How to: 2nd Gen Gauge Cluster Removal and LED Conversion V2

This is my second and hopefully much more helpful writeup on converting the 95-01 gauge cluster to LEDs. I have tried 3 different types of 12v wedge based 194 replacements and I have finally found the one that puts out enough light and lights up the cluster evenly.

Here were my candidates.
From Left to Right: Inverted Wedge LED, Refractor LED, SMD LEDs

The Results

Inverted Wedge LED: Even Light output, but not bright enough

Refractor LED: Horribly Uneven light output, Short Lifespan (they started blowing on me)

SMD (Surface Mount Diode): Even Light output and very bright (brighter the the 194LL Bulbs)

Getting to the cluster:

Step 1
Remove the Radio

Step 2
Remove the 2 screws (circled in red)
Disconnect the 5 wiring harness behind the bezel (circled in blue)

Step 3
Remove the 4 screws holding the plastic panel in place. (2 are hidden under the hood release) Then pull back on the top of the panel ( it is held in by clips)

Step 4
Remove the 3 bolts holding the metal shield in place

Step 5
Remove the 2 screws at the bottom of the gauge bezel (note the wiring harness locations circled in blue)

Step 6
Remove the 3 screws at the top of the gauge bezel

Step 7
Pull out the bezel enough to disconnect the 3 wiring harnesses. (Headlight Switch, Dimmer, and Rear Parking Assist) Then Remove the bezel. (Shifter must be in 1st gear)

Step 8
Remove the 4 screws holding in the Gauge Cluster

Step 9
Tilt the Cluster back and remove the Shift Indicator from the cluster, there are 2 plastic tabs that must be held on each side to remove the indicator.
Disconnect the 3 wiring harness from behind the cluster, then remove the Cluster

Now Hopefully You are holding your Instrument Cluster and can go on to the fun part.

Remove the 6 back light bulbs from the cluster. (Circled in Red)
( I also highly recommend you also remove the THEFT light LED so you don't risk blowing it like I did when I was trying to figure out how to bench test the cluster)
The PC board on the back of the cluster is flexible so you can carefully pull the contacts where the wiring harnesses attach out of the sockets so you can attach alligator clips to bench test.
(The white wires are the - and the RED and GREEN are +)

Here are the LEDs in the sockets. ( I used a bit of hot glue to make sure they didn't come out)

I apologize for not having a night shot of the final product, but the camera I have with me is an absolute noise box and takes terrible low light pics. When I get back my Canon ill get some pics.

Good Luck!

 

[ribs2234]

I order 6 for my dash and then another 2 to light up the HVAC controls....i have them in my courtessy lights, clear corners out front and my license plate brackets. I also made the LED cluster for my interior domes which uses a total of 40 LED bulbs

 

[dfisher8871]

Great Post! I orderd the lights off ebay and installed them today. They look great! for some reason they light up my instrument pannel BLUE which is no problem for me but they look awesome...I bought to many of them so i've been looking around other spots to put the bulbs so far i've got the lisence plate bulbs and the courtesy lights for when you open the doors definitly worth it they look great

toke mine apart to anwser you Q. the numbers are blue on the back why they are green i dount know why

 

[armymatt22]

Just wondering

Well I haven't posted lately since i'm in Afghanistan but my mod bug is gonna hit hard when I get home. Considering I'm working a style for my X, I have yet to find a way to make my whole gage glow red. I dont want any blue or green or any other color. Any suggestions from the Gurus?

 

[dfisher8871]

Well I haven't posted lately since i'm in Afghanistan but my mod bug is gonna hit hard when I get home. Considering I'm working a style for my X, I have yet to find a way to make my whole gage glow red. I dont want any blue or green or any other color. Any suggestions from the Gurus?

one guy i forget who. he said if you scrach the back like a lotto ticket you could then add any color led. heres a pic with the back scrached off. i did not try this out yet i am waiting for my leds in the mail cuz i got one bulb that is still lit. 10-50 lites up

 

[Kriegen]

wonder how it would look on the standard black if you scratched off the blue/green tint and redid it red

 

[armymatt22]

wonder how it would look on the standard black if you scratched off the blue/green tint and redid it red

That's what i'm talking about ... before i became an Xtreme fanatic i drove a pontiac sunfire. all the lights on the dash, gauges... everything was bright red... at night it looked sick but it didnt drive your eyes nuts... which makes sense... military wise we use red lights during night ops... easy to see doesn't kill your "natural" night vision........


but for me considering the theme of my x is the Electic Currant Red and black Exterior and a grey with red highlights exterior... it would be crazy awesome! I'm more an off roading type guy but when it's all said and done im thinking about putting a removable red lights under the belly...

 

[knifoon]

Would this work with a 2003 Explorer XLT?

 

[GUNITALLREDY]

i Want to get my cluster to look exactly like p51S but he has a 2000 x and ive noticed that the guys who are using cool whites in there clusters that own a 96-97 are getting a blue result but the 98-2001 guys are getting a green result am i right? since i have a 96 i wonder if mine will be blue or green with the cool white leds anyone know??

 

[holdt]

Hey guys! I just found this forum searching for a mod like this. I hate to be a pain in the ass but can you please confirm these are the correct LEDs to purchase as all the old Ebay links are dead

http://cgi.ebay.ca/2-5-LED-SMD-194-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item414f98bdbd

Much appreciated!

 

[kschewe]

they are the same but they are blue in color. i just did all mine in my dash with the similar ones but cool white. now i get green dash and blue needles. it looks awesome!

 

[MD80Guy]

I'd pay well for a competent install in the NYC area.Time is a luxury I'm deprived of for the foreseeable future.

 

[Sandy]

Although the 5 SMD LED Bulbs look good I did the SMD LED Strip Lighting on mine.

Turn out OK so far but need to install.

I am adding the Bulb type SMD LED as a last minute change, there were a couple of shadows I didn’t like and I hope the Bulb Types will help.
This pic isn’t my dash but you can get the idea.

Oh ya, a little pitch for myself: I have a white ’01 Explorer Sport Cluster, a Silver Ranger Lvl II Cluster and a Silver Heater Panel FS e-mail: nnf000@gmail.com

 

[holdt]

Do you think I could avoid the sanding part of things by installing these?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140420088423

They seem to be I guess gauge faces to my untrained eye. The way I am thinking is instead of the factory green glow these would shine white/clear, then you could put whatever colour LEDs you wanted in

Is this correct?

 

[Bill Kemp]

Do you think I could avoid the sanding part of things by installing these?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140420088423

They seem to be I guess gauge faces to my untrained eye. The way I am thinking is instead of the factory green glow these would shine white/clear, then you could put whatever colour LEDs you wanted in

Is this correct?

Your gauges will look just like the pic. The gauge has its own lights. Doesnt use your lights. Probably cant change them.

 

[Sandy]

As Bill Kemp has stated these are already lighted but you might be able to get te color you wanted.
If not there are a lot of Suppliers on the Web that have just the overlay.

This is the one I used:
He does Custom Work as well as his standard stuff and he is a good guy to work with. I now have a RED lettered Heater Panel to match. Tell hi Sandy from the Ranger Forum told you about him, maybe he will start a discount for the Ex/Ranger Guys.

Black Cat Custom Automotive
www.blackcatcustom.com
1-866-943-8641

Here is the Heater Panel:

Here’s another:

http://www.caribbeancustomdesigns.com/store/

Search on "Gauge Faces”; I got a lot of returns.

Just remember if you do replace the Faces or even just overlays n the old, you will need to remove the needles. The best thing to do to keep the Needles in the general location when re-assembling is to warm up the vehicle, either take or raw a picture of the Dash and the needle settings BUT for the Speed-O you will need to attach a battery to the four posts on the back if it and see where the needle is reading. All of the Needle Re-Install is trial and error, so take your time, out the needles on after the vehicle is warmed up again, shut off the vehicle, start it again and see if the needles are where you want then if not adjust them a little at a time until it looks the way it was.
good Luck

p.s. The sanding isn’t much at all, just a little time and the Ex would have a nice OEM look with a little color change.
The only real problem is coloring through the OEM Opaque White Numeral Color, it changes the final color a little and the paint on the back has to be thin coating so it will be a question of final color. This is why I took the Replacement Route from Black Cat Customs.


QUOTE=holdt;2493127]Do you think I could avoid the sanding part of things by installing these?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140420088423

They seem to be I guess gauge faces to my untrained eye. The way I am thinking is instead of the factory green glow these would shine white/clear, then you could put whatever colour LEDs you wanted in

Is this correct?[/QUOTE]


MD80Guy, The problem is that it does take a lot of time and you would need you vehicle to make the final calibrations to get the needles back to where they were.
Also, there is the value f doing it yourself, get to ya, you know…


ltr

 

[MD80Guy]

If I had the time I'd have done it or taken a stab at it already.I travel upwards of 21 days a month, and when I am home taking the dashboard apart to install SMD's isn't high on the tasking list.

Hence my offering to pay for a competent install.

 

[MustangP51]

Sandy I love your idea to put in a flexible LED strip inside the cluster. How does the cluster look with the strip in regards to brightness, and how evenly the cluster lights up?

MD80Guy Im guessing by your name you fly them?

 

[Sandy]

Sorry for cutting in here but to answer the question.
The pics above show the illumination but out of the truck, I have not installed it yet but hope to soon.
As you can see from the pic the lighting is even except for the area where there are light transfusers inside of the Housing, at both ends and the low center.
Since I haven’t put them in yet I was thinking of cutting out the part of the transfuser that block some of the light.

As far as brightness, the dimmer cut back on the brightness well enough so they do not glare.

I added in some of the 4-SMD LED Bulbs hoping to fill the dead spaces but it did not improve anything, i am thinking about trying some of the 9-SMD LED Bulbs in RED to see how that helps too.

Too many projects going on.
I now have a Wheel Horse Tractor to restore, another project…

ltr

Sandy I love your idea to put in a flexible LED strip inside the cluster. How does the cluster look with the strip in regards to brightness, and how evenly the cluster lights up?

MD80Guy Im guessing by your name you fly them?

MD80Guy, I understand, but it is just as easy for you to do the bulb thing but not the scrapping or a separate Cluster, how about a white or silver cluster with colored SMD-LEDs Bulbs.
With a new cluster you would still need to calibrate it to your vehicle.

luck/ltr

 

[spabula]

I would like to do this.... are these the correct LEDs?

http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-194-168-T10-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cae443a87

 

[Brandon96]

I would like to do this.... are these the correct LEDs?

http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-194-168-T10-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cae443a87

Yes