Instrument cluster bulbs replacement

Lukas2009 · July 4, 2011

The instrument cluster of my 2007 Eddie Bauer has the annoying white display with green numbers when lights are on. Because I live in Germany I have to read the small numbers for kilometers.
Depending on daylight condition and when you switch lights on, the numbers cannot be read at all, because the contrast of the light green numbers and the white display is too low.
So I was asking myself if there is a way to change the color from green to anything else that can be read better.
To my disappointment the bulbs are already white and the green color comes from display itself. So there doesn't seem to exist a solution for my problem.
Tried also to remove the bulb from the socket, but didn't get it out.
As I can remember, someone wrote they can be removed.

waskly · July 4, 2011

if you can get a candian cluster it will be hk over mph, where km will be the big numbers.
looks like this...

http://cgi.ebay.ca/08-EXPLORER-2008...Accessories&hash=item5635e2ef27#ht_941wt_1139

Lukas2009 · July 4, 2011

Very interesting! Thanks a lot for this link!

I've never seen this and always thought, the small km-numbers would be for canadian use.
For me, reprogramming the cluster would be another problem here in Germany.

waskly · July 4, 2011

Lukas2009 said:
Very interesting! Thanks a lot for this link!
I've never seen this and was always thought, the small km-numbers would be for canadian use.
For me, reprogramming the cluster would be another problem here in Germany.

the small numbers are for americans going into canada so they can do the speed limit

native canadian cars have the cluster i linked.

Lukas2009 · July 4, 2011

Sounds logical!

waskly · July 4, 2011

its been a while since i messed with cluster settings but dont you get the speed in the middle? the message box, i think you can change it from mph to km in the box.

Lukas2009 · July 4, 2011

No, that's not the problem.
Reprogramming means to adjust a new speedometer to my actual amount of driven kilometers/miles and maybe some other things.
I've also read that a new instrument cluster could malfunction if the Ford part number isn't exactly the same as of the old one.

waskly · July 4, 2011

Lukas2009 said:
No, that's not the problem.
Reprogramming means to adjust a new speedometer to my actual amount of driven kilometers/miles and maybe some other things.
I've also read that a new instrument cluster could malfunction if the Ford part number isn't exactly the same as of the old one.

dealers do not program the mileage on the instrument cluster.

swapping in and out a mph to km/h cluster the speed should be the same.

the same thing can be done, by getting a canadian cluster, and just moving the gauges over to your old one. the draw back is, its only going show on the dial the km/h in big letters.

if i am correct, i only done this with ca cars coming into the usa, (people moved from ca to usa).

and that was to order a new cluster in mph, send the km/h back to ford.

eu dealers should still use an ids, i dont see how they cant program a ca/us cluster i have programmed eu pcm's into cars.... just some thoughts.

no dealer sets the mileage tho. thats done at time of order and they come programmed with that from the vendor ford uses. im going to assume some outside electronics shops can change the mileage or knows how to program them.

joachimf · July 5, 2011

@lukas2009,

well, you can change clusters but you need to 'explain' the new cluster that it changed vehicles. A Ford dealer with a WDS console can adjust everything. You can even calibrate the speedo with other tires.

But exchanging the gages with Canada gages.... I doubt it'll look better. Seems you have arranged yourself with the mls reading speedo, I guess. Otherwise you'd long lost your driver license because of some speed tickets anyway.

waskly · July 5, 2011

joachimf said:
@lukas2009,

well, you can change clusters but you need to 'explain' the new cluster that it changed vehicles. A Ford dealer with a WDS console can adjust everything. You can even calibrate the speedo with other tires.

But exchanging the gages with Canada gages.... I doubt it'll look better. Seems you have arranged yourself with the mls reading speedo, I guess. Otherwise you'd long lost your driver license because of some speed tickets anyway.

he has an american car in eu, eu does not use mph nor does canada, which its a perfect reason why that cluster a dealer should and can swap. (program)

while they might charge you, they can program it. what i am not sure, if eu dealers can get us/canadian parts...

also a wds cannot set mileage and it cant even talk to a 4th gen explorer since the wds is not a supported tool anymore.

Lukas2009 · July 6, 2011

Getting US/canadian parts is no problem für us here in Europe.
Yesterday my new radiator arrived, ordered from rockauto.com.
The question is: How many money do I want to pay for the instrument cluster and shipping to get bigger kilometer numbers instead of the small ones?

To show what I mean:

Both pictures taken under same light conditions.
Left one with lights on, on the right lights off.
The little green numbers are really hard to be read.

Bryan-S · November 4, 2016

Can the Light bulbs be changed from the tan "holder?

Instrument cluster bulbs replacement

Lukas2009

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