changing dash light colour.

[Simmo2302]

last night changed the colour of the lights behind the dash.

and what a mission it was

had to

disconnect negative terminal of battery
pull panel off bottom of steering wheel,
disconnect the srs plug
use torx 30 bit to remove 2 torx screws from side of of steering wheel.
remove srs airbag
disconnect aftermarket cruise control
disconnect horn switch
loosen main bolt holding steering wheel.
use steeering wheel puller to "pop" steering wheel
remove steering wheel
remove 3 screws from column cover
remove column cover
remove 2 screws at top of dash gauge cover
remove guage cover (mission considerig there is 2 clips and is glued down)
remove 3 screws from guage assembly
unplug guage assembly
remove 5 guage lights and slip on blue silicon sleeves
install the 5 coloured bulbs
instalation is the reverse or removal.

at the end of it i ended up with AQUA coloured guages with pinky/purple needles

as the guages were origionally light green and the needles red.

would getting rid of the standard bulbs with the sleeves,
and putting in blue led's (i've seen some that pulg right in same as the stock bulbs)

fix the problem as leds r stronger coloured ?

[JasonGilholme]

* theres no need to remove the steering wheel to get the cluster out
* sounds like you didn't remove the covers off all the bults. I think i had about 10 or so in my del sol dash
* yes you can get replacement bulbs (LED's) that fit straight into that slot. (take one of the bulbs to Jay Car or somewhere like that and they should be able to help you out)

[AsH_]

i'd like to do this...

itll be mad if u can make the need shine green and as its going through vtec it turns orange and as you reach the red line it goes red...

[DUST]

LOL dam man thats alot of work just to change the dash light...

All you need to do is lower the steering wheel and remove some screws and unclip some cables at the back of the cluster. 5 minute job! Well thats in a DC2.

I don't know why you need to remove the air bag lol

[xenonkuraz]

My friend installed an aftermarket dash with a few knobs to change the colours to match the mood :P It took him half an hour.

[dsp26]

* theres no need to remove the steering wheel to get the cluster out
* sounds like you didn't remove the covers off all the bults. I think i had about 10 or so in my del sol dash
* yes you can get replacement bulbs (LED's) that fit straight into that slot. (take one of the bulbs to Jay Car or somewhere like that and they should be able to help you out)

finally some1 thats done it to the sol... do you remember how many bulbs there are and what sizes?

just need to know how many i need to order instead of me pulling it apart twice :p

[Simmo2302]

* theres no need to remove the steering wheel to get the cluster out
* sounds like you didn't remove the covers off all the bults. I think i had about 10 or so in my del sol dash
* yes you can get replacement bulbs (LED's) that fit straight into that slot. (take one of the bulbs to Jay Car or somewhere like that and they should be able to help you out)


well i got a mechanics manual on CD (01 - 04 civic)and that what it said to do, cos i tried to get it out without taking the steering wheel off, but couldnt get the leverage to pull the cover off cos of the clips & glue.

if i could have avoided taking the wheel off, i would have.

from the same CD it gives u a diagram on the blub locations and what is what. only 5 are general guage lights and 1 for lcd backlight.

the rest are handbrake light, srs, indicators etc.

and yea i have seen those led "plug n play" bulbs in autobarn

[EUR003act]

see my link for some helpfull info vvvvv

you wont have to do surface mount soldering, the majority of your dash should be direct replacement globes. available from autobarn $10 for two

[Sensei]

You can get led bulb replacements cheaper on eBay. Instead of $10/pair it'll be closer to $5-$6/pair for t5 and t10 guage cluster bulbs.

[1996ek1]

Haha, ill make it simple for you

Drop steering wheel
Unscrew the 2 screws up top
Where the clips are glues down, give it a little tug
Remove black framing
Undo 4 screws holding in cluster
Undo plugs

Its all seperate.


I couldnt find anywhere saying how to remove the cluster, so i had a go. I just gave the glued clips a tug, thought i broke it at first, but it was fine, just made a loud sound....

Your's might be odd coloured cos it has a light diffuser on the gauge faces. I had to take mine off and ascetone the orange light diffuser to make it normal. Replace all the bulbs wiht blue bulbs i bought from autobarn, costing me $20 total. (x2 large bulbs for $8, x5 smaller bulbs for $12)


http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x300/g488/gge1.jpg

I think it turned out nice...
'hot spot' on 140, who cares...

[Simmo2302]

@ 1996ek1 when u say bulbs do u mean led or normal globe with blue sleeve?

the reason mine is aqua is cos the numbers are slightly greenish, so they come up green with a clear bulb behind them.

but with the blue sleeves on the bulbs the blue mixs with the green numbering and voila crappy aqua.

u took apart the guage itself and use acetone on the plastic? to remove the greenish tinge to the numbering.

i used acetone on a plastic grinding facesheild once, mde it all frosted looking as the acid reacted with the plastic :-S

i dont kno what type of bulb i have.

it looks like this
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa304/simmo2302/bulb.png

kinda a tiny lil bulb in a black plastic thingy that screws out. lol

( i kno the pic is of a automatic transmission dash showing the park light removed, but its the only pic i could find. u get the idea of the type of bulb)

i dont kno if the lil buld can be removed from the black plastic base that screws into the dash/guage

[1996ek1]

Sorry, wasnt too clear.

I used to be confused about this, whether people use LED or what, because they need resistors, but i acctually got 3A bulbs from autobarn, there a blue LED with built in resistors, just pull out old bulb, slide in new one. Straight bulb replacment.

Also the faces are metal, i thought they were plastic too. But i had to unscrew them, and take them off, and on the backside of them, it is painted with an orange light diffuser.

I ascetoned off that light diffuser, so it was white on the back, allowing colours to come through. To get the faces off u have to unclip all the covering, and it then looks like this.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x300/g488/dsh4.jpg

Then you undo all the screws, and to get the needles off you have to pull them, or wedge under them with a screwdriver. Getting them off the first time is hard, you might think its going to break but it wont.

These are the bits i pulled off to be able to remove the faces.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x300/g488/dsh2.jpg


If you decide to do this, just remember getting your needles accurate again is a bitch;)

[Simmo2302]

cool thanks thats much more clear :-)

hmm yea resetting the needles. i may just see about replacing the bulbs with hi-intensity t5 blue leds first then try removing the needles.

(cops r reel pricks round here)

[steve88]

Sorry, wasnt too clear.

I used to be confused about this, whether people use LED or what, because they need resistors, but i acctually got 3A bulbs from autobarn, there a blue LED with built in resistors, just pull out old bulb, slide in new one. Straight bulb replacment.

Also the faces are metal, i thought they were plastic too. But i had to unscrew them, and take them off, and on the backside of them, it is painted with an orange light diffuser.

I ascetoned off that light diffuser, so it was white on the back, allowing colours to come through. To get the faces off u have to unclip all the covering, and it then looks like this.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x300/g488/dsh4.jpg

Then you undo all the screws, and to get the needles off you have to pull them, or wedge under them with a screwdriver. Getting them off the first time is hard, you might think its going to break but it wont.

These are the bits i pulled off to be able to remove the faces.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x300/g488/dsh2.jpg


If you decide to do this, just remember getting your needles accurate again is a bitch;)


Ive seen a mod on another forum the guy didnt remove the metal plate, he just removed the back plate and stuck an array of "flexi-led" lights and it looked just as good as yours. he didnt need to fiddle with the needles either, ive been told not to touch those needles!!

[1996ek1]

Ive seen a mod on another forum the guy didnt remove the metal plate, he just removed the back plate and stuck an array of "flexi-led" lights and it looked just as good as yours. he didnt need to fiddle with the needles either, ive been told not to touch those needles!!

I don't see how that would work, there is still an orange light diffuser. Oj + blue = brown. It wasnt too bad with the needles, just that it can be abit confusing. At first mine was 40 KM off, and after a while i realised that, if i turn my car on, it will set it to 0 KM. So i did that then put my needles in. As for fuel, get a full tank, replace needle on full, and temperature should be around the bottom when you start the car....

If you don't ascetone the diffuser you might get some funny colours, but you can try it. Also i don't know what your car clusters a like so i cant say.... i have an EK.

[steve88]

ill try find it for you, because this guy had an array of them like 2cm wide and about 3cm along, wired around bordering the 3 discs (tachometer, speedometre and fuel/temp). at first i thought wow wouldnt that be too bright?
anyways ill try my best to go find the URL for u

[notorious_shugg]

i have a 6th gen accord, if i do this can i get straight replacement bulbs or will i have to do some soldering? anyone know? cheers

[D4rk4n63l]

l

remove 2 screws at top of dash gauge cover
remove guage cover (mission considerig there is 2 clips and is glued down)
remove 3 screws from guage assembly
unplug guage assembly



That's all u needed to do as I took mine off and did a LED conversion... (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66030) , but I've changed it to white LED since


cool thanks thats much more clear :-)

hmm yea resetting the needles. i may just see about replacing the bulbs with hi-intensity t5 blue leds first then try removing the needles.

(cops r reel pricks round here)

^ u dont want this as that results in bright spots around the facia

[1996ek1]

i have a 6th gen accord, if i do this can i get straight replacement bulbs or will i have to do some soldering? anyone know? cheers

Im pretty sure you can just buy bulbs for them (for the guages) but for like the center console and stuff, i think you need to do soldering with resistor+leds

[Simmo2302]

That's all u needed to do as I took mine off and did a LED conversion... (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66030) , but I've changed it to white LED since

any pics on how u did the led's behind the guages would be good as thats 1 of the best looking jobs i have seen.

even if u just lst the parts and where u got them and just hand draw a pic so ppl get an idea would be good.

[D4rk4n63l]

well, I'm not so good at drawing, so I'll just try to explain here....

First you will need to take apart your cluster assembly down to its facia and internal circuits (where the bulbs are). FOr the ES the gauge cluster consists of gauge lens, visor, panel, face, diffuser, housing, PCB , and back cover.

Take out all backlight bulbs, leave the indicators and also take out the needles and the gauge face

On the ES civic, there are two clear plastic diffuser.. take them off and sand it down so it become opaque, do the same with the back of the gauge face. Be careful with the gauge face as you want an even blend through the all the bars and numbers

Again for ES civic, between the gauge PCB and the light diffuser there's a plastic white panel (the PCB housing) where the diffuser sits. There's enough gap there to install the LED strips that i used.

Arrange the led strips to resemble the dials in your gauge face, dont forget the fuel and temp gauge. There is no need exactly match the round dials as this is impossible with the LED strips, the diffuser will blend the light nicely enough.

Partly, reassemble the gauge cluster so that the LED strips, diffuser and the gauge face are in place. Using a 9v battery, power up the strips and check for dark spots... you might need to sand those spots down to blend it more.

Do your wiring. Note that most people who install gauge light or EL gauge wire the cables to the ILL wire on the gauge harness but I wired mine to one of the stock bulb terminals on the PCB itself. I wanted to be able to dim my LEDs as they are way too bright on full power. To give you an idea on how bright they are; I can still clearly see the brightness on full sun glare in the middle of the day

Put everything back together and ur done....

As for other cars, I have done a couple of EGs, EK's and prelude... for these cars I needed to mock up a custom panel because there's nothing between the PCB and the gauge face to stick the strips on. The strips wont need too much space as they are tiny, but they do need a relatively flat surface to stick on

As for the console light and A/C lights, its done by converting the bulb to LED using the stock bulb socket. The strips I used for the gauge are 12v but the normal LED for the console isnt. You will need a resistor for every single LED conversion of the bulb

EDIT:

found a site (http://www.ledautomotive.com/HowToGuides/01-04Civic/ButtonHowTo.asp) explaining the steps to do the bulb conversion. scroll down right to the end of the page.. dang, they stole my idea :p This website (http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_info.htm) will help you determine what resistor to use for each different colors of bright LEDs, please use 14v as supply voltage as that is the car's voltage with the engine running (well, its around 13.5v, but just to be safe). As for the LED's voltage and current, refer to the manufacturer's specs sheet