.............12/96 EL GLI Ford wagon clock from EL Fairmont. ......... Hello gentlemen of the world wide web, I was wondering if any of you Ford gurus could enlighten me on why my odometer and clock are really, and I mean really dim. So dim that I can't read them and nothong changes whether or not the headlights are on or not. Both are working fine. It is probably just a resistor or something really simple and I'll feel like a real d**khead for not knowing, but, I'd rather feel like that and have a bl**dy clock and odometer that I can read ( at my age I need all the help with seeing as I can get)......Many thanx gurus....Robby

Good evening sir,

The problem here, is after all these years, unfortunately the globes blow in the instruments, and need to be replaced.

It isn't a difficult job, but it just means you have to get behind the cluster, and clock, and then they simply pop out with half a turn, and a new one can be put in.

It's not a hard job to do yourself, it just takes time, and sometimes patience.

My mothers EF had this problem and they charged something like 50-80 dollars to do it, simply becasue of the time it takes, the globes themselves are very cheap.

I'd even offer to do it for you if you weren't so far away!

Darkr, Thanx so much, I pulled the clock out and there is a very small globe holder that comes out with half a twist. I never would have guessed that this small globe gave light to the digital numbers, and do you know how or if it causes the readouts to dim when the lights are turned on when it is only a single looking globe? I knew that there was someone out there who knew more than me....Robby

$50-80 to change a bulb?

Holy s**t thats crazy.

That's an interesting question actually, I'm not too sure.

I'm assuming when you turn the lights on it cuts the voltage down a bit causing them to dim, becasue yes that is the same globe it uses for both when you have your lights on, as well as when your headlights are off.

But yeah, the globes generally do pretty well at lighting the instruments, and I'm glad you sussed it out.

Are you talking the dimming of odometer and trip computer when you turn the healdights on or when the bulb is dead?