$$$frumnuttin'

You are the man! I was referencing in the first post...glad it surfaced...I knew it would sooner or later.

JW Motorsports

I have some I offer for the int/ext. I have someone testing them out. I'm not sure if they will fit in there or not.

tbrowne

After reading this thread, I pried the PRNDL cover off in order to replace the 194 bulb with an LED. To my surprise - it came of easily and exposed the bulb. However, I could not get a good enough grip on the bulb to remove it from the socket. The bulb would move from side to side but wouldn't come loose. I tried pliers with the jaws taped, wrapped the bulb with rubber - nothing worked and I was afraid of breaking the bulb's glass envelope. I finally tried a piece of narrow, foam weather strip with adhesive on one side. I wrapped the bulb with the adhesive side against the glass envelope and got enough of a grip to pull the bulb. I hope this helps someone else remove the bulb without breaking the glass.

jrprich

Would you post up just where you pried on the gear indicator to get it to pop off?

egrand333

It has been over a rear since I last replaced the bulb and my car is not parked here so I can"t re-do the procedure but I think you just pry up on one side a little and then maybe the other and just work it up. Maybe tbrowne can say since he just did it.

tbrowne

Prying under the end of the piece worked best. That is - at the point below the '1', first gear indicator. The hold down tabs don't spread out and lock into the console piece and it's really tough to get at it from the sides. Once the cover is off, you can see how it's held in place - they're a little different that what you normally see. It didn't take much pressure once I found the best place to pry from.

jrprich

Thanks,
Jim

jrprich

I will give it a try today
Thanks,
Jim

$$$frumnuttin'

use a bent tip needle nose pliers for easiest access to the tabs you want to bend...once the first one is pried up the others come easily...there are 3...at 12, 3 and 6 O'clock...

jrprich

Got Er Done

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...post1579742465

$$$frumnuttin'

You are most welcome! Great stuff you put together there...now all we need is for some brave vendor to step up to the plate and make those little suckers!

Dominic Toretto

I've replaced the bulb before and I guess it was beginners luck that I did not break the red strip. I'll be looking around for the LED option as well.

-Alex

Jistari

I've heard of this problem but hadn't seen the actual piece before. I have an A4 and if it happens I think I would just try to fab up a replacement.

If you wanted an exact match you could crazy glue the pieces back together, crazy glue a thread to the end, get some latex molding rubber (hobby store) and suspend it in there. When it hardens up, carefully cut it enough to slide the original out, add red tint to some clear acrylic resin (hobby shop again) and pour it in the mold, when hardened cut it out and clean it up with a dremel.

Or to be honest with you, there probably isn't a reason it has to be an exact match, it just has to be similar and work. Starting with a thick enough piece of plexi to account for that offset from the little post on the end and the flat pane the light shines through, you could probably grind down a reasonable facsimile and just tint (paint) the outside with clear red.

Just an idea.

leebay

I replaced mine last week and broke the glass bulb trying to get it out,it was really in there. I finally removed it by pulling at the base. The led bulb is taller so you will have to use a dremil to make the shift plate hole deeper.

Good Luck.

flaagan

I picked up a whole bunch of bulbs listed as "for the C5" from a non-forum vendor a while back (search Neo-wedge LED Bulb - For Corvette C5), I found the housing for the LED's they made were the wrong shape for the C5 light housings, but the bulbs (with resistor) themselves worked fine. A bit of needle-nose pliers and I'd removed the old bulbs from their housings and fit in the LED's. I've swapped out everything but the controls on either side of the dash and the backlight on my A4 shifter, and you can see the difference right away. Still makes me wonder why the trunk release button didn't come from the factory with a backlight...

$$$frumnuttin'

haha...reminds me of the cordless drills out now that have a light on them so you can see what you are doing. only problem is the light comes on only when the drill is activated! so, if you are in the dark and want to place the drill on a screwhead the bit is turning before you can remove the screw!!!

catmat3

Well, I just came from replacing the bulb under the shifter boot on my 2000 C5. It was easier than I thought. A big THANKS to the person who suggested it from a Corvette Virgin! I pried up the little PNDLR plastic piece, as I read from this fellow who posted it. You want to use a small scredriver and go easy. It popped right off revealing the white "waveguide" piece. This one, gently work it under the shifter red selector piece starting at the 6 o'clock position it will come free. Straight down you see the stock #194 bulb. As stated, this gets very hot, mine was fried but intact. I used a blue led (with built in resistor) that will fit perfectly in the socket. I had to modify the little clear plastic curved piece that sits over the bulb as I didn't have quite enough clearance to get the clear piece back on to sit flush with the boot. I did that by using a small round file and enlarging the curved opening. It took aout 30 minutes, never tried it before and looks awesome. I was a bit worried casue I didn't know if it was going to go off, but it did. Hope this can help someone else, a dealer would charge you a small fortune. Good Luck! Torchy Red[EMAIL="http://forums.corvetteforum.com/clientsscript/ieprompt"]http://forums.corvetteforum.com/clientsscript/ieprompt[/EMAIL]

leebay

I got my 194 led from a forum vender, the led is taller so you will need a
dremil to make the hole deeper for the bulb clearance.

Vetteman Jack

Thanks for the info. Saving this for future reference.

jdkskyking

Broke mine in my attempt to remove boot for cleaning. I've attempted a repair on the Red indicator. Also found a LED bulb at autozone. I'll post pictures soon.