My gear selector console went dark. Anyone know how to get at the bulb?

 

mines been dark since I bought it a few months ago. I believe you have to take off all the surrounding trim and then you can get access. I've heard it can be kind of tedious. Good luck

 

Here is something posted by VVT-I.......You will need to remove the 2 philip head screws on the upper part of black plastic cover around the cluster. Then remove the plastic trim around the ignition key cylinder and another plastic trim on the left side ( the seat memory and remote mirror switch are in this trim) and both of these trims just pop out.
After remove the black plastic cover around the cluster, you will need to remove 3 move philip head screws that hold the cluster. Remove the cluster out of its housing and carefully disconnect 3 connectors.
Then place the cluster face down on a towel to protect the clear cover. You will see the 'D' light from the back side. Just count the indicator light start from the bottom until you get to ' D'. Just use a small flat head screw driver and turn counter clockwise to remove the bulb. If you are not sure it's the right bulb you just removes, just shine the flash light behind it . Good luck.

 

Ok which bulb the instrument (speedometer one) or the Gear shift lamp where you change gears. I posted the removeal of the trim on the gear shift handle on the other site. by the way just be gentle, the wood trim does come off, I did it on my 99 RX and didnt break it.

 

thomas,I thought he was talking about the instrument cluster bulb,my bad.

 

I can't find your post on the other site. Do you know what it is under? I did find a picture of the trim showing the clip locations which should be helpful.

 

Once you get that trim piece off the rest of the screws are real obvious and you will not need any further pictures. It exposes all of the hardware for getting to those light bulbs...

 

Thanks. Trim piece came off easily and no additional removal is necessary. It looks like there is only one bulb illuminating the shift console. It is a twist out socket on the left side about under the "D" indicator. It's a wedge type bulb with a little rubber green jacket for color. I think it is a Sylvania 2825 by comparing bulb types online. I will check it out at Autozone tomorrow.
Next project is the ash tray light. Has anyone been there before? I removed the 4 screws from inside the drawer facing the ash tray and 2 more from under the drawer but still can't get inside. The ash tray will flex enough to see the wires going to the bulb socket but not enough to remove it.

 

Mikey00,

I did a step by step on how to completely take the ash tray out. I'll see if I can find it for you.

Here it is.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=334373

 

Thanks to Thomas1 for directions on how to remove the trim piece and YoshRX300 for the pics on how to remove the center console. I replaced the shift console illumination bulb and the ash tray bulb today using those directions. I pulled both bulbs and went to Autozone and they both matched up to a Sylvania 2721. In hindsight, I would still do the shift console bulb for that one is easy and nice to have. But I think I would skip the ash tray light. That one is much less useful and harder to change. Next week I have to change that "D" indicator light in the dash. I think I will pick that one up at the Toyota dealer ahead of time just to make things go faster, though I would like to see if it would match up to an Autozone bulb but don't want to waste the time.
Now that my RX is pushing 140K I am starting to see more bulb failures. Bulbs are only designed to last a certain amount of hours and I am on a mission to keep up with the failures, even the insignificent ones. Trouble with the RX is some of these bulbs are a pain to get at.