The backlighting to the dashboard clock in my '00 TL (non-nav)does not come on with the rest of the lights when turned on. What do I do? Any help appreciated.

 

There's a bulb behind there that burnt out. Go to your dealership and they should fix it for free..if you're still under warranty.

 

Tap the clock. Someone suggested that to me on this board and it work. The light was not burnt out. It won't hurt to give it a try. It might save you a few bucks

 

don't how if it's different down there, but here in canada the warranty for the clock is only 1yr or 20k km which is kinda lame. but then again, that probably shows how difficult it is to get to the bulb that they gotta charge you to do it. mine unfortunately went out with my car <2yrs old. no amount of tapping worked and it was pretty impossible for me to try taking the dash out, so i just left it alone. maybe just before i sell it, i'll pay the $50 CAD the dealer wants to charge me to get it fixed.

 

Try lightly hitting the dash between the clock and the air vents. Mine went out the night I drove it home, and after hitting it in fustration it just popped back on and hasn't gone out since. I'm not saying slam your dash or anything, just give it a "good" tap.

Otherwise, i would just deal with it. The bulb is cheap but the dealership charges an arm and leg for the labor, which apparently is extensive to get to the bulb. Plus anytime you take it apart, rattles develop.

 

that seems to be only true on the TL's

whatever eventually when my light goes out, I will have acura remove the whole dashboard simply to fix all those f*cking rattles that I have in the dashboard area.

I'm sick of all these rattles.

 

If you pull your dash apart yourself, your just asking to get rattles in the long run. At least with a dealership, you have someone to hold responsible.

 

I replaced the light bulb myself. You have to remove the dash, it is not that bad. The bulb costs like $7.

 

Ahh!...hey dude, can you give me some details on what it took ya to replace it? Thanks.

 

It took me about an hour. You have to remove the entire front dah, andthen just unscrew the light bulb.

Check out this link for instructions

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...ock+light+bulb

You can also look at the CD Changer installation instructions, in the faq on this site for how to remove the dash.

 

Just an observation, but in the 2+ years I've been on this board, I've noticed what seems to be a large number of people that have had just the clock light bulb burn out, and I should add all within a relatively short time after their cars were new (1, 2 or even 3 years is too soon for a dash bulb to burn out. After all, I've never had a single bulb burn out on any other car I've ever owned.) My clock bulb died about 6 months ago. Strange how this one bulb seems to die out prematurely. All the rest of the dash illumination seems fine on everyone's cars around here.

 

My clock light is out too. I hate to take it to the dealer as they will screw something up "fixing" it. I've never noticed, but is the bulb on the clock on all the time?

 

I have (or followed) a thread on this. It worked for me: One solid tap above the clock area on the dash. Came right back on... First try. I know it is shear luck, however, I have not won anything else in my life (at least not as important as a backlight for my dash clock), so it was an awsome stroke of luck...

 

Is there any way you could just pull out the head unit and then reach up in there to get to the bulb? Pulling out the gauges and all seems like a major hassle.

 

You dont pull the gauges out to get to the clock. There are two screws that you remove from the dash panel, located above the gauges. then you have to remove the plastic knee kick panel under the steering wheel. There is one screw on the left side behind the fuse panel cover, and the rest of it is held on with clips, so the panel just pulls off, by pulling it straight back towards you. Then you carefully push the three switches on the left side of the dash panel out through the dash, reaching up from behind and pressing them out towards you (this is why you remove the knee panel). Once they are out, unplug them. Then grab the dash from the top, starting around midspan over the guages, by sticking your fingers in between the panel and the dashboard, and carefully start to pry it outward. There is one clip thats down in the right corner of the dash panel that you have to be careful not to break off. just pull the dash Straight Back and the clip will release its grip from the dashboard. Now you can reach up and unplug all the plugs that connect the dash panel to the car (i think there are 5 of them).

All of the above takes about 5 minutes, which is less time that it took me to write it. I am doing this from memory because I have removed my dash numerous times. One tip, its very hard to get the dash panel completely away from the dash because the steering wheel gets in the way, even when you put the tilt to the lowest position. I always remove the two 15mm (or is it 17mm?) nuts that hold the steering column in position. You dont need to remove any panels to get at them. There are already access holes in the plastic cover that surrounds the steering stem for reaching the nuts. This allows the column to drop lower and makes removal and reinstall of the dash panel a zillion times easier. And not to worry, the column still stays in place and your Air Bag will not deploy by doing this --- Just take it easy and dont yank on the column more than you need too.

 

2002acuraTL is exactly correct!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Any idea if extended warranty covers bulb replacement?

 

Yes it does. I got mine replaced under the extended 7yr./100k warranty.

 

I had the same problem, my warraty covered it.

 

Mine just went out ..... 21K miles.

 

And my trunk light went out too, except it does not look like it is burned out. I wonder if the car is just taking a beating from the new comptech springs i installed last week.