DIY: 1998 Volvo V70 Instrument Cluster Removal/Bulb Change

[nicopag]

Great writeup, but to me, the trickiest part of this whole process for the first-time disassembler is disconnecting the airbag harness, and all it gets in the instructions is "Disconnect Air Bag Electrical Connector". Of course, once you know how the two halves of the harness disconnect, no problem, but it's not obvious at first. The person doing this for the first time might do what I did and end up removing the orange end-cap of the airbag assembly in an attempt to disconnect the wiring from it. Perhaps a little more of a description and a photo of the two halves of the harness separated? Other than that, smooth sailing. Thanks again.

I dont understand you this part. I speak spanish... Can you explian what are those harness?
Thanks

[nicopag]

Here I post the VIDA pdf.
Hope this helps

[cn90]

...I dont understand you this part. I speak spanish... Can you explian what are those harness?
Thanks

Very easy, once you open the glovebox rectangular box, look up and you will see the Airbag connector (White).
Disconnect it and that is it.
Of course, you disconnect the battery way ahead of time.

[98moulvo]

Does the radio lock as soon as the battery is unplugged, or will it hold a charge long enough to change cluster bulbs without needing the security code? thanks to everyone who posted, this site has been very helpful.

[v70xc]

As soon as the radio is without power, the radio will lock out and require the code. Whether the power going to the back of the radio is disconnected or the car battery is removed, the code will be required.
If you don't have the code for your radio, all you have to do is call a Volvo dealership with you car VIN and your radio in hand since there is a number they will need off the radio to give you the correct unlock code.... Or so I am told. I have never had to call for my code

[1997volvo850]

You've probably figured out that the lens comes right off after you remove 9 screws.
If you look for the odometer gear fix tutorial it tells you how to take apart the cluster.

[v70xc]

Thanks 1997volvo850, I never found the "Odometer gear fix" tutorial till you pointed it out.
Now that I know if can be cleaned, I will have to find to to finally get around to doing it.
Thanks for the info.

[Red-Arrow]

Actually from my research, some like LED some don't (and switch back to OEM bulbs).
Personally, I like the OEM bulbs.

I know why. OEM bulbs are tungsten filaments which give a nice warm glow around the 2500K spectrum. You can buy warm white LED's as well. These are candle colour lights basically. The human eye is prefers candle light over whiter light. Thousands of years of camp fires probably made it this way.

[v70xc]

Thanks for all the helped offered. To my surprise, the cluster is only a single plastic lens. It can be removed from the cluster simply by releasing the 7 or so black clips and the two torx t10 screws holding down the black module on top of the cluster. Wow, easy to remove the dash and the console.
All this time I thought it looked like oil film on the inside of the console lens. Once I got everything out, only then did I find out I was wrong. All this time it turned out to be nothing more than (probable chemical reaction) probable cleaning solvent which must have caused some sort of a problem on the console lens.
Anyhow, I followed the information to remove the dash and the console … simple fix. All I needed to do was to sand the outside of the console lens with 2000 grit, then 3000 grit and finally with 5000 grit sand paper. Keep in mind, wet sanding is what you want to do. Dry sanding makes things better, but you are further ahead by wet sanding. After the wet sanding, I wanted to see more shine and glimmer, so I went and purchased some headlight and lens restorer from my local Canadian Tire store. I used “Quixx Repair System Headlight Lens Restorer+sealer”. It did a great job as you can see from the following before/after pic.
Thanks everyone.

ps: the lens is able to be removed from the brains of the console. I would have been ready to purchase a new lens if needed, but that did not turn out to be the case.

[volvo noob]

I sure am glad I found this thread. I was ready to go out and find a new cluster because of the spotting on my cluster lens. Thanks for the helpful post about the headlight restoration kit. I tried that on my cluster and now it looks like new.