I have a '98 SW2 with 5 spd manual. As I age my hearing gets worse and I cant see or hear the indicator lights/sounds for the turn signals or brights. I have LED replacements but my ****ty Hanes manual has minimal to poor instructions on getting to the bulbs. Can anyone help with this?

 

Not all that difficult. You do need to take out the two bolts that hold the steering column up, then rested in your lap or on the seat, gently remove the trim plastic piece that covers the outside edge of the gauge cluster. It is old and dry rotted, do not break it it has solo of the rivet type connectors at the top otherwise pops out. I believe there are four screws holding the cluster to the rest of the dash. Two on top one on each bottom corner. In order to remove the cluster, you must disconnect the ribbon connector that connects its integrated circuit board to the vehicle. You need to remove the top dash cover. There are clips along the front that press down and latch into latchers at very specific points along the front. Be very gentle when removing and reinstalling, because the upper pad itself is dried out enough that it will crack and tear. If it's not coming easily then don't force it. It will take a little lump to get out of the clips but support it on both sides of a clip or you will wreck it.

If the ribbon connector has never been taken off, it will essentially seem like it's glued on there. I would drive some electrical contact cleaner and let it soak. It's very tight corners working to get it off. do not try to pry it off with something sharp. With the battery disconnected I think my wife used her very small hands and a narrow metal putty knife to slowly separated on the top and both sides working back and forth back and forth across the three surfaces. If you wreck this connector, don't blame me. Take your time. I also recommend contact cleaner before you put it back together on both the plug and the pins. If you damage the ribbon connector or the ribbon itself there is really no way to fix the ribbon unless you are good at electronics and soldering and who knows what else.

The bulbs come out from the back. They are mostly ones that are already installed in a socket that is rectangular in the back and they just rotate to pull out, and push in to rotate to lock. I believe a few of them are bulbs that sit in these holders but the bulbs themselves do not come with the holders. This is hard to explain that I think I have a write-up on redoing the dash somewhere on my 97. It's somewhere on the forum as a sticky. Just remember that although you are putting LEDs in, the difference in intensity may not be enough through the mask across the front of the dash. I would try a few bulbs first, then rest the dash cluster back in place, hook up the connector enough to make a connection and to see if the illumination behind the high beam icon etc and the theater lights at the top are going to be sufficient to make you happy about the transformation. Also, if there are no bulbs where it is labeled something where you think there should be a bulb do not think you are smarter than Saturn. Do not put a bulb where you do not find a bulb. Very strange and desirable effects may occur. They used the dashboards across SL SL1 SL2 SC1 SC2 SW1 SW2 and some head manuals and some had automatics and they use the same lights for different purposes and labeled them the same or different blah blah blah.

Check out my sticky
Got to go

When you go to reassemble the bolts into the steering column to hold it up, have someone hold this steering wheel for you or profit up on six phone books. The bolts have to be perfectly aligned to thread and that is made more difficult if you are holding the steering column with your other hand

 

Oh, the clips on either side of the connector block will likely fall off if you look at them. It's really not an issue because the fit is so tight that it stays in place. Done it twice, broke them twice, doesn't really matter unless I guess you're getting your Saturn judged.

 

Thanks so much derf! Some of the procedure I did a few years ago when I replaced the ignition. Now I need to replace the alternator in my truck and that's priority #1 right now. Plus it's really hot hefe so I think I will defer my LED update until fall. I'll let you know how it goes.
altosoarus