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(More customer reviews)Got two boxes of these to do all my 2002 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor P71 instrument (dash) lights at the same time. It's ten in a box, great price, fast shipping (and good support) from non-Amazon vendor, Wagner bulbs. NOTE! Someone told me there were twenty bulbs, but it turned out to be sixteen AND there are ALSO about five or six smaller bulbs in the back of the panel, get them too, it's a 2 hour job you won't want to do twice.
Here's how to do them:
How to replace the instrument (dsh) bulbs on a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria (P71) Police Interceptor.
Disconnect the negative cable from the battery.
Okay, step one, before I go any further, I only have 16 of the 194LL blulbs (not 20, as you may be heard elsewhere). There are also five, or so, other, smaller bulbs for the warning lights, but my helper (a neighbor who used to work on cars) said let them be! I would have replaced them if I'd know ahead of time. Do them all at once, you won't want to spend your Sunday doing this any more than you have to!
These steps are the way I'd do it now (if I had to do it again), having done it this one time. The "clips" that hold the trim pieces on are "spring clips" and come loose easy enough and can be used again to reassemble the pieces to the car. The clips that hold the dash piece onto the dash just beloe the radio are a little different, long and flat, and were harder to get out (I was trying to be careful, getting nowhere, but then my neighbor, the car guy, just pulled the thing straight out!). Careful if you pry on the other attahed car trim that you don't permamently dent it.
This is an easy job, although it takes a while, at least for me. Note to self, don't park the car in the "shade" in the morning, becasue the sun moves and it was hot as all get as the sun moved and I got ready to wrap it back up.
I had planned to take step by step pictures as I went along, but forgot, sorry about that!
1) Take a round shaft, or other smooth surface insturment, and getly pry the long trim piece off the dash, starting from the door end. It should pop up and hang on the trunk and defroster switch wiring. The trunk plug on mine had to have the clips held "open" on "both" sides of the plug to unplug it from the switch. Most of the other plugs you have to push the clips troward the plugs only on one side to remove them. Then unplug the defroster switch and set the part aside.
2) Go to the driver's side and pry the dash trip piece up, Mine had a "dummy" plug stuck into a "blind" hole in the trim piece. This "extra" plug can get you to wondering if it was supposed to be plugged in somewhere, unless you're paying attention (especially, if your "helper" is saying, "got everything plugged up?" during the operation!).
3) Put your special Ford radio remover clips into the radio and pull it out from the dash (it helps to put a little pressure on the clips torwards the outside of the radio when you're taking it out. Remove the radio wiring plug, and then turn the radi oand the antennat plug is easily removed.
4) Tilt the steering wheel up for easy access to remove the plastic trim piece that goes from the parking brake replease handle to the other side of the steering wheel. Remove the two bolts on the bottom corners of the trim piece, one of them is up inside the parking break handle and also holds the handle on. Pop the plastic out of the top of the panel and set aside.
5) Underneath the last piece is a heavy duty piece of metal trim (I think designed to protect your kneew in a crash) that has to be removed. This piece has different screws, but comes apart easily. Once you get this off, look up on the right (passenger's side) of the steering column and you will see the little white (on my car) assembly that holds the shift needle pointer cable/adjuster mechanism. Unscrew the attachment screw and set it aside in a safe place. This was the only screw that mysteriously disappeared for a time and, belive me, there's not another one in the "screw box!" Put the gearshift in neutral (you have to turn the key "on," and you may want to block the wheels, just in case) and gently take the shifter cable loop off of the column shifter attachment pin. Let the cable hang over to the driver's side of the steering wheel.
6) Tilt the stering wheel down. Unscrew the bolts that hold the instrument panel/radio/ac/ duct dash trim piece. Don't forget the two bolts that go up over the instrument panel itself. Pop the top of the trim piece out and disconnect the headlight and instrument panel dimming switches on the driver's end of the panel.
7) Unscrew the bolts that hold the instrument panel to the dash. My shift indicator adjstment cable was routed behind the the wire harness, so I gently brought the cable and the attachment mechanism to the "interior" side of the car (away from the firewall) so that it will slide smoothly past the steering column and tilt mechanism when you slip the instrument panel assembly out. I had previously remove my tilt lever (thanks, car guy neighbor), but I don't think you have to do this. If you do have to remove the tilt lever, be aware that it has a little flat spot on the shaft for a narrow wrench and that it is glued in there and may be hard to remove. Tilt the top of the instrument panel towards the front of the car (firewall) and unplug the plugs on the bottom corners, one on each side. Remove the instrument panel, you may be to push the rubber trim aside.
8) Replace ALL the bulbs.
9) Install the Instrument panel into the dash. Make sure the little shift cable lever is properly installed in it's little notch in the panel. Reattach the shifter cable and braket assembly. Move the shift lever down so that there is plenty of slack in the cable to put the loop over the attachment pin. At this point I took a minute to accurately adjust my shift cable indicator while I had the thing apart (not sure it needed it, but what the heck, right, why leave well enough alone?).
10) Replace the rest of the parts. PS: some folks suggest that you test that everything is plugged in before you button it all up, but what fun is that!? :)
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