Hello, Cannot figure out how to replace the light bulb for the gear indicator. I've read various posts but none seem to address the 940. I've attached a couple of pictures to show what I am looking at. It appears that the unit is a solid unit held down by fairly large bolts underneath the rubber and felt mating. The two aft (shown in picture) the gear shift wouldn't be a problem but the forward two (not shown) are nearly under the fuse tray and seem like they might be a hassle to remove and reinstall. Before I do that I want to make sure that is the only way. Any help would be appreciated.

 

before you remove those bolts, make sure you can disconnect the shift linkage underneath the car. here's the parts diagram for the shifter,



the bulb is part 44, to get at it, you gotta take half of all that apart.

 

oops, that pic is the early type used circa 1992. this one is the later style, 1994-ish.

 

and then there is the easy way how to do it:
you have to loosen or remove (depends on the size of your hands) the driver's side vertical trim piece right next to where the light goes. there are 2 10mm bolts in front that have to come out--there are exposed when the console is pulled back. also, disconnect the metal bar that sits in front of the shifter where the middle console clips on. this is a little tricky but most of the time the bar is pretty loose and just comes up without having to unscrew it. unscrewing it is done via a short, very short, screwdirver... then you just pull that piece away and pull the little bulb out...

supereasy: small hands can just forego all that and pull the bulb out, but to put the bulb back in, that takes really small hands... i have done it (big hands) but it can be trying... now i just do the "easy" way...

 

Using above diagrams and suggestions I was able to get the bulb out by using two fingers between the vertical trim panel and the shifter assembly to gently wiggle the yellow/black wires downwards thus pulling the bulb assembly loose. The bulb pulls out of the white base...looks like a christmas tree bulb with wires on either side for mating with the contacts inside the white base....in fact same principal as the christmas tree bulbs/sockets. Now, does anyone know where to find a replacement?

 

I believe thats this bulb...
2721 Light Bulb 12V 1.2W

 

p.s. when I did what you did (I forgot I did this), I was able to reinstall it using a pair of right angle needle nose pliers, I happened to have some that had a long handle, but a short bendy section, which were perfect for this job.

 

While I was there (on IPD site) I ordered a few other things I could use. I couldn't bring myself to pay $10 shipping for a 48 cent light bulb.

 

yeah, funny how that works.

 

Here's an easy way I found recently.Remove the centre console rear section, the handbrake cover etc. then loosen the drivers side front console cover but you don't need to completely remove it. Then the plastic cover with the shifter letters on it and the "brushes" that the shifter sticks out through will un-snap and you can slide it up the shifter a fair ways. Now look at the diagram above in this thread. 18 and 18a are the bulb and bulb holder. 11 is the plastic cover with the "brushes" in it and 17 is a push on locking washer. Remove that washer and you can rotate the housing up , which is labeled 21, that the bulb sits in making for an easy install. There are two of those push on washers but you only need to remove the rear one and loosen the front one so that you can get the bulb housing to come off the rear plastic stalk.