radio lights are out (may)

hi,

my 10 year old accord is showing its age. the light that comes on
when i turn my radio on, is not working.
which makes it hard to find what station i'm tuning to when
i'm driving at night. however, the radio works fine.

the manual doesn't say, but what should i do to replace the burned out
light?

any suggestions?

 

youre going to have to pull it out, and probably take it apart.

 

That's not (unfortunately) an easy thing to do - anyway, none of the
console/instrumentation lights are user serviceable AFAIK. Of course, most
of them aren't too hard to approach with some time and a screwdriver.

However, in this case I think the light you're talking about is part of
that blue fluorescent-like display that shows the radio tuning, and that is
a VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) which operates on some principles closer
to a vacuum tube rather than a plain light bulb (i.e. it has a grid and
higher voltages in it, not just a filament)

Bottom line: I also have a head unit from my brother's 89 Accord which a
VFD that doesn't light. I've had it apart and the repair without schematic
or prior knowledge is probably not feasible.

Wrecking yards have these sometimes, for not too too much money. Also, of
course, I'm sure there are some on EBAY from time to time.

Good luck,
Arthur
P.S. If it's just the buttons and knobs that aren't lighting (but this
sounds different from your post) then there *are* small incandescent bulbs
in there for that.