I've attached pics below. I have the Honda item code, and the Acura item code. I'll post it when I get home. Alternatively, go into your dealership and show them the part, and/or ask for it. If they are nice, they can go into the back and fine you ***ANY*** bulb that matches the look of the one below.
I'll go into detailed steps again...
The Honda part nmber I have is
35852-ST3-G01 "Bulb G, Comp"
- Car: This is for a 2001 Acura EL, which should be identical to a 2001 Honda Civic, and others...
- Problem: LED light for Cruise Control button is no longer working. Cruise still works...
- Time to fix: 5-10 minutes.
- Open the coin pocket, and look for a single screw. Unscrew it, and keep it in a safe place. The entire faceplate piece will now come away from the dash, including the buttons. The red line denotes where it will come apart. Pull and push downwards, and the entire piece will pop off. This will easily go back in place, so don't worry.
- You'll see the cruise control adapter on the outer side. It is blue in colour, connected by a grey adapter. Gently detach the grey portion - there is a little lip on the other side that you have to push it for it to come apart easily.
- The 2 brown circles you see are the bulbs.
- Now that you've detached the grey plug, you now need to remove the blue piece from the console. Be careful, as you will almost definitely end up breaking off some parts of the plastic. The blue piece costs $34 + tax CAD at Acura, and comes with the 2 bulbs... So try not to break it.
- What you need to do is use a flathead screwdriver or a swiss army knife and pry upwards on the black clip that is at the 'top' of the blue piece. (It is directly above the brown circles, and has a little space that you can put your knife in.)
- Whatever you do, do not break the black clip, or the tiny tiny blue clips on either side... I broke off pieces of blue plastic, but not the important tiny blue pieces that clip into the black clips...
- While you have the knife prying the black clip upwards, 'swing' the butt of the blue piece outwards... (the butt section is where the grey plug was plugged in.)
- Tada! Hopefully you didn't break off too much blue plastic. Now, be VERY careful with the actual Cruise Control switch, as it will become loose from the console, and you could end up losing the spring.
- Notice the brown plastic, which houses the green bulb. The green bulb is NOT an LED, but a regular white bulb, with a green condom on it. You can easily twist this off the blue piece.
- If you are great with finding bulbs, either try to replace the bulb with an LED, or alternatively, you can easily remove the existing bulb by untwisting the wires from the plastic housing. I was unable to find a proper bulb that worked..... So I ended up buying the same part.
- The friggen culprit bulb.... Notice the silver wire... You can unwrap these from the brown plastic housing, and try your best to find a working LED or bulb and replace it with that.
- I was unsuccessful, so I ended up buying another OEM part.
- Basically the exact one was not in stock, but the Honda Parts guy went to the back with my bulb, and found one with a green condom, and a yellow condom. The only difference was the brown plastic was baby blue.
- I will post the Honda and Acura OEM part codes when I get home....
- Put everything back together, test it out, and reverse the process.
- VOILA!
Some notes:
- Your cruise control will not work unless you complete the circuit: you need to have the busted bulb in that slot otherwise it will not work.
- I tried hotwiring some ghetto bulbs I bought from Active Surplus.... LEDs didn't work for me. When I tried a bulb, it didn't work. I tried another one by touching the bare wires to the orange bulb's connectors, and it worked. I tried a 3rd bulb I had (bare wires only), and I ended up getting burned bad, and the entire dash lights dimmed... Fortunately no permanent damage other than 2 burned lines on my middle finger.
- You do NOT need a green bulb if the dealer has other coloured bulbs. You just have to do a bit more work, and take the condom off the old bulb.... Or, enjoy the new colour!
They're actually bulbs with coloured condoms on them. Use your nail and slowly unscrew it. Bring this in to order... Acura charges me $7+ for the stupid green bulb ... I have not ordered yet. People say you can go to Honda for cheaper.
