dash surgery 1990-91 crown vic (DUW)

[1990LTD]

I just put some new bulbs in, some of the 5 bulb ones I bought real cheap started fucking up. The center bulb went out on all but one of them so I had one bright spot on my dash and the rest sort of visible. Anyway, I've seen people asking about dash surgery on 90-91 models and here are a few photos that might help




before





- pop off the long skinny piece of dash trim on either side of the steering column and it'll look like this:








You'll need to take these guys out too, in order to remove the plate under the steering column to reach up and push the light buton. 8mm. There are 2 on the bottom and 3 in the dash





the underside of the light switch:




switch pulled out



there are a few of these screws facing downward that you will have to take care of. 7mm IIRC...there might be 5 of them total holding that bezel from the top. Check the first few pics for shots of the locations of the forward facing ones. I forget how many of the forward facing ones there are but I'd imagine you lot can count.




pull the bezel off



put the light switch back in so you can turn the lights back off (if you didn't disconnect the battery for the job...i didn't because i wanted music)



clear cover needs to come off



another black bezel comes off





various stages of disassembly:

















old blue bulbs that started fucking up




new bulbs (new red bulb in the bright light socket too)




key on w/ 4 ways before i put blue bulbs in the signals, one green bulb was wearing out but i didn't have any green replacements.

[87gtVIC]

That is allot harder than the older cars.

[1990LTD]

They still left two big holes in the instrument cluster backing piece...are those the location of the bulbs in yours?

[87gtVIC]

No. Our cluster is entirely different. Both front and back.

[1990LTD]

wild. I think my dash might be quite similar to the 92-94 cars but I can't say about newer cars

[85crownHPP]

You can pull the whole cluster out and replace them from behind if you want...

That sucks so many of the bulbs went bad. I'd complain! the first batch I got were great quality, had clear bases, were wired for both polarities and were noticeably heavier than the next ones I got... every new batch came from a different source. They had colored bases, only work one way and seemed to have a bulb or two do something funky... one of them has been disco flashing for a while... luckily none in my clusters have been acting up

[1990LTD]

I complained but sending them back seems like too much trouble.


I'd probably have pulled the whole cluster out but I don't know how to disconnect that speedometer/transmission cable thinger.

[85crownHPP]

90-91 vic and gmq clusters are similar to 92-93 gmq clusters, 92+ vic and 94+ gmq ones start the circular instruments.

[85crownHPP]

I'd probably have pulled the whole cluster out but I don't know how to disconnect that speedometer/transmission cable thinger.

You don't have one silly - 90+ are all electronic

[87gtVIC]

I got good quality 5 light LEDS from lightlens.com. My order was from January 2008 so I guess they could have went to cheaper bulbs as well from then till now. I ordered 6 green bulbs (came out to about 40 bucks) and they all still work till this day!

[1990LTD]

There's a white cable coming down from the cluster to a point under the steering column?

[87gtVIC]

There's a white cable coming down from the cluster to a point under the steering column?

that is connected to your gear selector me thinks.

[1990LTD]

that is connected to your gear selector me thinks.

Whatever it is, that's what I don't know how to disconnect

[1990LTD]

You don't have one silly - 90+ are all electronic

and there's the wiring coming from the back that I don't know how to disconnect either, so leaving it in the car while i do it is the best option for me

[85crownHPP]

Thats the gear indicator cable, you just have to slip the loop end off the little nipple on the lever attached to the selector shaft in the steering column. You can see it and get your finger on it if you look around in there. Then unbolt the adjuster piece where you see it attached to the column and it will all come out with the cluster. Your way works fine too... and actaully makes it easier to test them before you put it all back.