pbdolch

With plenty of researching and the help of some of my co workers I managed to disassemble my center console on my 98LS. Very carefully, I was also able to get to the circuit board where the bulbs are located that light up the 3 screens that are out. Question is where do I find these bulbs? They appear to be attached to the socket and soldered on the board. Would I be able to buy replacement bulbs (12v I was told) without the black square socket and solder it on to the board and have it work? My dealership would normally send out the whole unit and charge me an arm and a leg and after searching this forum I only found places and ppl like Jim Walker that would be able to fix it. But I've gotten this far and would like to do this myself with the help of my soldering buddy at work.....Any type of feedback would help. Thanks!

AzHotLS

iTrader: (1)

I'm not sure I can help you directly, but this threa mentions bulbs:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ing-97-ls.html

Post 6 in this thread mentions the sig lighter fuse as the culprit:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ol-system.html


And this one:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...l-control.html

pbdolch

Thanks for the reply AZ....I know it's a bit difficult to see but these bulbs have a black square socket around it that's soldered to the board. I was just wondering if I can eliminate the socket itself and solder the new replacement bulb straight to the board considering the bulb and socket combo is impossible to find.

AzHotLS

iTrader: (1)

backup........ none of the bulbs work? If not, I'd suspect it's something else other than the bulbs. If so, I'd try to get 12v supplied to the appropriate connections to test.

Maybe your issue is similar to this:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ust-bulbs.html

This is exactly what I think I need to do for my radio back light issue.

pbdolch

Its not all the bulbs that are out. Just the top four that power the lcd screens, couple are probably hard to see. I did take off the green plastic around it so they look different from the rest of the bulbs. The seatbelt light does work along with everything else on the board. The other four however gradually went out one at a time within a year or so.

AzHotLS

iTrader: (1)

Ah, then the bulbs it is. In looking at the spot opposite the seat belt light that is open, it looks like the black base just has two solder points holding it on (maybe a small amount of adhesive too). I think you're going to have to remove one to see how the bulb fits into it to know for sure what you're up against.

Take a look at this thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ust-bulbs.html

You may get lucky and find that the bulb leads are soldered on and be able to remove them easily and replace them with the bulbs from Radio Shack then solder the black base back on the board.