Dashboard light workaround?

BeenThroughItAll

Edwood_Woodwood wrote: »

There is a reason why I was advised not to do it myself and the above may be it.

Apparently it's not just a case of having a screwdriver and doing it.

And yet, plenty of people do it perfectly successfully.


I posted a link to instructions earlier; if you read through the link the caveats to the work are explained within. Something about turning the clocks upside down or laying them flat, IIRC.


I took the dash out of a colleague's Mk3 a couple of years ago, and I didn't know anything about these supposed nightmare issues. I didn't treat it any differently to any other clocks I've removed, and it was still fine afterwards.

StrongWork

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Can you not just replace them yourself? Removing the instrument cluster isn't hard (see instructions in this link)

http://www.fordwiki.co.uk/index.php?title=Replacement_Dials_-_How_to_fit_to_Mondeo

And the bulbs should cost literally pennies from a local motor factors. Pop them in, stick the dash back, job done.

^This. Stop messing around and do it properly.

forgotmyname

Fragile? Dont use a 2lb lump hammer and a chisel and you wont break or damage anything.

Iceweasel

I don't see (no pun intended) how anything other than replacing the bulbs will pass an MOT.

A torch clamped to the dash won't do.

tedted

if you use a torch or any other means of illuminating the speedo it will pass as there is nothing to say it has to be illuminated by the vehicle

Iceweasel

tedted wrote: »

if you use a torch or any other means of illuminating the speedo it will pass as there is nothing to say it has to be illuminated by the vehicle

You really think so? :rotfl:

JustinR1979

Iceweasel wrote: »

You really think so? :rotfl:

You go by what's in the testers manual, nothing more nothing less.
"can be illuminated" Whether you think something's right or not doesn't come into it


Unless it's changed recently, a cut and shut can pass if welded correctly.
I mot'd one, was a nova so must have been done years beforehand to have been worth doing.
Funnily enough one of the number plates had a digit wrong, think you'd make sure to get that right on a cut and shut....

Iceweasel

I'm fully aware what it says in the testers' manual.

"Check that the speedometer can be illuminated."

It would make a mockery of that part of the test if a torch was acceptable.

Surely anything can be illuminated with a torch?

You're 'aving a laff - aren't you?

JustinR1979

Iceweasel wrote: »

I'm fully aware what it says in the testers' manual.

"Check that the speedometer can be illuminated."

It would make a mockery of that part of the test if a torch was acceptable.

Surely anything can be illuminated with a torch?

You're 'aving a laff - aren't you?

So the tester has to make up rules to suit him, and not the manual?
Where does it say what the method is, or that he has to choose what method suits him?

JustinR1979

Iceweasel wrote: »

You're 'aving a laff - aren't you?

Having no front or rear lights and having a daylight mot is much more of a laugh than a few bulbs out on the speedo, don't you think?
Or doing a Fred Flintstone down the road because holes aren't within 12" of prescribed area (and can't use general condition unless car sags in middle when you sit in it/stand on sill? ?
Or ripping out windscreen because wipers have packed up?
Etc etc.....