Bio248
DUI BABY
In case your radio lights went out on your 04+ grand prix, here is a write up on how to replace the burnt out bulbs. This is all thanks to 'drmurdoc'.
Steps for fixing the burnt out display light bulbs on a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GT stock radio
Remove the ring around the ignition. There is a small notch under it. Place a screwdriver there and pry up.
Pry out the plastic faceplate surrounding the entire center area of the dash. Note that there are no screws. I used a screw driver shown below and just pulled.
There is wiring attached to the back of this piece. Squeeze the connector.
Now remove the radio. To do this you have to remove the 2 screws from the storage bin on the bottom, next remove the 2 screws from the climate control and finally the 4 screws holding the radio in. The plastic faceplate on each overlap and the radio is on the bottom.
The radio has three connections on the back. One is the antenna, pull that out. The other two are wire connectors. Squeeze and pull on each.
Now take the top (or bottom, not sure which it was, compare yours to the picture) of the radio off. There are no screws that hold it in, you simply pry it off. You need to do this so you can unplug two cables.
Remove the two cables by pulling them straight up.
The face plate is held on by two screws on each side along with two pry tabs on the top and bottom. Remove the screws and pry up on the tabs to slide the faceplate forward.
Now remove the circuit board from the plastic faceplate. There are 5 chrome colored small hex head screws (that I bet you won’t have a driver for). I used needle nose pliers to remove them.
You now have to remove the display itself.
The metal bracket around the display holds it to the circuit board by six tabs that pass through the circuit board and are bent. Take your pliers and straighten each one so that you can slide them back through the board. You have to wiggle it a bit and keep straightening the ones that are binding. Not too difficult.
You will now see the 3 burnt out light bulbs. Note they each have a small plastic covering on them. Slide these off. You will reuse them. They make it so you don’t see the light bulb elements burning through the display. I have removed one in the picture.
I bought my replacement lamps at the local Radio Shack store for $2.50 each. Note my local store is not a normal one and I don’t think these are standard stock. They say 12V 70mA. However, RS does sell what you see in the second picture and I am sure these would work just fine (catalog number 272-1141). Note both of these lamps have wires vs the solid wire that is on what is installed in the radio. Solid wire lights would be easier to install, but I wanted to get them installed now and did not want to wait for an order of solid wire bulbs.
Now you have to unsolder each light. I used a pencil soldering iron. I propped the board up vertically between two paperback books. I then touch the iron to each connection and pulled on the bulb (touch one side and pull, then the other, back and fourth).You have to keep doing this side to side until it pops out. Once you have each bulb removed, the holes will be covered up with solder. What I did to open the holes up was touch the iron on the hole and push a small safety pin through the hole and kept moving and twisting it. I was then able to remove the safety pin and have a hole.
I then took a small X-ACTOknife(a razor blade would work) and carefully trimmed back part of the black plastic covering on each new light bulb. Be careful not to get too close to the leads. The bottom bulb is the trimmed one.
I then carefully cut back the wire leads to a very short length on each bulb and stripped off a bit of plastic covering on each wire. This task is a bit difficult due to the short lengths. You want to be careful not to pull the wire out of the bulb. Oddly the first one I did was my best (you see it below). I struggled on the two after this one. I recommend buying four bulbs in case you screw up.
I then twisted the ends of each wire and put them through the holes in the circuit board. This step is also a bit tricky. The holes are not much wider then the wires. I bent the wires down and soldered into place.
Repeat for the other two bulbs. Now install the bulb coverings. Once you have the circuit board assembled I plugged it intothe radio and took it as is and plugged it into the connectors in the car to test it. It worked! Now reassemble and install.
Tips
1. Buy at least one extra bulb
2. Find bulbs that have solid wires coming out of them vs the kinds I purchased, would have made it much easier
3. Take your time, took me a good 2 hours.
4. When removing the old bulbs, you may want to cut their leads if they are quite long and protrude from the board. Mine were. Cutting them first made it easier to unsolder them.
5. To put the bulb coverings on I put a bit of saliva inside them and they slid right on (Yes I could have easily described these “bulb coverings” in different way throughout this document, however I rose above it…)
Best of luck.
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