wdbdesign

I'm listing my '03 WJ for sale, and one of the minor problems is a non-working cruise control indicator in the instrument panel. From what I've been able to tell there's no single fuse that controls this so it seems like it's a burned-out lamp.

Does this sound right?
Is there a simple way to fix this, or is it more trouble than it's worth?

I'm not afraid of getting into the dash as long as it's fairly straightforward. I'd rather not spend half a day taking the dash apart and another half putting it back together for a single bulb.

Thanks!

dave1123

I replaced the gauge lamps in my dash with LEDs and the whole cluster is only held in by a trim strip mounted on 2 spring clips and 4 phillips screws.

Go to wjjeeps.com and they'll show you how. I haven't checked about the cruise light. It may be part of the digital mileage display. I hope not.

Okay, on my '00 WJ, the cruise light is just underneath the mileage display, but later models have a normal status lamp on the right edge of the cluster.

wdbdesign

Thanks for the reply! I finally had a chance to work on it tonight and sure enough it was simple to take apart and put back together.

For those who might stumble on this question later: The PC74 lamps you get from auto parts stores are more than likely crappy replacements. The spring contacts are tiny and can be packaged in such a way that they're bent back and don't make a good connection. The bulbs may also come loose in packaging/handling. I found the best way to replace these is to pull the bad bulb out of the stock twist-out socket and replace it with the bulb from the new socket, reusing the old socket. The bulbs just pull straight out of those little sockets, similar to the bulbs in Christmas tree lights.

dave1123

Yes. that's why I replaced mine with LEDs from superbrightleds.com. they were only $1.43 each and are much brighter than the incandescent stock ones. If you have backlit gauges, don't buy anything but white. I bought green and all my red markings disappeared or turned mud brown. I also bought LED reverse lights and they work VERY well.