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One day, I got kind of bored, both with myself and the interior lighting in my car. I got tired of the ugly red-orange lighting, and decided to do something about it. I took out the instrument cluster and the center panel (the one that has the radio, HVAC, etc.), along with the little 3-button panel on the driver's side. I disassembled the instrument panel as far as was necessary to get off that little sheet of plastic that has the gauge face printed on it. I looked around, and saw the only thing that was orange was the filter printed on the back of the faces, not the bulbs themselves. So, I started thinking. I used some nail-polish remover and wiped the backs clean, thus removing the orange-ness from the gauges. I got some ink-jet transparencies and printed them a dark blue and cut them to fit between the clear plastic piece and the gauge face. I reassembled the cluster, installed them back in the car, and, lo and behold, the lighting wasn't uniform. And nor was it anywhere near the shade of blue I wanted. I printed a very dark blue, but it looked like a baby-blue, where it was blue at all. Over the lights themselves, it was just white. So, I took the cluster back out and added another layer of blue-ness, with add'l film over the lights themselves. Once installed, this produced marginally acceptable results. The numbers and tick-marks were blue and the redline and the needles were still red. The blue was a little splotchy, however, and it was getting on my nerves.

A month or so later, I decided to do something about that. I took it back out of the car and took out the blue film. Now this is where it gets eccentric. I knew I couldn't just put it back in as-is, because the lights would be too saturated and not evenly dispersed. I thought about it for a while, then turned to the computer desk. I got out a sheet of white cardstock, then cut a few strips, maybe 1" by 1/2". I wedged these strips into the clear plastic piece so that, in the end, they were directly over the lights, but maybe a 1/4" back from the gauge face. I put it back in, and was ver pleased with the results. All the numbers and tick-marks are white, while the redlines and the needles are red. It looks very clean, and during the day looks completely normal.


I also decided to deal with the red lighting in the buttons and in the dash. I took out each individual button and either removed the little semi-transparent plate or cut the orange covering (this looked a lot like a condom for a lightbulb) off of the little bulbs. End result: now all the buttons and interior lighting is white, aside from the stereo. The HVAC and defroster designs are still their respective colors when lit from behind.

Basically, everything looks exactly as it does during the day. It's clean-cut, and looks pretty slick. It's not especially difficult or radical, but it makes my 'vic different from everyone else's, for no out-of-pocket cost. Only about 3 hours in the garage.


Anyone else done anything like this?

 
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post pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 
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I will. I'm at school now. I'll see if I have time to take the pics tonight once the sun goes down.

 
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Yesterday I did this with my friends explorer...only I used white LEDS to replace all of the bulbs.

 
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Here's a picture of how it turned out.



For some reason, the white looks kind of yellow-ish in this picture, whereas in real life it's white. It also exaggerated the brightness at the bottom of the speedo and the tach, where it's right over the lights. In the car, I barely notice it. I need to do that one of these days.

 
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I changed my blue LEDs to white LEDs in my dash conrols yesterday. Sorry camera phone pic:

 
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I did that too, but one of my bulbs is burned out. Where'd you get the LED's? I've been wanting to do that for a long time.

 
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I just got them from one of those guys on ebay from hong kong that sell like 100 for $10. I figure that I'll get tired of those within the next year and change them to something else.

I wouldn't recommend using these LEDs for applications such as tails, or any kind of marker light though.

 
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No, of course. What diameter did you get? 3mm?

 
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www.ledautomotive.com.

i got mine from there they do hyper white, blue, and red. also good instructiona of how to do it.

 
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So what exactly is in the kit? I'm not looking for a readymade kit, just the parts to do it with. I'd rather just do it on my own, and ask on here if I have any questions.

 
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thats what it is, they gove you the bulbs, resisitors (those small ones) and the wire. all you have to do is get a sodering iron and some soder stuff. what they tell you on the site.

took me a little to do it sine it was my first time but came out good i did the center console, window, mirror, cruise, etc. only thing left is my speedometer cluster.

 
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Hey, I'm gonna IM you.

 
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ok got it

 
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OK, looking at that install guide they posted on their site, I think I'm just gonna fly solo on this one. So, I'll need 3mm bulbs, resistors, and 26ga wire. What luminosity LEDs would I need, and what strength of resistors?

 
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i would just ask them they would tell you what you need. someone with smarts on here prob know though

 
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Yeah, I'd kinda feel bad just asking them directly instead of just buying their kit that they've worked hard on. I'd rather invent the process myself.

 
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wtf, ur leds are so bright. i duno, maybe its day time but i just finished mines and it seems so dim. Ill take some pics to show you

 
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I think, from what I understand, it all depends on the combination of inherant luminosity of the individual LEDs and the resistors wired into the circuit.

 
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I kind of cheated. I'm using ebay LEDs advertised as 5mm 10,000mcd. The places that the 5mm wouldn't fit I sanded down until they did. All of the LEDs are sanded around the edges to give them a frosted look.

Tools I used: Soldering iron, solder, cordless dremel, and a small clamp thing to hold them while I soldered.

 
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So you didn't use any resistors?


Has anyone figured out how to change the backlighting of the Odometer/ Trip meter LCD screen? I remember looking at it, but I couldn't see a way around it.

 
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Oh yes, sorry, I did use resistors. I wrote that last night after getting home from the bar, lol. The only place I have had problems fitting the resistor is on the cruise control switch on the dash next to the sunroof/power mirror controls. I got around that by figuring out which wires were illumination and putting resistors on those.

I have an 03, so I can't really touch the gauge cluster for fear of screwing it up.

 
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What strength resistors did you use?

Oh, and how is the '03 gauge panel different from the '01? I thought they were the same.

 
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I'll check the resistors when I get home from work, I honestly can't remember what I used.

The gauges were the same in an '01 and '02, and then changed for '03-'05.

 
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Ahhh... I thought they changed in '04 with the body style. My bad.