[Slaab4life]

and didn't see it while searching. So the other day I drive over to my friend's house, SID working well. I get there, wipe the SID screen off with a napkin and when I went and turned the car on later the driver's side half of the SID is not back-lit. ALL of the pixels work fine and are readable, but at night (actually, during the day too) I can see that the passenger side of the screen is very well back-lit and the pixels are very legible. Is this just a matter of a bulb (probably $15 right?) having gone bad? I'm curious, how are the bulbs are configured within the unit? Two for making the pixels appear and two for brightly illuminating the whole screen?

 

[PMI]

There are several bulbs, and may depend on model of car and version of SID. Here is a pic of the circuit boards from mine. The bulbs are in the white and grey round holders. The view is from the back, behind the display, with the main circuit board lying upside down. The grey holders are for bulbs that backlight the keys. The white bulbs backlight the display.

Some of the rest of the SID pics and notes on disassembly are here:

http://www.geocities.com/ng900set/SID/SID3.html

It would be nice to have a second source for the bulbs, they are a bit expensive at the dealer, and it would be best to replace all of them at one time, and not keep pulling the SID, the ACC, and the dash switches apart every few weeks for one bulb.

 

[Slaab4life]

Here is an illustration of what the SID is doing. Its not a bad lighting situation, this is how it looks, one side real bright, the other side a lot less bright:

 

[PMI]

Looks like you lost one out of the three bulbs on a SID2. $8.70 list. The other one, behind the buttons, is $10 ea. The holder seems to be part of it. So, close to $60 to replace all six at the same time.

Article : Bulb
PartNo : 4087482
Usage : 1,8 WATT
Order Quantity : 3

All my ACC buttons are dark now, but the LCD backlights are still ok.

 

[Slaab4life]

Oi, went in and found the dead bulb. I checked all the bulbs and cleaned their contacts and now I have no backlighting. Zero, zip, nada. Checked the SID for voltage and was getting 12v at each of the sockets with the key in the on position. The button lights continue to work perfectly fine. Checked the two good bulbs again, all seemed to have good filaments. Did a continuity test on the backlight bulbs and got nothing but O.L (overload) and no beep from the multitester. Did get a resistance reading on the button bulbs and the beep from the multitester.

EDIT: I can't not touch things once I know they are not right. Found that two of the bulbs are visibly broken, got adventageous and switched the button bulbs into the backlight sockets. Backlighting works in that situation, so I did no harm to the SID unit itself. Three 8-someodd dollar bulbs coming up! Funny that all three bulbs went in less than 48 hours. Think this is a coincidence or a short?

On a lighter note I replaced my vacuum lines and found that the line that goes to the fuel pressure regulator was bent, preventing the vacuum from actuating the FPR, so thats squared away (hopefully see an increase in MPG since thats been low for a while). Also found why my door speaker was not working, turns out my home-made speaker mount job failed causing the speaker to partially fall and ended up severing one of the leads.

 

[PMI]

Odd you should post this. When the first bulb on my ACC went, I swapped bulbs around to make sure that was it. The other two went out sometime within the next few days. Maybe almost immediately, I really did not notice until late one night. Perhaps they are so fragile after a few years that they should not be moved unless bad??? As for the vacuum lines, that is probably one of the biggest bang-for-the-buck DIY things, after the belt and pulleys, IMO.

 

[Slaab4life]

Perhaps they are so fragile after a few years that they should not be moved unless bad???

Thats probably true, since they didn't go out until I pulled them to check thier condition. But then again I've had situations where I've had to go over bumps/potholes on the interstate that created a more violent situation for those bulbs than me pulling them out. I wonder if the natural oil on fingers reacts within the bulb to expedite their demise. The three button/clock bulbs are all still working, though watch them go out within the next 36 hrs. Today I will settle for the LCD backlighting bulbs.
My list:
44 67 148 "Rear Caliper Bleed Screw" yeah, that was a big woops.
49 08 497 "Rear Caliper Spring Kit"
40 87 482 x 3 "SID bulb"

 

[Slaab4life]

Stupid little bulbs

Out of my whole list of items to pick up (SID bulbs, brake bleeder nipple, caliper hardware kit, wiper bolt covers, a ground wire for a 9000), the only part the dealership I visited had was the caliper hardware kit. Apparently my Saab is 'too old for them to stock parts' for. I'm getting smarter now and calling before I leave, Hyannis Saab has four bulbs in stock and have set three aside for me to pick up tomorrow!

Surprising development: on my way to the dealer the one SID bulb that I couldn't confirm to be dead came back to life in a last ditch effort not to be trashed. It'll find a new home in my MCC panel where a bulb is missing.

 

[Rob in Atlanta]

One of the bulbs behind the LCD panel on my SID has been intermittently going out. One time I start up its out - the next time its working. I suppose it keeps getting jarred into working and not working. I need to replace them too.

 

[PMI]

Surprising development: on my way to the dealer the one SID bulb that I couldn't confirm to be dead came back to life in a last ditch effort not to be trashed. It'll find a new home in my MCC panel where a bulb is missing.

The bulbs in my ACC seem to have different part numbers from my SID and from the rest of the instrument panel and buttons. Now I REALLY do not look forward to chasing after bulbs every few weeks from now on...

1994-'98 ACC control panel bulbs:
PartNo : 4383782, 1x
PartNo : 9625575, 3x

 

[stevo4541]

i have the same problem, but something else is weird. For a while I've had two bulbs out behind the lcd, ever since I got the car, but just recently the third one went out. It went out for a bit then came back twice the other day, but now it's staying out. The odd thing is, after testing the bulbs and finding that 1 white and 2 grey bulbs work, whenever I place a bulb on the button line, it works, but if I place it on the lcd lighting line, it doesn't work. I'm planning to pick up bulbs to replace the burnt out ones, but I'm afraid that won't fix the lcd illumination problems. Anybody got any ideas as to what's wrong?

 

[brewtide]

EDIT: I can't not touch things once I know they are not right. Found that two of the bulbs are visibly broken, got adventageous and switched the button bulbs into the backlight sockets. Backlighting works in that situation, so I did no harm to the SID unit itself. Three 8-someodd dollar bulbs coming up! Funny that all three bulbs went in less than 48 hours. Think this is a coincidence or a short?

I have a theory. Perhaps they are all wired in series. When you put the bulbs back in, you placed the dead bulb ahead of the other bulbs, in regards to position on series.

Perhaps the left-hand side is the end of the series for these bulbs, thus, when that ONE burned out, it didn't disrupt the others. But if you put it back, say, on the righthand side -- Killed the rest?

just a thought,
bny

 

[Sparkyboy]

Same AC and Current going through wether there's 1 or 5 bulbs on it. If you take one out of the series the other will be brighter coz the voltage /current is now spread evenly across 4 instead.

Just replace the out bulb and you'll be good to go!


V=IxR

 

[stevo4541]

i have the same problem, but something else is weird. For a while I've had two bulbs out behind the lcd, ever since I got the car, but just recently the third one went out. It went out for a bit then came back twice the other day, but now it's staying out. The odd thing is, after testing the bulbs and finding that 1 white and 2 grey bulbs work, whenever I place a bulb on the button line, it works, but if I place it on the lcd lighting line, it doesn't work. I'm planning to pick up bulbs to replace the burnt out ones, but I'm afraid that won't fix the lcd illumination problems. Anybody got any ideas as to what's wrong?

oh haha it works now(minus the burned out bulbs), I'd been switching the bulbs around and unplugging and replugging the SID, and when i switched the car on i only switched it to the "OFF" position. Looks like whenever you first plug the SID back in, you have to switch it to the "ON" position to get the LCD strip to light up. I moved the working bulbs all behind the LCD(i dont do much night-time driving anyway), and it looks so much nicer now.