Replace Light Bulb inside A/C Switch - Help?
 

After breaking the far right Passenger air vent into 5 pieces during removal of the dash pad, I decided to post this before I break the A/C switch!

anyone know how to get to the bulb inside this A/C switch? See pics from my ‘87 SR5 Turbo

:coffee:

If I remember correctly, this switch has one of those bulbs with the grey plastic base that you remove with a pocket screw driver (flat blade). There should be a slot in the base of the bulb for the screwdriver.
It should just need a 1/4 turn to remove.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...a4adf4a99c.png


:safari:

If your bulb looks like this you can order T-3 LED bulbs off eBay that will fit and light a bit better. They also fit the switches in the console.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/atta...psszmftnvv.jpg

This is the gray thing you turn. This is on my "rear window" switch IIRC

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/atta...psokudm8kq.jpg

I bought these T—3 bulbs off Amazon and they are only about 1/2 the diameter of the one in the A/C switch. Probably work for other places, but not the bulb size I needed.

Anyone know now what size the A/C bulb is? See pic of the difference below.

Aren't those T10 twist-locks?

(A T3 bulb will, usually, fit what is called a T10 socket.)

This site gives the dimensions; measure first. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pc...825223508.html

They must be T-10 twist as the T-3 twist literally slides all the way through the hole (and I had to pry it back out with needle nose plyers).

I was going to give you the Toyota part number, but I cannot find the correct bulb. It doesn't show up on the parts diagrams. Oddly enough, Toyota has bulbs for other switches in the same diagram.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...f0095a9177.png

For some reason, Toyota did not include the bulb for this switch....

:safari:

I just took the bulb part out of the T3 twist socket and threaded it into the OEM twist socket. No go, but may be a bad LED (about 25-50% of the ones from China don't work). Will test the bulb later today and report back - hopefully it isn't the actual A/C switch itself (which triggers on/off the A/C fine, so surely not).

I was able to make this work. So it's confirmed - you can swap a T3 style LED into our larger OEM twist sockets. Sometimes takes 1-2 tries to get the leads to make contact, but it does work with patience. Thanks everyone.