i've been wrestling with my car's alternator (among tother things) recently. i have replaced the alternator with a used one which failed to charge after a few days, and now i have put another used alternator in. i had the previous alternator tested, and the diagnosis was that it worked "sort of"....
now i find when i try to start the engine that the charging light does not come on, which i know is an integral part of the charging system. i need to check this first, and the manual says that getting at the instrument panel is straight forward...well, it's not. can anyone point me to some better instructions for getting at the warning bulb before i take the entire car apart?

thanks

 

Removing the 240's instrument cluster is indeed straight forward. I'd say it's one of the easiest of any car to remove. The only easier one I've encountered is the 83-87 760/85-90 740's. If you feel prying off the headlight ****, dimmer ****, trim panel beneath 'em, the two square blanks to the right of the dash pried off and a total of 4 phillips screws or possibly torx screws is beyond your skill set, then perhaps it is time to re-evaluate. I mean no disrespect; but the instrument cluster removal is child's play. Perhaps a better manual would help?

 

well, given that i've re welded pieces of the suspension back on, replaced the alternator, rebuilt the exhaust system, and replaced the water pump and all the cooling hoses, i imagine i can pull this off. i just seemed to run out of screws to remove from the dash with out getting closer to the instrument panel itself. the manual (haynes i think) gives zero instructions on this. i can just picture myself thinking that it's complicated and removing the steering column or something. if it's truly simple i'm sure i'll grasp it.

thanks for the tip, no offence taken.

 

aha....took five seconds. the manual states that i should remove all the panels from around the steering column, which really doesn't achieve any access...when i took your advice, it was indeed staright forward.

thanks again.

 

Yeah, it really is amazing how simple it is. One of the many things I love about this era of rwd's. Actually built to be serviced! I found this .pdf on davebarton.com He makes super gauge overlays...but great instructions on removing the cluster to be able to do the install. Nice pics...
http://www.davebarton.com/pdf/240faceinstall81-93.pdf