Gauge Cluster LED conversion

Gauge Cluster LED conversion

Hey guys,

for my celica I figured out a way to convert the LEDs from stock amber to blue by changing out the LEDs. Now I think the 2003 Corollas also use LEDs (the soldering type) to illuminate the gauge cluster. I'm gonna take apart the 2003 cluster this weekend to find out.

If I can figure out a way to change the colors to blue, would anyone be interested in this? If so I'd be willing to run a sort of group buy on this because I can only order the LED's in bulk, so I'd need a show of interest.

here's a pic of my celica interior:

damn that looks pimp! The 03 rollas do use LEDs soldered on in the gauge cluster.... How hard is it to do? BTW as opposed to ur GTS, the whole gauges light up as opposed to jus the numbers... So im assuming the whole face with be blue?

blue led

of course the whole face would be blue, but faded. i mean not that bright like apc's. i think changing the led is doable, but im the kind that dont want to mess around with that too much. hopefully some aftermarket manufacturers will come up with a 03 corolla blue cluster that will replace the white faced cluster in stock corolla s. that would be the shiit.

livin in lbc is not easy.

you dont need to buy the leds in bulk i have plenty of electronic catologs and they are not very much at all.

the place I buy my electronics stuff wants $5 for 1 super bright blue led.

I changed all the lights in my car in the center console to blue already though. Well actually more of a super white. Looks better than a green glow from the middle with white face guage things.

stinky you should post some pictures.........

i'm very interested in chaging the color to blue.........because green isn't my color!!!

same here i want to change mine soon 8)

Yup same here... WE been tryin to figure the bulb size(#), if possbile post the bulb # and where we can buy em from.. Thanks

I wanna know how to take the buttons apart? IE: AC, Defroster, ect... I wanna swap those.

hmm i am interested but i need to see a pic of a rolla with blue led first..

how did you do that, i want to change mine to blue. what materials did u use, what was the cost and if you got new bulbs, what size were they.

I am still waiting for update from charles.. cause we are not sure if this will work or not yet.

sorry guys a I didnt check this thread lately. I will try and take some pics tonight of the new bulb colors and do a DIY for tomorrow sometime. Its very easy to do. Actually I will do the DIY when I swap out my radio this weekend. I need to pull the dash apart then anyway.

I didnt change the colors of the clock though, or the actual buttons. I looked at doing it but didnt.

Keep a lookout in the next couple days. I will post pics of the actual finished produt though tomorrow.

Well, I got bored so I went out there and measured stuff.

All dash lights for the backlit elements are 12v incadecent bulbs that have a green rubber sleve over them. Pull those off and you have a white/yellowish dash. This includes the light behind the passenger seatbelt indicator.

They are harnessed in a little plug in unit. The two wires for the bulb are pulled through the harness and wrapped around it. This serves as contact area as well as to secure the bulb. The bulb harnes itself just takes about 1/8 of a turn to get it out. Very easy to swap these. (The harnesses are those colored circles that are on the buttons. These bulbs read just under 12 volts

These LOOK like the dash backlit lights.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...name=CTLG_010_011_007_000&product_id=272-1092

All the button indicator lights (IE, small square light in A/C, interior air, and Defroster) are all 2 volt LEDs Aactual reading is 1.75~1.96, so they could be 1.75 volt LEDs that are drawing too much power, but I doubt it. They're soldered into place. To take apart the button, you pop the white square off the back, and then pull the button out of its housing. (I'll get pics when I replace them) The LEDs are very small. They wouldn't be too hard to remove and swap either.

Now, my question becomes how to remove the AC and interior air button from their housing. The Defroster button removes with the dash panel, so that was the one I analyzed. Now the other buttons are attached to the white box behind the panel that has the actual HVAC controls. I'm hesitent to remove this section because I don't want to mess anything up.

I'm gonna go to Radio Shack sometime and see if they have the lights or not. I don't think Radioshack has 12volt LEDs though...

Edit: From my website search I don't see anything that can handle more than 6volts. So I'll have to pull out my electronics catalog and look.

just wait till the weekend. Ill show you how to do it for less money, and much esier. plus you wont need to get new bulbs.

You're just talking about getting either new bulb sleves or coloring the inside of the dash right?

yep I just pulled the bulbs out and used some stained glass paint to paint the bulbs a light blue. That made them shine white through the plastic. If you dont paint them they will look almost red or pink. The reason is the white plastic absorbs the other colors of the spectrum so it only lets the pinky light through.

If you want blue dash lights then you just need to put more than a light coat on the bulbs so they show blue. They dont make enough heat to bother the paint so they work out fine. I tool pics last nite, Ill post them upo in a bit.

here you guys go. I tried to keep the image showing exactly what they really look like. I am going to get a few blue leds and try to change the color of the AC buttons and all those 3. For now they still light up stock. Plus the radio will be gone this weekend if my install kit shows up. I have an MP3 player I am going to put in that lights up blue.









I also did the cig lighter bulb too. It looks a lot bluer than the rest though. You can see the corner of it in the very last pic.[/url]

that would be quite helpful.
btw, would you know where i could pick up transparent dark blue sheets of plastic, i have a project in mind. i already tried JOANN and Micheals but they dont have it. i'll post pics when i get done doin what i had in mind

nicely done and lots of help. my questions:

how many of these bulbs are behind there?

and is the radio shack 12 volts the right bulb or not? I think I am going there soon.

mine is all RED :mrgreen:

excluding the cd player that is...but not to worry will take care of that soon...been busy lately *sigh*

I converted mine a while back. Also made a few posts regarding this on vvti net.

I picked up transparent RED sheets of plastic from Micheals (tho I am sure you can get the same thing from somewhere else for a lot cheaper).

so basically i applied this red plastic to the back of the console...took me some time to do all this but in the end it felt like it was worth it. Orignally i thought about painting the bulbs...had a hard time finding heat sensitive paint. Did find it eventually but decided not to paint it. Don't want to pay 12$ (for each bulb) to the dealership if the bulbs go out. This red plastic idea worked out well for me.

Will take some pics after a week or two.

oh by the way.....i didnt bother changning the leds...(the green ones in the pic up top)... just used the same idea

hmmm...
console RED
ring around lighter RED
P-R-N-D-2-L
clock RED
next on my list : cd player Green

if anyone has any questions... just ask

I would like to know how you did the clock color red? I would really like it blue.

And I am changing the cd player this week so that wont matter.

take a piece of plastic of the desired colour and cut it to the appropriate size ( a little bit smaller than the clock).
open up the clock and slip it between the case and the time-screen.

well mine looks like a shade of red. duno how blue will look....you have to keep in mind that: green numbers + blue sheet + tined plastic = some dark colour

try it and see if ur are happy with the results.

ya I pulled the clock apart while I was waiting. the numbers are actually a Cyan color to start with, then that puke greeny yellow plastic over ti changes it to the green color. (blue and yellow make green [thanks Ziploc!!])

SO I was going to try a plastic peice but dont think I can get an actual blue color out of it. I may go for red or similar. Since I think that will be one of the esier colors to get.

Who knows mabey I can turn it a shade of blue. i'll try it all.

holy shit! nice ! i liek i like! good pictures! *bows down

I hope your talking about my pics. thanx.

I actually am going to look at replacing the stock bulbs with blue leds. I think I can actually fit them into the housing that holds that bulb in and then drop it right in.

But I gotta deal with the clock first!

Well I just got done painting my bulbs.

I used some Vitrea glass/metal paint. It's a waterbased paint that dries in 24 hours, and then you're "susposed" to bake it in an oven to fully cure it. It goes on opaqe and dries transparent.

That's why I dont' have pictures of it yet. I'm gonna wait a few days, driving with my lights on to help cure the paint.

Then I'll take pictures.

Radio shack wasn't open when I got around to going, so I'll have to go later and work on a LED conversion then.

All you do to get to the bulbs is the following:

1.) Remove Black/grey area around shifter. Stick a thin flat screwdriver under the back by the drink holders and pull up. It helps to remove the move the shifter back to "L" before you remove it. Just press the "shift lock" button to do so; but be sure to put the E brake on

2.) Pull the Fan control knob straight off, then remove teh three screws. 1 under the AC knob, and two underneath the flip out compartment by the shifter area.

3.) Reach under flip out compartment and pull up and out. Make sure you don't grab the flip tray, get under and past that, otherwise you'll just pull the tray out, and it's a pain to remount with the springs.

4.) Rock the panel left and right to pull it out. The remaing two clips that are holding it in are in the top left and right corners of the panel, you WILL have to put some force behind it to remove it, just don't pull where the Fan knob is, the plastic is pretty thin there.

5.) Once you have the panel off, to get to the blub behind the Defroster do the following:

-- a.) Unplug the panel from the dash ( you'll need to do this anyways) and remove it
-- b.) Use a lfat head screwdriver and stick it underneath the Defroster button in the back. You'll see a little peg, that's all that holds it in. Remove the button by pushing the face backwards.
-- c.) The light bulb is the little blue circle, just give it a small turn, and pry it out.

6.) The bulbs for the A/C and Interior Air are the brown circles on top of the buttons, just turn and pop those out.

7.) The in dash lights inbetween the three circular controls I left there because I didn't want to risk loosing them behind the dash.

8.) To get to the shifter light, do the following: (for an automatic)

-- a.) Unscrew the shifter arm from the front with the two screws Don't remove the shifter.
-- b.) Unsnap the shifter surround, there are four clips around it, just pry them apart and pull up on the surround. Because you already loosened the shifter arm, just pull up and give a 90 degree turn. You can now see the light for the shifter

A word of warning about the shifter. the plastic piece that has the P-R-D-2-L on it isn't attached to the shifter surround, it falls out when you pull up on the surround. Just be careful and don't loose it in the dash.

That should cover how to disassymble everything. Later I'll explain how to change the LEDs, as soon as I figure it out. Hopefully that was discriptive enough for ya

sorry i haven't been on this board..

but anyway.. i dont know if my gf wants to change her LEDs to blue.. if i can have one volunteer.. just pay cost on leds (i will install for free), I will do this conversion for you.. but you need to be in the Los Angeles area.

please all interested parties contact me at charles_fann@hotmail.com

I would also like to change the stock radio to blue which I know I can do for sure because its basically the same as the stock celica radio which is 46 leds.. (thats alot!)

I got my rolla radio that I dont need anymore. I was going to list it up on ebay. Make me an offer and you can have it for your tests.