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!

 

[Nixthebomb]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-5-LED-SMD-194...ultDomain_0?hash=item3efa7e8f87#ht_2195wt_902

Getting these

 

[MustangP51]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-5-LED-SMD-194...ultDomain_0?hash=item3efa7e8f87#ht_2195wt_902

Getting these

those are them.

 

[energie]

have you tried those single smd lights p51? they look pretty bright. at $5 a pop for the 5 led smd ones, im looking at other alternatives.

bah nm those single smds arent much cheaper.

 

[XLT]

have you tried those single smd lights p51? they look pretty bright. at $5 a pop for the 5 led smd ones, im looking at other alternatives.

bah nm those single smds arent much cheaper.

Those single smd leds arent really a good choice. With a single you tend to get more of a spotlight deal and may cause you dash to look brighter in some spots. with the 5 smd led you have a better aura of light going. A cheaper alternative would be to wire up you own leds. I know some members have gone this route. It would be more time consuming but a little cheaper.

 

[gomarlins3]

Very useful thread, thank you. Just what I needed to replace the dash lights that have gone out.

 

[ribs2234]

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

 

[kschewe]

which bulbs did you use to get that blue color

 

[storlied]

Yeah, I have no idea how you got the blue... but good for you if you like it. Just some ideas... I ordered quite a few of the White 5 SMD LED's... I put them in the rear plate lights, ALL of my interiors.. even the very rear with some ...craftyness....yes.... I used a 194 bulb in the rear...... I'm surprised it's still working.. it's very retarded... but it's bright and works... and I replaced my heater controls..... anndd... that's it... very nice improvement..... oh yeah.. and of course the dash... but I have reverse glow gauges which look badass... it still lights up my needles and mileage numbers very very well with a bright very white light.

Sometimes when I get into my truck and it's cold out.. I feel like the LED's give it a colder feeling... I might be crazy....lol... but the stock bulbs gave off a yellowish light which could be taken as a warmer color... idk... either way.. this is a great mod.... god I needa stop drinkin..... makes me talkative..

 

[kschewe]

Post a picture of the reverse glow gauges. I was thinking about ordering them and installing it. They are cheap on ebay.

Yeah, I have no idea how you got the blue... but good for you if you like it. Just some ideas... I ordered quite a few of the White 5 SMD LED's... I put them in the rear plate lights, ALL of my interiors.. even the very rear with some ...craftyness....yes.... I used a 194 bulb in the rear...... I'm surprised it's still working.. it's very retarded... but it's bright and works... and I replaced my heater controls..... anndd... that's it... very nice improvement..... oh yeah.. and of course the dash... but I have reverse glow gauges which look badass... it still lights up my needles and mileage numbers very very well with a bright very white light.

Sometimes when I get into my truck and it's cold out.. I feel like the LED's give it a colder feeling... I might be crazy....lol... but the stock bulbs gave off a yellowish light which could be taken as a warmer color... idk... either way.. this is a great mod.... god I needa stop drinkin..... makes me talkative..

 

[storlied]

Sadly... I can't. But I will when I can. I've made a couple other changes too...... stupid laptop...

 

[ribs2234]

I didnt do anythign special to make them blue, and yeah im happy with them im trying to make my interior all blue lights so it worked out nicely i used these bulbs that i bought off ebay... I did the same thing, i pretty much am putting them anywhere they will go. I put them in my license plate lights, my front running lights in the corners and im going to put them in my heather pannel aswell, i jsut hope they put off the same blue or else it make look a little odd. I order 50 of the single LEDs with resistors off ebay aswell because i am going to do the thing where you wire up your own for the interior lights because it looked real bad ass

 

[storlied]

Becareful about having too blue of lights on the outside of your vehicle, cops might not approve. I suggest finding some white LED's for the outside.

 

[Rofocowboy84]

Becareful about having too blue of lights on the outside of your vehicle, cops might not approve. I suggest finding some white LED's for the outside.

+1 I got stopped for having a light-up blue Ford oval hitch cover, lol...

 

[storlied]

Seriously?....... That's pretty retarded... those things are everywhere in all kinds of stores..

 

[ribs2234]

the ones on the outside dont light up blue. they are pure white, but i have 10 Blue LEDs in my front grill to take care of getting in trouble hahaha all the exterior lights are white the only ones that show up blue are the gauges

 

[Rofocowboy84]

Seriously?....... That's pretty retarded... those things are everywhere in all kinds of stores..

Yeah, that's what I told the cop, but he said that just because it's sold in stores doesn't mean it's legal. The worst part is that I had just worked a double for the ambulance company in his jurisdiction, and was still in my uniform, lol....

 

[storlied]

Yeah, that's what I told the cop, but he said that just because it's sold in stores doesn't mean it's legal. The worst part is that I had just worked a double for the ambulance company in his jurisdiction, and was still in my uniform, lol....

Not that .. that justifies doing anything illegal but... cops need to get their heads outta their ***** sometimes. Was it overly bright? Was it Flashing?.... Whatever happened to common sense and reason? What about all the cops I see with their lights burnt out, or cops that use their lights to pass a red light because they're too lazy and then you just see them drive off casually.. or get something to eat... that right there pisses me off.

I'm not getting into this.. lol.... this rant will get messy.


I hope I can get pics of my gauges up for you guys to see.. the LED's really do compliment them... well.. the needles n other things anyways... doesn't matter for my numbers since that's handled by the overlay.

 

[RickOTR]

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

The reason they are blue and not the original blue/green color is that you installed what they call cool white LEDs. If you had installed a set of warm or natual white LEDs then you would have gotten the OEM color to light up. I bought 9 74-xHP3 SMDs from superbrightleds in the warm white and they look pretty good, but there not as bright as the cool whites. Still, they are far beeter than the regular 194 bulbs.

 

[BrianDye]

If you guys are interested in LEDs on the headliner, check out my thread, I replaced my dome lights with 12" LED strips, and it looks great!

I did this Gauge cluster conversion finally and couldnt be more happy

 

[Afboy143]

I didnt do anythign special to make them blue, and yeah im happy with them im trying to make my interior all blue lights so it worked out nicely i used these bulbs that i bought off ebay... I did the same thing, i pretty much am putting them anywhere they will go. I put them in my license plate lights, my front running lights in the corners and im going to put them in my heather pannel aswell, i jsut hope they put off the same blue or else it make look a little odd. I order 50 of the single LEDs with resistors off ebay aswell because i am going to do the thing where you wire up your own for the interior lights because it looked real bad ass

Im curious- how many of these did you order to light up your dash?