Instrument Panel Lights

[MusicAllTheWay]

How does all the gauges and buttons get their green color? What kind of bulb's (LED's?) do they use and is it possible to change their color? An example of an idea I'd like to try is this:

THIS

to

SOMETHING LIKE THIS

I'm guessing I'd have to replace the needle for a blue (if that's even possible) or at the very least, keep the needle and change the green to blue. And how impossible would it be to change all the other green lights in the car to blue? I'm probably thinking WAY outside the box.

 

[FORDAILY]

Sorry, I dont have the answer but I would really be interested in finding out wether this is possible on the explorers. Should be just a matter of changing out some LEDs. I did this with my 2001 celica. Blue would be nice... I vaguely remember there was a site dedicated to this type of mod...

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

it is the gauge itself not the bulbs.....the bulbs are sort of clearish the little parts where the light comes through are green....there is a thread on here somewhere with a link that shows how to change the color.....without doing a reverse glow gauges(thats what mine are)

 

[MusicAllTheWay]

Anyone know where that thread with the link is?

 

[studd469]

Hey guys its doable my truck is a 97, I dont know what year your truck is. http://community.webshots.com/album/550998492PcBjEb
There are two ways to do it. There are websites that sell the proper LED bulbs that just plug into the socket, but some of the bubls can cost almost $6 each, behind your cluster there are i think 6 or 7 bulbs...so it can get coslty. I bought individual WIDE ANGLE LED lights at only a few cents each, and stuck those into the sockets. The second way is harder, and you have to get creative on how you hold the lights into the sockets.

 

[MusicAllTheWay]

Hey guys its doable my truck is a 97, I dont know what year your truck is. http://community.webshots.com/album/550998492PcBjEb
There are two ways to do it. There are websites that sell the proper LED bulbs that just plug into the socket, but some of the bubls can cost almost $6 each, behind your cluster there are i think 6 or 7 bulbs...so it can get coslty. I bought individual WIDE ANGLE LED lights at only a few cents each, and stuck those into the sockets. The second way is harder, and you have to get creative on how you hold the lights into the sockets.

I took a look at your pics. They look awesome! You changed all those to blue??? That's amazing and exactly what I want to do to my 06 Explorer. I just hope it's as easy to do like your 97 Explorer. How did you change the lights behind the buttons on like the auto a/c? Do they just pop off or something?

Thanks for posting! I really like your setup!

 

[studd469]

Hey Music, thanks for the compliment. Just make sure that your truck doesnt have a green colored film behind the numbers. If they do the blue will not come through. If you put blue lights behind the cluster it will still show green. I tried it in my old 87 mustang. The cluster color was green, I switched it to blue light bulbs and when I turned it on it was stilll green. The reason it worked on my 97 Ex is that there is no clour film behind the cluster or the buttons. Hope this helps.

 

[MusicAllTheWay]

Hey Music, thanks for the compliment. Just make sure that your truck doesnt have a green colored film behind the numbers. If they do the blue will not come through. If you put blue lights behind the cluster it will still show green. I tried it in my old 87 mustang. The cluster color was green, I switched it to blue light bulbs and when I turned it on it was stilll green. The reason it worked on my 97 Ex is that there is no clour film behind the cluster or the buttons. Hope this helps.

If it is green colored film, am I pretty much SOL?

 

[studd469]

yup green film behind cluster = SOL. When I took the original light bulbs out of the dash they had this blueish cover on the light bulb its self,
blue cap + yellowish color light (from incandecent light bulb) = green color dash lights. That was how I figured I didnt have any color film behind my cluster. Oh and if you buy LEDs you need to buy wide angle LEDs at least 100 degrees, other wise you will get a dot of light instead of a flood light effect that you are looking for.

 

[B Easy]

do you guys know if there is anyway you can remove the green film? cause i really really want to change my lights to blue in my 02 XLS. I have been looking since i bought the truck a year ago for a way to change them but cant find any way. any help is appreciated.

 

[FORDAILY]

So, has anybody found out whether the 06+ have colored LEDs or the green film? It would really be neat if someone pulled this mod off.

 

[chubbs]

Studd,

How did you change the color of the window/lock switches. I have tried to take them apart but I am afraid of breaking them. How did you get to the bulb and what type of bulb did you use?

Thanks

 

[cmaupin]

So, ford still uses instrument gauges that use LED's? That's interesting. Most companies are using a new technology where the light is actually in the gauges themselves. Bad thing about that is you can't always change their color.

 

[Crizz]

Just go and disaassemble the speedo. It´s just a 6-screw-job to get it out of the dash, only one harness-connector to be removed, done in 5 minutes. Then you can look for the lights, guess they use "normal" bulbs instead of LEDs and a colored film on the backside of the scales.

Guess it will not take a long time until aftermarket offers rev.glow gauges, just watch ebay.