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I just got done changing the bulbs in my new cluster with Red LED's
I chose red for two reasons, My car is red, and red is the color that comes out the best.

Whats needed Bulbs/LED size: 194


I used to have a cluster without a tach, i bought a cluster with a tach, so unless you also want to replace your odometer you do not have to go as far as i did with the install, you can simply just remove the back paper piece, remove bulbs, replace with leds' reinstall


Step 1: Remove Cluster, to do this simply lift up the dash, remove the 4 phillips screw around the cluster, pull straight forward and it should come out



Step 2: Remove the paper backing on the back side of the cluster, this is done by removing all the visible T screws on the back





Step 3: Remove all the screws from the curcuit board, this includes the 2 screw on top and bottom of the connectors



Step 4: Turn around the cluster to the side you see in your car, Remove the 6 screw around it and it will pop right off




Step 5: Now turn it back around to the curcuit board, unplug the grey plug by pushing in and pulling it back towards you




Step 6: CAREFULLY pry off the curcuit board, pull on all sides evenly and slowly and it will pop off



Step 7: Now remove the white piece of plastic that is left, like i said before you do not have to go this far unless like me you are replacing the odometer



Step 8: to put in the LED's remove the bulb sockets by twisting the grey piece on the curcuit board, take all of them out, i chose to only change 10 of the bulbs to LED's, i left the warnings and signals as normal bulbs.




Step 9: Remove the bulb from the socket by getting a VERY small flathead screw driver and snap off the part where the bulbs wires are soldered into the socket at the bottem of the socket, now you should be able to pull the bulb out of the socket with ease




Step 10: Put in the LED by taking the wire at the base of the LED and pulling it out so it sticks out and looks like the wire at the end of the bulb you pulled out, just simply place the LED into the socket and make sure that the wires come out the two holes at the bottom of the socket, now using the small flathead make the wire wrap around the piece of metal at the bottom of the socket, MAKE SURE IT IS TOUCHING SO YOU DONT HAVE TO REDO IT LIKE I HAD TO!!




Step 11: Repeat step 10 for all the bulbs you are changing



Step 12: Put all the LEDS/SOCKETS back onto the curcuit board




Stap 13: Now if you are reaplacing the odometer too unscrew the two screw at the ends of the odometer, take it out and put it aside, not open up your old cluster using the same steps above, now remove odometer from that one and transfer into new one.

Step 14: Place the white plactic back over the cluster



Step 15: Place the front plastic back on and screw it in with the 6 screws



Step 16: Carefully Put the curcuit board back on, make sure all the needle shafts slide into the holes, screw in all the screws removed



Step 17: Plug the odometer cable back into the plug you removed it from



Step 19: Now screw in the black piece of paper on the back,



Step 20: Put it back into the car, push it into the plugs and make sure its nice and snug, screw in the 4 phillips screws back in, place the dash back over it, make sure it all snaps into place, start car and test it out! Like i said i didnt double check to make sure the wires were touching, so they werent all lit up the first time around, that is when i took the pic, since then i have fixed the problem and i will take pics later tomorrow and update!






here are some more pics of it in "action" some of them are very trippy

More pics lit up please.

Great how-to otherwise, I may be trying this shortly.

Yeah i will have more lit pics like i said, i didn't make sure wires were connected before putting it in so when i put it in some of them didnt light up, i took pics then removed it and fixed the problem, then reinstalled it, Looks freakn awesome, i will take more lit up pics tomorrow

Sounds good; very interested.

what size bulbs are those?????

Added up top, 194

good stuff

fyi, any color other than red may not come out right as the plastic on the overlay itself is tinted. for instance, blue will end up looking greenish

thnks

Pics of it in use added

Nice work . Where did you get the 194 LED bulbs?

L8R,

Ebay, came to about $20 for 10 with shipping, not TOO bad

would radio shack carry them?

i think they might, try

very nice. One question. Did the neddles have their own decitated light?

no, its a (1) bulb for the needle and numbers

I am going to give this a shot. If Chipdogg did this with HVAC why can't you change the color on these too....I am going to give it a shot....

this took all but 5 minutes to do. no changing bulbs, just a red sharpie. click for full size

lol, nice one with the sharpie, think I'm gonna try that...

http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/74_t15.htm

are those the same type of cluster bulbs we have in our clusters ?


If so Im gonna try these out , seems like an easier alternative than installing led bulbs in the stock housing

This is Not as easy as it looks! i destroyed a few LED's trying and I dont think but two actually worked. Spend the extra and get the pre made twist locks (same thing as this but already put together). I got em from superbrightleds.com

what color did you go with , Im interested in seeing something other than red

I tried green and blue but I ended up destroying a few bulbs ( snapped the wire inside) so I am waiting for the twist locks to come in.

Does polarity matter with LEDs?

i just stuck them in there in random so i dont think so.

it did when I did it and I used the same leds that were used by the orginal poster... I just did the mod like 1am saturday morning

also noted that my check engine light and battery light are slighty "dimmed" when the ignition is on, but they will also light up like normal as/when needed

I totally tore down the twist connector (took the metal tabs out, installed led, adjusted metal tabs so they would catch again and reinstalled) took some time to do 10 of them

I am going to try the red sharpie maybe tomorrow and see if I like it better

Instead of messing around with busting up the light bulbs, and pulling down the leads on perfectly good new bulbs, just go to the JY and take instrument bulbs out of other vehicles.

The bulbs in the 1st gen cluster are PC194, that means the bulb comes soldered into the base.

If you get normal 194 sockets, then you use wedge base bulbs (just like those LEDs...) and you can just push the new bulb in, and stick it back in the hole.

Pretty much any other car I've robbed for sockets has normal ones. Especially Fords.

Also remember that LED's are polarized, if they don't work when you plug them in, turn the socket around the other way.

you ever get the green ones in ? . Id love to see how it turned out

are those just straight 194 sized? i went to autozone today to look for the LEDs and they had alot of 194s but some where like 194A 194E and stuff so i wasn't sure which ones to get, they also didn't have any colored ones like i wanted anyways . is the size 194 and only 194?

if you want I will sell you the ones I did...

they are the exact same setup (brand leds) as the orginal posters...

already done and ready to go...

what color are they?

red, same type as original poster...

oh no thanks then, my cars dark green and the interiors gonna be black/green so the red would look strange but thanks anyways.

Go to STEP 5 and look at its pic, there is a big dead spider that came along with the new tach.

I've replaced all the bulbs with LED arrays EXCEPT the airbag one.
Replacing that meant that instead of going off after the ignition on test cycle, it went off for a fraction then came back on.
Put a bulb back in there and no problem - just so's you're all aware (or maybe it's just mine!).

194 = 3mm 5mm or 10mm??

same reason u get the ricer flash, less energy than what was given was used.

the ones I am selling are T10

that was NOT my question...i am buying my LED's from oznium...i would like a straight answer please..

194's = 3mm, 5mm or 10mm...

194 = whatever size or how many per bulb you want to use as long as you know how to wire it together...


again the ones I have are 10mm which are close to the diameter of the 194 bulb type