instrument lights

[mudbug0426]

my lights for my fuel and temp gauge stopped working, i use to be able to just bang on the dash and they would come back on but this time they dont want to.

since this has happened ive decided i want to change all of the bulbs and im hoping i can find a little brighter bulb that will work, if not its no big deal.

does anyone know what type of bulb i need before i tear my dash apart?

also i want to have blue lights instead of green, to change it up a little bit, does anyone know if these bulbs are clear and if there is just a green film on the backside of the gauge face, or are the bulbs green?


any help or info is appreciated!

 

[fenderbender2002]

check this thread out.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187754

 

[mudbug0426]

thanks, i saw that thread right after i posted this one haha.

im still trying to find out if the bulbs are clear or green. if there is a green tint on the back side of the gauges, ill just replace the buld and be done with it.. i dont wanna mess with taking off the needles, did that once before and my speedo is still 5mph off.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

they did have two different shads of green depending on what year you have. 95-97 was a blueish green, and 98 and up had green just like in the link that fenderbender showed you. you bulbs are 194's, but if you put in a led 194 style bulb, your gauges will turn blue.

this is the color of gauges that a 98 and up have (sorry for the blurred picture, its the only one i have)

if you look at the parking indicator, this is the 95-97 gauge color with normal 194 bulbs (i changed the gauge cluster in mine, couldn't stand the god awful green, they came from a 97 explorer)

same thing, but with white led 194 style bulbs

 

[mudbug0426]

mine is a 96 and it looks exactly like the same green as your top picture thats blurry. was there green tint on the back of your faces?

 

[mudbug0426]

i would like to have my speedo tach temp oil and fuel the same color blue your is. what did you do to get it that blue?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

if yours is a 96, and it has the same color as the blurry picture, someone has changed your gauges (witch makes me wounder if the speedo has the correct mileage as well). anyways, yes, there was a green tint on the back of the gauges. i did take the faces off, scraped the tint, and painted the back part blue, but i messed them up REAL bad (i painted them with a brush and it was streaky as hell). that's was why i went to a older gauge, and i did change the speedo with it. all but the parking indicator are indigo overlays. the parking indicator is from a 97 that is lite with white 194 led's in the cluster. it also changed the color of the gauge pointers to a light shade of blue

 

[mudbug0426]

if yours is a 96, and it has the same color as the blurry picture, someone has changed your gauges (witch makes me wounder if the speedo has the correct mileage as well). anyways, yes, there was a green tint on the back of the gauges. i did take the faces off, scraped the tint, and painted the back part blue, but i messed them up REAL bad (i painted them with a brush and it was streaky as hell). that's was why i went to a older gauge, and i did change the speedo with it.

well i know for a fact that these are the original gauges, grandparents baught it brand new and they changed nothing. maybe the colors and years are just different here. anyways..

you said you painted the black part blue? what black part are you talking about?

im trying to get away without taking off the needles, so im hoping there wont be green tint on the back of mine

 

[vroomzoomboom]

no, i took the face off the gauges (the part that is black with the numbers ect) on it. for this i had to take the needles off. i scraped the green coating off the back side of the face (like in the 3rd picture down on the thread that fender posted), then painted it with a brush and screwed them up. i didn't even have the lights on for 5 seconds and wanted them out of the truck.

 

[mudbug0426]

i guess ill just make it easy and leave it green for now.

you said if i use led bulbs it will turn to a greenish blue?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

no

 

[mudbug0426]

sorry, i guess that was in the thread fender posted