Yeah I was wanting to change my bulbs behind my guages to blue, but I'm not sure what type of bulb goes behind that. I've got an 02 4Runner and if anyone knows what type of bulb that is I'd appreciate the help, thanks.

 

welcome to yotatech they should be #74

 

Yeah I wasn't sure if it was a 74 or a 194, but anyways thanks man.

 

There are 3 bulbs that light up the dash and they are the bulb type 194. 74 bulbs are used for the smaller instruments like the warning lights and such. 74 is also used behind the ac controls. I just changed out all 3 of the 194 behind my dash and had to replace the new lights with the old bulb condoms which were green. You could probably buy blue bulb condoms and switch them out to get a blue color or get LED's.

 

Woa that's a lot of chrome.

 

lol yes it is

 

That helps a lot. Yeah I noticed earlier the bulbs behind the AC controls were type 74, but I wasn't sure about the dash. I changed out the 74 bulb in my glove box earlier with a blue bulb, and I was wondering what's the total number of 74 bulbs I should buy to replace everything?

 

Careful with the bulb size. They are year specific apparently. On the 2000, the three bulbs that light up the gauge cluster are not 194. they are 24. Maybe they're different for your year.

Blue incandescent bulbs will not light up brightly. You can barely see them on their brightest setting on the dimmer switch. You can't tell they're blue during the day whatsoever.

My best suggestion would be to go with frosted LED's in superwhite. Way brighter, much nicer than blue.

http://autolumination.com/74.htm

Scroll down and you'll see the 24 bulb in a fancy wide LED. I'll be trying this one next.

 

For what it's worth...

I initially ordered superwhite leds in 74 and 194, found that only the 74 was applicable - fit in the key hole ring, ac controls, and some of the individual bulbs in the back of the cluster that light up p, r, n, d, 2, L. Nice bright white light.

Attemp number two: I found the correct size to be 24, installed these leds only to find a spotted gauge appearance due to the non-diffuse light characteristic of most LED's on the market. Once again, nice white bright light, just not diffuse enough. Scratch idea number two.

Idea number three: Bought and installed superwhite incandescent bulbs... Through our gauges, the light appears just as yellow as stock bulbs without the green condoms. Disgusting... Scratch idea number three.

Idea number four: Bought and installed blue incandescent bulbs... VERY VERY dim light. Scratch idea number four - still installed.

Idea number five: Super white LEDs are definitely THE color to go with - modern looking lexus type light. I recommend you change the ones in the base of your automatic shifter if you haven't already. I've read success on several forums with frosted LED's. I might give these fancy ones on autolumination a try... I just can't really bring myself to spend more money on these bulbs. I'll probably sand my 24 LED's down to get the frosted effect.

 

Might as well get 10 of em.

No sense taking apart the dash just to find out you're one or two short! Sometimes some are disfunctional/burned out upon arrival. That's just how it goes with these cheap bulbs.

 

Damn, after I read jebus's post I went ahead and ordered three 194 Blue LED's & eight blue 74 LED bulbs from autolumination. I spend 30 dollars on the 194's.. I hope they fit because I don't think I'll be able to send them back.

Your 4Runner seems pretty awesome, got any pictures of the inside after you put the super white's in?

 

Send an email to them to switch out the bulbs. Sometimes they're late on shipping. If you explain the situation, they are more than willing to help you out, ( I have exchanged bulbs before without any problems).

I didn't take pics of the white leds in the dash. Have you seen a Lexus interior? They are as white as the lexus gauges. As I mentioned earlier, I took them out and put blue incandescent ones in - which are crap... Blue LED's are much brighter and they might be ok.

By the way...

1. All of this is from memory so please pardon any errors.

Make sure that you ACTUALLY need the 24's and not the 194's. Physically check the bulb housing. Three or four 10mm bolts hold the dash under-cover beneath the steering column. There are about 5 or 6 phillips screws you will need to remove. Most are easy to see, (remove the keyhole first). Pull at the dash plastic pieces one at a time lightly to determine if there are screw attachments. The plastic piece in front of the gauges that line the top of the dash will need to come off, (three screws pointing straight up at the ceiling). I think there's a couple more screws on the left side of the steering column that need to come out. Once you get the plastic pieces out, unscrew the gauge cluster, (3 or 4 screws), pull at it. Unplug the four plugs n the rear, blue, two white, brown. You will need to unscrew the white plastic cover, as well as the circuit board to get to one of the 3 main bulbs. The bulbs are screw knob housings - turn counterclockwise with fingers. 194's will fit in your clear corners, or license plate lights - easy to check bulb size for a quick comparison. If the gauge bulbs are smaller than the 194's in your clear corners or licence plate housing, but bigger than 74, (in the p,r,n,d,2,l positions), they are 24.

2. KEEP the box they send the bulbs in. KEEP the email correspondence - make a copy and package it with the bulbs you will send back. Package them in the original packing, put a few bucks in stamps, put in the mailbox or take it to the PO.

3. OR install the 194 LED's in your shifter, licence plate, or clear corners. You can fit 921's in the clears... Just in case you want bigger/brighter LED's. Superwhite LED's in the clears will appear slightly more blue than PIAA superwhite H4 headlight bulbs. That's just the way the lens is. The light from the bulb is actually as white as it gets.

 

Since I'm having some things installed on my car right now I can't get to that until tomorrow. Maybe Advanced Auto Parts or Auto Zone could tell me the type of bulb that is? I'm sure if I tried looking behind my gauges I would screw something up, lol.

 

It's actually very easy to do. 4 10mm bolts or so, 10 or so screws total, four plugs... Takes no more than 20 to 30 minutes to get behind there carefully.

Print this out and bring it to your truck if need be.

I am 95% sure that the 2000 and 2002 are the same. I wrote this all out because it is a ball buster to remove the gauge cluster just to find out you need a different bulb. There's one bulb on the side of the cluster that lights up the temperature gauge that can be removed without removing the white plastic cover - saves some steps if you decide to check.

When all of this started I assumed the 98 and the 2000 were the same...

 

I've gone to all Blue LED's behind my gauges and AC controls!!

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b....21786&next=50

I used these for the #194 bulbs, they give even more light then incandescent bulb!!
~~ WLED 5-LED Wide Angle LED bulb ~~

I used these for the #74 bulbs,
~~ 74 Wedge Base LED bulb ~~

I even run #194 White LED's in my Corner Lights, PIAA Off-Road lights, and license plate lights!!

 

Alright I'll try that tomorrow, thanks a lot for your help!

 

why dont u just get some glow gauge faces?

 

Does anyone have a pic showing the back of the gauge cluster ('01 - '02 4Runner)?

Andreas

 

Well I was originally going to do that, do you know a good website where I could get them?

 

sorry for bringing this old thread up. I'm interested aswell. any one know where i can find a nice gauge cluster for my 98 limited? Not really liking the reverse glow with white background (it's the only gauges that would replace my stock one, far as i know). I'd rather to replace all of the bulbs lol.