Some Legacies and Outbacks (Legacy Ls + and all Outbacks up here in Canada) come with side view mirror defrosters.

If the indicator light in that switch is dead (as it was in my 2000 legacy when I bought it, there is no easy way to tell if the mirror defrost is activated. This can lead to discharged batteries and other niceties...

My local Subaru dealer will sell me a complete switch for ~70$ CAN, as he has no part number for the light itself, so I decided to try and fix it myself.

What you will need

- small flat screwdriver with its end wrapped in electrical tape
- small phillips screwdriver
- one package of 272-1092 bulbs from Radio Shack
- small wire cutter

Let's start

This is the driver's side armrest with the window lift switches and the mirror switches. The defrost switch is between the lift lock button and the remote.

First off, we need to remove the armrest switch panel. The panel is held in place by 2 clips, one in the front and one in the back, both pointing downards.

1. Insert the flat screwdriver between the armrest and the panel, taking care not to damage either of them, and gently push the panel up.

2. With the panel slightly raised, pull the front up with your fingers until it snaps out.

3. While holding the front of the panel up, insert the screwdriver at the back of the panel and gently pry it up until it unsnaps.

4. Once the back is unclipped, lift the panel up to access the wire harnesses and unplug the front harness.

After unplugging the harness, you can see the bulb assembly: a small brown plastic circle right at the back of the front harness plug (white circle). Unscrew the assembly ~1/8 of a turn, using the phillips screwdriver, to remove it.

The bulb assembly will look like the bottom left picture below, with a burned out bulb.

As can be seen from the top picture, the Radio Shack bulb is shorter than the original bulb. Using this bulb as is in the assembly gives the assembly in the bottom centre picture.

Using a bit of ball pen ink tube raises the bulb so that it ends in a position similar to the original bulb, as in the bottom right picture. This makes the bulb a little brighter. (this I saw suggested at http://www.med.uc.edu/pstp/students/fortner/rulights.htm)

The bulb is removed by untwisting its wires from the holder and pulling it out. The new bulb is inserted with the bit of ink tube around its wires, its wires twisted around the holder as the original bulb's were, and cutting off the extra wire.

As is usually said in these cases, the steps to install the bulb and switch panel are the same as the removal steps, only reversed.

And you can enjoy a working switch indicator!