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1997 Pathfinder gauge cluster bulb socket/base


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I fixed the tach on my 1997 today (the board inside the tach was poorly "repaired", so I had to make a jumper to bypass the burned trace). I noticed a few bulbs are missing from the tach. I tried swapping around to the blank spots, and they all light up as expected when you flip the key on, so I can't imagine they were left off from the factory. Ironically, the CEL was *not* one of the missing bulbs.

Anyhow, where can I find these smaller bulb bases I have marked in green here? They appear to be smaller than the 74 sized base bulbs for the general illumination. The guide here suggests that they're 74s, but I think that's because they're going off of a 2001.5 model.

Anyone know the proper size for this, and for extra bonus points, where I can get them in LEDs?

(on a side note, if anyone has a spare housing/lens that's undamaged, I tripped over the cat while taking it out to the truck to reinstall, and cracked the corner of the lens. I'd be willing to buy it from you to replace it)

Edited by chrisfromthelc
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28 minutes ago, chrisfromthelc said:

I fixed the tach on my 1997 today (the board inside the tach was poorly "repaired", so I had to make a jumper to bypass the burned trace). I noticed a few bulbs are missing from the tach. I tried swapping around to the blank spots, and they all light up as expected when you flip the key on, so I can't imagine they were left off from the factory. Ironically, the CEL was *not* one of the missing bulbs.

Anyhow, where can I find these smaller bulb bases I have marked in green here? They appear to be smaller than the 74 sized base bulbs for the general illumination. The guide here suggests that they're 74s, but I think that's because they're going off of a 2001.5 model.

Anyone know the proper size for this, and for extra bonus points, where I can get them in LEDs?

(on a side note, if anyone has a spare housing/lens that's undamaged, I tripped over the cat while taking it out to the truck to reinstall, and cracked the corner of the lens. I'd be willing to buy it from you to replace it)

by the looks of what i could find these should be the ones but don't quote me on that. If you want a different option heres another. it says it SHOULD fit pathfrinder aswell even though they are listed for toyota. but i would go with my first option personally 

 

Edited by Strato_54
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1 hour ago, Strato_54 said:

by the looks of what i could find these should be the ones but don't quote me on that. If you want a different option heres another. it says it SHOULD fit pathfrinder aswell even though they are listed for toyota. but i would go with my first option personally 

 

 

The first ones look to be what I'm looking for. They don't seem to be really removable from the base itself (at least not without likely breaking the bulb).

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9 hours ago, chrisfromthelc said:


I linked to that in my original post. What's listed there doesn't seem to match what's actually in my gear cluster. The T5s @Strato_54 linked look like they'll work.

Oops, I guess I was just looking to see the direct link- ya that ones based off a 2001.5, so I wouldn’t be surprised if prefacelift is different.

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My tach has a mind of its own. Do you know what i need to do in order to get it functional again. It jumps back and forth and sometimes it stops on 8k. Is it a solder issue? Ive read thats what the problem is just need to know exactly what needs to be done with the iron.

Sent from my SM-S737TL using Tapatalk

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11 minutes ago, Mrelcocko said:

My tach has a mind of its own. Do you know what i need to do in order to get it functional again. It jumps back and forth and sometimes it stops on 8k. Is it a solder issue? Ive read thats what the problem is just need to know exactly what needs to be done with the iron.

Sent from my SM-S737TL using Tapatalk
 


I can't tell you exactly what to do since I don't have yours disassembled in front of me, but there may be some cold or broken solders on the board. First, though, I'd try slightly loosening and re-tightening the screwed on the back of the main cluster (the ones through the flexible circuit board) that go into the tach. Many times, that's all it is.

If tightening the screws doesn't work, you'd need to reflow those solders on the back of the tach board, and I'd recommend a pretty fine tip because of the tightness quarters on the board. Soldering that board is a bit tricky if you aren't experienced, so proceed at your own risk on that. Bad solders are not often visibly bad, so I would just do everything. I got lucky in that the previous owner tried to repair it and actually burned part of the board, so the issue was very apparent when I opened it up.

I hope this helps!
 

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I appreciate the advice. Already tried the tightening of the screws on the back of the printed circuit to no avail, so im gonna bring the iron out and d see what happens.

Sent from my SM-S737TL using Tapatalk

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7 minutes ago, Mrelcocko said:

I appreciate the advice. Already tried the tightening of the screws on the back of the printed circuit to no avail, so im gonna bring the iron out and d see what happens.

Sent from my SM-S737TL using Tapatalk
 

Just be sure to use a low setting on your iron. That board is pretty fragile and easy to burn through the traces on. I dropped mine down to 15 watts, and it was still almost too much. For most things, I run it at 30 watts, just as a comparison.

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An update to this...it worked just fine for a few days, and then crapped out again. The tach board was pretty burned from the previous owner trying to fix it, and a trace was broken that I tried bypassing, but I guess it was too far gone. I grabbed another gauge cluster from eBay from another 1997 and will transplant the board over when it arrives.

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