. Just like the master tech's will tell you..lol

this was all off the top of my head so I may have missed something small, but dont worry, its plenty accurate enough

Sincerely,

mister master tech...
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p.s. Oh, and if your a spaz and its your daily driver, then fear not, for the car can be driven even without a gauge cluster in the unlikely event you hit an imaginary snag...lol

 

Thank you, sir.

A software nerd appreciates your instructions.