The cluster comes out with a total of about 5 screws. Then you can usually replace the bulbs from the back. It is a really easy thing to do. All you need is a phillips screw driver.

 

Wow, really? Thanks. I took a look at it and it looks complicated. Do you know how much room I have in there to do the work? And what type of replacement bulbs I would need? Thanks

 

The trim piece that surround the cluster has two screws on the top. Remove those and pop the trim piece off.

The cluster is held in with 3 screws. Remove those adn pull the cluster toward you. The top of the cluster has 3 wire clips, undo those and take your cluster inside. Sit on the couch, watch some TV and replace the bulbs that are burned out by twisting them free from the back.

I don't know off the top of my head what replacement bulbs are needed though. I do know they are cheap at Radioshack. I helped a friend repalce a few bulbs on his 01 earlier this year.

 

One last question before I attempt this:
Does anyone know how many lights are in this cluster? Just two? Thanks for your help, Colin:Banane35:

 

There are a bunch of little lights. All with specific functions. Some are the normal illumination for the speedometer, tachometer, fuel and coolant gauges, and others are specific to certain functions. They're all tiny little bulbs, and on a rough estimate, I'd put 10-15 of them back there. I'm going on knowledge of my 98 RS's gauge cluster. I haven't pulled the Foz's out to check that one for differences.

The scoobymod's link has a good picture of the back of a gauge cluster.

The little black things are the lamp holders.

 

I too need to replace dash bulbs, I can remove the two screws at the top of the instrument cluster, but it feels like it's being held in by something else at the bottom. Do I just need to be more forcefull with it?

 

 

I find myself in a simular position with my '01 Forester. The lamp behind the Gas Gauge went out. This thread was great in replacing it. My problem is that I purchased the replacement lamp (part# 85066GA390) from the dealer here in Dallas ($11.50 what a shock), after installing it I find that the lamp they gave me is 3 time brighter than the rest. Now I need to replace the rest, is there some place I can get them cheaper?

 

Doing the same thing today but am trying to figure out what leds to order from superbrightleds.com

 

I am having the same problem, how do you figure out which one to get?

 

I have not seen a recent update on where to get the 85066GA390 back lighted bulbs, in the blue holder for my 01 Forester. They are not listed in Wagner, GE or Sylvania catalogs. Dealers don't seem to inventory them and want around $13/each and 4 are required. any suggestions?

 

I see that this is your first post, so welcome! We're glad to have you here. Subaru, the official car of New England! LFOD!

There have been a few posts here by members who took their bulbs to Radio Shack, searched out ones that looked similar but for the lack of the base, and then were able to retrofit the new bulb into the old base. Sometimes it was just a simple press fit; sometimes it required careful soldering.

 

Sorry for the poor picture quality, the bulbs are very easy to find I have changed several of mine last week from a 1997 S/tb, you don't need to solder any of them they are fitted in a little cap that you have to pull them them out of, they might seem a bit tight but just pull at them. There is an example of the bulbs in the pics. The biggest ones are fitted with regular park light bulbs, smaller ones are the same as the park light which is a pull out process, very small ones are for the climate control unit and they are the ones that you have to thread through a little base. Just take them out and take them to a auto shop they will find them for you, and one reminder they are 12 volts.

 

Subaru used regular incandescent bulbs up to about 2006, then switched to LEDs.

For incandescent type, the OEM and Radio Shack bulbs have tiny-gauge, flexible leads, like on miniature Christmas lights (though not the same bulbs).

Here's the Radio Shack bulb that will fit: 12V Microlamps (2-Pack) - RadioShack.com

Type #7219, catalog number 272-1092.

These are slightly shorter than the OEM bulb. When I replaced some bulbs in my SVX factory radio, I fabricated standoffs (using insulation stripped from some small-gauge wire, and threaded the bulb's leads through the insulation) to raise the bulb inside the OEM plastic holder. The OEM green "condoms" (rubber gels) fit the new bulbs.

 

does anyone know what size sockets or bulbs these are? im looking to change the the ugly green ones to match the rest of my interior lights (blue) and i need to know what size, heres what im looking at. Autolumination Instrument Panel Light Bulbs & Lamps)

any help would be great thanks

 

My understanding on the situation is that the bulbs are size 158, so I'm assuming you can use 158, 168, or 194. The only difference between them is how bright they are. I'm going to pick some up now and let you all know how if it works out.

 

The background light in the cluster is as said above. It's also called t10 or w5w.

 

Well I went and got some 194's and they work like a charm, only thing 2 of my bulbs condoms ripped while pulling out, so I just removed them all. Dash isn't as green now, so I'm gonna pick up some more condoms.

 

I'm having this same issue. I called a local Subaru dealership and what they had explained to me is that a 194 would fit in place of the 158, but would burn hotter and they had seen cases where it had actually melted the plastic. And then the proceeded to offer to send my cluster out to a company to have it 'repaired' for $270 usd. Ha! what a joke. I suggest finding your cluster at a junk yard and snagging the bulbs out of it. If the bulb is still clear and the filament looks attached, it should work just fine. And at a much cheaper cost than buying from a store.

 

I did not care to get green lights again so those condoms went in the trash.

 

I'm fond of the green, plus I want all of the interior lighting to match.

 

Did yours come out all white? Do you have any pics by chance? In addition to white, I'm thinking red might look good too.

EDIT: Sorry, I just re-read and noticed you DO want green. Still, do you have any pics of the brighter lights then?
Thanks!

 

So, it is possible to change your lighting color by going this route? Just remove the wrappers and use colored bulbs? ('99 Forester). Hum....

 

Yes

 

Thanks Josey!

Ferret,

Awesome pdf. Thanks!

 

Does this apply to my '03 Forester 2.5X as well? I couldn't find any screws at the top.

 

Hello all,

I thought I'd chime in on this since I've been going through the painstaking process of sourcing replacement bulbs for my '01 Forester S.

I'd attempted buying 4 red 194s to replace the illumination bulbs back there after a short preliminary search of the forums, only to find out that they didn't work - they were too big! It would seem that Subaru changed the bulbs used for cluster illumination between years. I know for sure that it's not a 194/168/158, as all those are T10 (10mm) wedge-base bulbs. 194s are also too powerful at 5 watts output.

What I do know, for 2001 at least, is that it's listed in the service manual as a 14V 3W bulb. But no bulb type is listed. So began the search....

After checking all the usual places - Crappy Tire, PartSource, NAPA, etc. - to no avail, I called the dealership parts counter to try and get some info on the elusive bulb. As expected, he gave me the part number (85066GA390), the ridiculous price, and the fact it wasn't stocked. But then after a few mildly prodding questions, he revealed to me that it was a T5 wedge-base bulb. This was something I had suspected as the bulb's base was identical to that of a #74 - also a T5 wedge - which I'd noticed after pulling apart my cluster when I tried the 194s, and compared the two. A couple problems though... #74 bulbs have much less wattage (1.4w to be exact), and their rated lifetime is somewhere around 500 hrs, mainly because they're meant to be used as indicators (low duty cycle), not full-time illumination. Not to mention they aren't the same shape. #74s are straight from base to tip, and the 4 main illumination bulbs' globe part bulges out like a typical light bulb.

So.... after extensively trawling the interwebz for a couple nights, and after considering switching to LEDs a couple times and then deciding against it (as much as I love LED lighting, I have my reasons in this case) I came across one particular bulb on Mouser's catalog:

'JKL Components' EWG103.

14v? Check!
3 Watts? Check!
T5 wedge base? CHECK!

Downloaded the CAD drawing for the bulb, checked all of the vital measurements. Everything checks out. Even the picture on the product page looks identical to the bulbs in my cluster.

While the expected lifetime is a tad short at 1500 hrs (which, btw, is how long it takes 62% of tested bulbs to fail), if that means replacing them every 6 months to a year... at 62.6 cents a pop, I really don't mind at all.

I ordered 50. That's right, FIFTY. They're en-route, set to arrive on Monday. Will report back how they work out. I plan on either painting them red with Testors stained glass paint and/or using silicone bulb boots/condoms that are also on order from autolumination (6mm size, at .29 each).


In a somewhat related note, I also found some red 12V grain-of-wheat lamps (aka Microlamps) on eBay. Qty 50 for $9.99 + $2.99 US shipping from China. The seller was willing to ship a mix of red and clear as per my requirements, and I've also ordered 50 red 3mm silicone boots/condoms for those as well (from the same seller - wehonest_cn), to do all my switches and HVAC in red as well.

Pics will follow when all complete!

Hope the above can be helpful to others

 

Okay, so a little update to my above post:

The EWG103 bulbs I got are working perfectly, I've not had to replace any of the 4 I originally put in when I got them, and I do a fair amount of driving (my cluster lights are always on too, due to the way I have my parks/fogs/headlights set up). Couldn't be happier with them, from a stock-replacement standpoint.

Unfortunately, I've not had much luck with coloring those cluster illumination bulbs, and haven't yet opted to try LEDs in their place - mainly due to the cost of having someone ship them across the border and then finding out that they don't work properly.

Sharpie works for a day or two in the cluster, then the heat of the bulbs basically evaporates the ink. I did manage to color the HVAC controls & stock radio bulbs red with a Sharpie - the radio looks fantastic and hasn't faded yet, but the HVAC could be brighter. Probably due to the #74 bulbs not having enough wattage (again, 1.4w). Might try the EWG103s in there eventually, or just go with the same LEDs as below if I decide to gamble.

Which brings me to: LEDs for cluster illumination. The only ones that I can see having a chance of working decently in our green-filmed clusters are these:

...which can be found here about midway down the page, called the "Matrix" 3- or 5-LED bulb.

Mainly because they are A) bright, and B) throw light off in three different directions, making sure the needle's center pick-up gets some too, and avoids cold spots on the gauge.

The 14v microlamps (or 'grain of wheat/rice' bulbs) I got from China work nicely, but aren't bright enough to blast through both a layer of red Sharpie and the green film that's on the inside of each switch. I tried using a mild solvent on one switch to see if I could get rid of the green film and ended up also getting rid of the icon on the switch. GAH! Waiting on a replacement now...

As far as LEDs for switches are concerned, I think a decently bright right-angle neo-wedge base LED would work. Unfortunately, I have not yet located a source for these pre-made. Eventually, I'd like to see if I can hack together a bright red SMD LED and current-limiting resistor into one of the spare bases I have to see if it'll work & be bright enough to get through the green film. It'll have to be pretty small while still being fairly bright, so it might take some work finding the right LED at my local electronics place.

Again, will update any progress or developments I come across.

No pics this time, but I promise I'll snap some for next update. (dash is green anyway, and we all know what that looks like already )