Center interior console disassembly

My Jimny has the 2nd gen. interior design (2005-today).

One background light lamp in the center console (specifically in the ventilation controls section) stopped working a few months ago. It is the lamp which is behind the ventilation air flow selector (whether the air blows in your face, in your feet, in the wind screen, etc.).

A few weeks after that, the other lamp in that section blew as well (the lamp behind the air temperature selector - cold or hot).

The result was that I had no red background illumination of the ventilation controls, so I could not see them during night time.


This is the ventilation controls box which I am referring to:



So I decided to disassemble the center console in order to find and replace the lamp bulbs.
Removing the center console cover and the OEM Clarion radio was quite easy, and it is described in one of the wiki articles.

I then used a small mirror to see the back side of the ventilation controls panel, and I noticed two black "thingies" in the back side - the sockets of the lamps. I managed to remove the left bulb and its socket with no significant effort, but the right one was very hard to reach - you can only hardly reach it with just one finger. But I managed to remove it as well, after a lot of fiddling.

Both bulbs and sockets are the same. The socket is a "Toshiba V-2" type. I do not know the exact model / standard of the bulbs, only that they are 1,2 W 12 V compatible. I obtained the replacement ones in a general aftermarket car parts store by comparing the samples.

It is quite hard to remove a bulb from that socket - I had to use a thick needle to restrain the metal springs in the connector in order to aid the bulb extraction. Inserting a new bulb in that socket is easy.

The original bulbs had red rubber covers on them (to give them that red illumination color). So I had to remove the rubber caps and put them on the new bulbs. It's a rather tight fit indeed.


Then came the part which made me write this topic - putting the lamps back in place.

I managed to install the left lamp back in place with some severe fuc***y. The main issue is getting the lamp back in place in just the right position and then twisting it to lock it in place - all without any way to see what you are doing.


However, there is absolutely no physical possibility to install the right lamp (behind the air temperature selector). Not even Houdini would be able to do it, no matter how much time or retries he would have. It is simply not possible to reach its installation position with two fingers. Only one finger can just barely reach it.

So the only solution would be to remove the entire ventilation control box out and then turn it so that you actually see what you are doing that that you can actually place two fingers in there ...

Unfortunately removing the ventilation control box appears to be a major project. As far as I can see (I may be wrong), I first need to disconnect the 4WD control buttons, the heated rear window and heated seats buttons, and all the electrical connections to the ventilation control box. However there are also two steel cables which are securely attached to the ventilation control box, and which transfer the selection of the air flow direction and of the air temperature. It appears that disconnecting those cables is not simple and that it carries a major risk of not being able to "tension" them back into position later on upon reassembly.

I am very afraid that I might make my life a lot complicated by disassembling all this just to replace one damn sh***y illumination lamp.

Has anyone performed the removal of the center ventilation console in a 2005+ Jimny and would they kindly share some advices?

I removed it and changed a few bulbs. I couldn't find right ones so I sodered T5's and now they really shine. Maybe you could take a few pics to refresh my memory, my Jim is outside covered in ice so I dont fancy freezing

I have two bulbs that have blown behind the 4WD switches
Is there a website to order replacement?

Check out the thread here
www.bigjimny.com/index.php/forum?view=topic&catid=7&id=51746