All the instrument cluster bulbs can be changed. You will need to remove the cluster from the dash first to git access to the back of the cluster. On the back you will find some gray or black holders that hold the bulbs in place.

Here's an example from a seller on eBay.
https://www.ebay.com/p/1997-Toyota-...ta-T100-Instrument-Cluster-Panel-Speedometer-Odometer-Gauges-OEM-194k/671755839

 

Does anyone know how to get to the bulbs under the tach on the automatics that show the gear position?

I have been searching through the forums but am not sure what keywords to use for those. Someone mentioned that they did not think they are changeable, that you have to buy a whole new tach, but then they said they replaced them with LED's..


I am not adverse to using a soldering iron

Scroll thru this thread top to bottom since there's links to cluster questions on the very bottom as well. May help ya out some.
https://www.toyotatruckclub.com/forum/threads/instrument-cluster-removal.34003/

 

Thanks everyone. I actually have the cluster out and have already changed all of the burnt out bulbs that are readily accessible.


What I am talking about is the lights underneath the tach for P R N D 3 2 ...those bulbs seem to be in a very difficult place to get to. I was able to take a peek in by leveraging a screw-driver to hold some plastic up, but I was afraid to go much further for fear of breaking fragile plastic pieces.


I was just curious if anyone has torn it down to that point,

 

If you notice in the picture I posted above, you should see some small screws labeled PRND2L. I believe that's what needs to be removed to access the bulbs.

 

Thanks fer breaking it down this far!

I see that the plastic bulb housing is snapped in place and the 6 gray wires are soldered to the board. I would guess you don't need to take the tachometer needle/face off to remove the housing. It would seem that you would squeeze the black tabs in towards the housing and it should just pop off.

May I ask why you need to replace the bulbs? I'm not even sure they are bulbs but maybe LEDs? I have over 537,000 miles on my T-100 and I haven't had any issues with the gear indicator bulbs yet. If yer having issues with the gear selector indicator, it could be the Neutral Safety Switch located on the transmission.

 

Thanks fer breaking it down this far!

..I would guess you don't need to take the tachometer needle/face off to remove the housing.

That might be the case, but my fidgeting around trying to do just that was not successful and I felt like I was going to break something unless I took the face off, which is why I was asking if anyone had already done this.

May I ask why you need to replace the bulbs?

One of the bulbs is not working ( D ), but before I put the gauge cluster back in I will the connections to be sure its not a bad connection on the shift lever..could just need cleaning back there..

 

After a little more dinkering I was able to get that white box-like thing out without having to take the face off the tach.
The bottom part of the face has some flexibility, so I could lift that box part up and carefully pull it out.

From there I could see the row of bulbs. Using a 5v power supply, I could touch the soldered side of each bulb and determine that they were all working, so my burnt-out-bulb theory was incorrect; however, since I happened to have a red LED from a different project, I decided to change out the reverse light (which has a red lens while the others are all green ).


The actual bulb was not soldered on like I thought. They pull up and off. You can see the two posts it sits on in the attached photo.

the plastic part the pulls out with the bulb is just that: a plastic holder. The bulb can easily be removed by bending the wires and pulling out. The LED was inserted back in the same way.

I put the new bulb back, and tested. It works fine and is slightly brighter than the other. Later, when I have some more LED's I will pull out the gauge cluster and replace them all with LED's

 

Thanks again fer yer progress!

Keep in mind that the D light will dim when the headlights are on so make sure you account fer that voltage drop.

 

So was the light burnt out? Just wondering if it was the shift lever connection.
Thanks

 

There were a couple of burned out bulbs, but I also think there was some connection issues that resolved when I cleaned it all out with electrical cleaner spray, and blew it out with my air-compressor.

Everything has been working fine since changing the bulbs and my one LED light on the reverse light also works fine.

 

Interesting fact, just tried to order a replacement bulb and toyota is stating NLA.

 

The next time one of mine goes out I am just going to replace them all with LED's. I think I have a bag of green ones I found on eBay.

 

When my D light went out I took the cluster out and took the face and needle of the tach off (easy) and took the bulb from the L position out and swapped it out with the D bulb. If another goes out I will replace all of them.

Steve..........