Replacing Bulb Behind my MCoupe centre console

[dasherdiablo]

The heating switch bulb has blown and needs replacing. Does anyone know how to gain access to the switch? I don't want to go blindly on and end up breaking fixings that I didn't know were there. Anyone know how I can remove the centre console panel?
Many thanks,

[B R]

How do you know that it's blown if you haven't taken it out. Mine has a habit of intermitent operation, when it doesn't come on, the fix I give it, is to push on the switch a little. Seems like the problem with mine is just some bad contacts.

Assuming that you really do need to change the bulb, even though I have never done so, I believe you can do it without having to take the whole console out. I think you can get to it by taking the radio out, or by removing the shift boot .

[rotorhed]

My left bulb burnt out, for selecting defrost, floor, passenger HVAC. That's a common problem.
I removed my radio (make sure you have the code). The bracket that holds the three rheostat HVAC knobs can be removed to gain access to the bulb/socket in rear. On my 2000, there were two philips screws above the HVAC panel, one on each side of the frame area where the radio was removed. You remove the 2 screws and the pull up and out to get at the HVAC panel with light bulb. Do a search on this forum or bimmerfest "Z" forum as there were previous posts on this subject.