Mike Carter

Can anyone advise what is involved in replacing a lamp in the instrument cluster? The car is a 1987 944 with oval dash. I am concerned that I may need to removed the whole of the inside of the car, and with my luck it will never go back again!


Many thanks

Mike

hosrom_951

You have a LAMP in a car?

Anyways, you need to remove the gauge cluster

Looks like a lot, but very simple and straigh forward, should take you 30 mins on average

Mike Carter

Thanks, Is it necessary to remove the steering wheel?

Charlotte944

No. I've had the gage cluster out of both of my cars several times without removing the steering wheel.

hosrom_951

Cliff: I tried several times, just couldn't have enough clearance without braking the plastic trim surrounding the steering coloumn.

Jfrahm

It can be done without removing the wheel but it requires some questionable twisting and turning. It should however be possible to lower the wheel a bit by disconnecting the column under the dash.

You will also want to disconnect your battery for a while beforehand or you will run the risk of getting an airbag fault, if you have airbags.

If you want brighter gauges, now would be the time to resilver the light conduits and replace the old bulbs with new ones. However do not put overwattage bulbs in place of the gauge lamps, they will melt the plastic sockets.

bearone

i've replaced bulbs in the old 944/S/951 without taking the wheel off.

87951

nine-44

OK, end to the debate. Some of the late cars have the wheel with about a 1" spacer. I pulled one with the wheel on. Another I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't fit, I was going nuts, done it before, what's the problem, lol.

89AZ944

Andy-

Forgive me for being ignorant, but was it the later cars that have more clearance (hence the cluster comes out without wheel removal)?

Techno Duck

Based on my experiences, you could pull the gauge cluster out without removaling the steering wheel on both late and early style interiors. However i find its much easier to just take it out. The extra 3-4 minutes it takes saves alot of trouble having to slide the cluster out between the dash and wheel. The early cars really didnt have a cluster so to speak...just 3 seperate gauges.

The steering wheel is held on by one large 24mm or 15/16'' nut. The same size as the crank pulley. Just park with the wheels straight and pull the wheel off. Makes life alot easier.