I have a 1995 XE Hardbody pick-up, 2WD, 4 cylinder, manual transmission. The light bulb on the instrument panel with the AC/heater fan and hot/cold switches is burned out.
Recently, I replaced the radio with a CD player. That is when I decided I would replace the burned out light bulb. While the radio was removed, I removed the instrument panel cluster switches and found the burnt out light bulb. It was extremely tiny. I went to the auto parts store and the closest bulb to it was a #37. Installed the new #37 bulb and it would not illuminate. I noticed the ash tray had a light bulb and it was another tiny light bulb. I tried the new #37 there to no avail. I even tried swapping the original light bulbs. Still no help. All this was on a Saturday afternoon. I put everything back, minus the original tiny light bulbs, and finished the CD installation successfully.
On the following Monday, I went to my local Nissan dealership and three people in the parts department said they have never seen a light bulb that small for a Nissan. Looking this up on their computer only showed the instrument panel cluster switches. There was no reference to a light bulb. The parts boy suggested I purchase the instrument panel cluster switch for over $200 to get it to light up. Dang, that doesn't make much sense.
Then I remembered the ash tray had the same tiny light bulb. Looking that up revealed a drawing that showed the light bulb, but did not reference the tiny light bulb with a part number. Again, I would have to purchase the entire ash tray assembly to get the tiny light bulb.
¿Does anyone know of another way to get these instrument panel lights working?
Thanks in advance, Ðavïd Greenville, NC