chenxingha

Does any body know how to replace the interior light bulb?

There is a very small slot between the plastic lens and the frame. I tried with a small screw driver, but it doesn't seem to pop the lens.

Please advise,

gazi001

Hi,
Try with small flat screw driver at the longer side of the right passenger side.
It will pop up.

chenxingha

Thank you for your input.

I could not get the small flat screw driver into the long side of the plastic lens. So I tried with the small open slot on the short side of the lens, with a little deeper insert and little bit more force than before, and it pop loose.

The plastic lens has one long notch in one end (on the short edge) and two smaller notches on the other short edge which has the openning slot. When putting the lens back, insert the one-notch side into the plastic frame first and then push (with a little force) the other short side (with two smaller notches) with two fingers pressing the notches.

I do not recommend placing a screw driver on any other positions other than the small openning slot - a screw driver when pressed leaves cut marks on the plastic frame.

gazi001

I always used the small flat screwdriver (which use for eye glass screws).

salimshah

Need to tape it too ..

Salim

K0RC

I just swapped out the original rear view mirror in my 2000 RX300 using a salvage yard pull that includes the compass option. There is a little LED window near the upper right corner that displays the current heading.

I needed to pull the overhead console out to get at the wiring. The above post came the closest to giving me a clue how to proceed. Here's more details...

There are three self-tapping screws that hold the console in place. Two are hidden under the felt that lines the top of the console compartment. The third screw is hidden in the bulb area for the overhead map light. That required removing the map light lens cover.

The felt was fairly easy to remove by slipping a kitchen butter knife along one edge and prying it like a piece of carpeting. It's flexible and is held in place by double sided tape. The two #2 phillips screws are then exposed. The tape remained sticky enough that it adhered with no problem when I reinstalled the console.

Getting at the third screw was a little more challenging. I suspected it was in the bulb compartment but could not figure out how to remove that plastic lens. As mentioned above, there are tabs that hold it in place. In my case there are two on each long side of the plastic cover. There are two LARGE tabs (toward the back of the car) and two small tabs facing the windshield.

I used the method described above, prying from the passenger side (short side) of the lens. This was not the best method, now that I have it apart and can "see what is going on." My RX300 might be slightly different than what was being discussed in this message thread.

For the RX300 console, it would be better to slip two #0 flat blade screwdrivers along the LONG edge, on the windshield side and prying the short tabs out of their respective slots.

Also, for anyone wanting to upgrade their rear view mirror, you need a #30 torx bit to remove the mirror assembly from the holder on the windshield. This required a LOT of pressure because that screw appears to be (blue) Lock-Tited in place. I needed to clamp a vise-grip pliers onto the torx screwdriver shaft to get enough force to break that permanent bond. I was crossing my fingers the bracket on the windshield remained glued in place! It did.

All said and done, the new compass mirror works fine. It actually came up with the correct heading when I first started the car and tracked properly as I drove around the area. There is a procedure of slowly driving in a tight circle three times in order to calibrate the compass if it does not display the correct directions.

Oh, I picked up this used compass mirror for $40 on eBay from a national auto parts recycler in Rosemount, MN.