Hello everyone,
Thanks for your continued support of this board - it's a great help!
I was going to pull the dashboard and instrument cluster to replace the odo gear.
People have recommended replacing the dashboard light bulbs.
I was wondering if anyone knew of dashboard light bulbs that were a bit brighter or if it was
possible to get bulbs of a different color to make the cluster "pop" more in the night.
The faded green illumination is quite boring in my opinion. If there are other
possibilities, could you let me know where I can purchase them and what colors are possible?
Thanks!

The Radio Shack Microbulbs also work inside the Volvo radio.
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1998 Volvo S70

This may be counter intuitive to your brighter lamp request, but 850's are famous for blowing instrument, switch and console bulbs frequently. After the first few years of ownership (original owner) and getting tired of replacing bulbs all the time, my mechanic gave me a tip to prevent further bulbs from blowing. Just take the dimmer and lower it from say 100% brightness to 98% brightness. You won't even know the difference. After 13yrs of ownership, we haven't replaced an instrument bulb in over 10yrs. True!

Your car came with bright lights. All of the bulbs are white/clear glass. I do not reccomend using colored lights, too much glare at night is not good.

I get my bulbs at an autoparts store, sylvania W5W for the large bulbs. Radio shack has micro bulbs, 2 in a pack for $1.50. Get several packs of the micro bulbs so you can repair your dash switch lights.

Klaus
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I still miss my 164 and my 854T. Just driving a V70R :)

Klaus,
For the micro bulbs, would you happen to know the unit number at radio shack - or is there a particular wattage they come in? I know this is quite particular, but I'm not sure if I would be able to find it since I don't have the bulbs out yet. Thanks again for all the help!

Autozone Lighting Technologies #2721 or Radio Shack #7219 micro bulb. All switches use the same bulbs.
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I still miss my 164 and my 854T. Just driving a V70R :)

For the idiot light bulbs and the back light for LCD Time / Temp display I buy a couple of the 10 packs from this place, great service.

http://www.12velectronics.com/servlet/the-Other/Categories

You can also replace the lamps in the factory sockets with Radio Shack 272-1092 lamps but it is sort of a hassle. Those lamps are also good for replacing switch lights, climate unit lights, and shifter indicator lights. Various forms of modification are required to get them to work.

I use W3W lamps for the gauge backlight lamps, you can get them at any auto parts store but when they look them up on the computer they will be wrong. Take your old bulb with you.

...Lee