My wife prefers it if I replace the bulbs that help her identify which direction she is traveling on the gear selector, and since I don't like spending big money to repair body damage or trannys, I agreed to replace them.

The bulbs are small wedge style and say VCH 1112 12V 0.1A. Two dealers have tried to give me 194's and 168's as a replacement, but I believe those are wrong. The wattage is too high, are too hot for the application, and left in would likely melt the surrounding plastic. If you have replaced yours or your D1 is second hand I suggest you lay your finger over both lighted areas of the "PRNDL" and it is so hot it threatens to burn your finger, I suggest you check to make sure they are correct. There seems to be conflicting information from the dealer as to which bulbs are correct, so I have little faith in the information and parts they are providing.

Anyone know for dead certain which bulb part number is correct for this application?

 

I took my burnt bulbs to AutoZone and matched them up, I also looked in their bulb book and sure enough...3 years later and no fires.

 

Ditto Spike. I pulled mine out and took them to NAPA. They matched them right up and handed me 3 for the price of one so I would have some spares. Cost me some pocket change is all. And from the time I removed them til everything was back together (including the trip to NAPA) took me like 30 min. (I stood around and BS'd alot at NAPA.)

 

I went to Advance Auto, CarQuest, NAPA, BAP/Geon, as well as the two dealers. They all had look alikes, but none had what I think are the correct bulbs. There are several different bulbs that are the exact same size and shape, but are different wattages. One of the dealers is ordering what he thinks is correct, but we'll see. I believe it shouldn't burn you if you put your finger on it, and not the bulb itself, but the top of the PRNDL plastic display on top of the console. I'd be interested to know what you are using Spike, but at 3 years ago, I'm sure you wouldn't remember. How hot does it get when you put your finger on top of the plastic "PRNDL"?

 

Spent some time on the phone with Sylvania/Osram and Philips auto lighting and here's what I've learned:

The bulb for this application is a T-3 wedge style bulb but there are several different ratings. For instance a 194and a 161 look exactly like my bulb, but the specs are very different:

194 is 14V .27A which produces 3.8 Watts
161 is 14V .2A which produces 2.7 Watts
The correct Rover bulb is 12V 0.1A and produces 1.2 Watts

Since these companies dominate the US market and neither offers anything smaller than the 161 in that size that we could find, the chances are very good that if you simply matched one up at your neighborhood auto parts store it's wrong and potentially dangerous. Like putting a 150 watt bulb in a lamp rated for 60 watt bub. Not being Chicken Little here, I'm just saying.

If I don't have luck with the Rover dealer that attempted to order the right bulb, I may have to either source some used ones or consider moving to an LED T-3 style bulb. With luck,that should eliminate the heat problem.

 

I went and looked at my bulb. It says 194 on it but the package says 12V not 14V. Don't know what to tell you man. I haven't had any problems with mine getting hot but I understand what you are saying. Good luck with a solution. It would be sad if you had to pay a crap load for a tiny bulb from the stealership.

 

You are right I do not remember, no they do not get to hot.

 

They tell me the bulbs are a couple bucks at the dealer which I can live with. To get a sense of how close your specific bulb is to spec you can multiply the voltage by the amperage draw to get wattage, so your 194 should have a lower wattage than my example above if it's rated at 12V, about .4 watts or so less.

 

If you get this figured out let us know.

 

Ahhh....Physics 101 That was my favorite class at the University of North Texas. Thanks for the reminder.

X2 on what Spike said. Let us know when you find a supplier. And let us know if you end up going the LED route. That may be a better option in the long run anyway.