Pod removal problem
 

Need to replace a blown 3W illumination bulb, so thought I'd try Schocki's remarkable "15 minute pod removal without removing steering wheel" method.

Mine is a RHD MY91 S4.

Of course the original thread was about LHD car, so I don't know what difference that makes. Also the car photographed had an airbag wheel and mine doesn't.

Found some immediate differences - there's no knee protector piece on my car so maybe this was US only? Anyway could still follow removing plastic covers under pod and the 4 5mm allen bolts and brackets, and remove grommet on ignition lock.

At this point I'm stuck. The write-up says pod should be loose at this point, and you can move it over ignition lock. My pod doesn't want to move in this direction, and appears to sit behind the plastic cover around the steering column switches so can't move forwards.

Am I missing something simple, or is this method not possible for a non-airbag, RHD model? Do I have to do the full steering wheel removal thing?

Thanks for any advice

You may have missed a cheese head bolt. See picture below from Ed Scherer's LED install guide. My GTS has 4 (like Schocki's) but you may have 5.

You may have also missed that Schocki is is known for doing things in simple ways that I can never duplicate. He has way more skilz. I've always ended up removing the steering wheel.

That's brilliant thanks - I had missed that bolt and it's on my 91 S4. Pod moved fine with it removed. Very helpful photo too!

For anyone interested here's the back of the opened 91 S4 cluster. The middle 2 of the 4 3W illumination bulbs had blown.

The bulbs/LEDs are all helpfully marked on the PCB. But what's that mystery warning bulb with a symbol implying there's a hole at top of windscreen? Do some markets require a sunroof open warning? Anyone have an idea before I consult owner's manual to see if in fact it is operational in my car?

Strat, that's the "safety belt warning light."

That is a rather strange icon. What is actually illuminated by that light (at least in the cluster on my '90 S4) is a belt across a human in a seat.

See my writeup Converting Porsche 928 Interior Lighting to LEDs for all sorts of handy info related to what you're doing.

It has, among other things, all sorts of useful photos.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...11-05-0369.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...11-05-0367.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-a...1-05-0462a.JPG

Bruce, I just noticed that that particular photo in the guide wasn't linked to the high-res on-line version like all the other photos. I just fixed that and generated a new PDF.

If you click this one, you'll get the photo in all its high-res glory. :)

Nice to see these kinds of photos helping people along. And thanks again to Schocki, who figured out this "easy instrument cluster removal" thing in the first place. I can easily get mine out in under 15 minutes now. Reinstallation takes a little longer, as it a little tricky to get everything realigned again (BTW, it helps considerably to shine a flashlight through the bolt holes to do some preliminary alignment and then use a Philips head screwdriver to align stuff through the bolt holes even more before finally threading the bolts in).

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8...1-08-0051b.jpg

Ed thanks for all your help.

Your LED lighting looks fantastic - superbly crisp.

Now I have a little more experience with POD removal may try and emulate - I already have a load of the 1.2W LEDs in those holders.

One question - the LEDs of course observe polarity, so how did you decide which way to put them in before connecting everything up, or was it trial and error?

I assumed that most of them would share a ground, so inspection of the circuit traces got almost all of them right on the first time. IIRC, I guessed incorrectly on two or three, which I corrected upon the next removal/reinstallation. My instrument cluster has been in and out a number of times. :) Anyway, that's one of the main reasons that I wanted to share photos of the cluster where the cathode (negative) side of each lamp position is marked—so nobody else has to waste time figuring it out.

Regarding the conversion of the cluster from incandescent to LED bulbs: about the only thing I haven't been happy about are the four amber LEDs I used for the info display backlighting. I've had quite a few failures. I don't know if it's a bad batch of LEDs, or if maybe there's a heat dissipation issue (not much air circulation in there), or if maybe (seems very unlikely, but possible, I guess) those bulbs are driven at higher than 12 to 14 V. I've got two partially failed ones right now (each SMT bulb actually consists of three LED junctions) that I'm going to replace soon. I might just add some wires so I can check the voltage externally to see if that reveals anything. I've got a bunch of bulbs that are newer, too, so perhaps I'll get different results.