95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners 4th gen pickups and 3rd gen 4Runners

Blue LED Dash Conversion....Who's Done It?

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Old Mar 10, 2004 | 11:41 PM
  #61  
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Link no work
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Old Mar 19, 2004 | 03:15 PM
  #62  
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I put in my gauges yesterday, and took my dash apart again today to go at the a/c panel. Anybody have any suggestions? I read wild bills stuff, but any other hints would be great. Specifically with wiring. I plan to slice into the original light with a t-clamp, but as far as getting all the leds in there securely is whre I'm at a loss. I'm thinking about running some in series in groups of 2 or 3 to simplifiy things. Thanks
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Old Apr 28, 2004 | 11:21 AM
  #63  
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ok guys and gals. i keep reading and reading about these blue dash lights. i received my gauges from speedhut and installed them already. w/ the dash apart, i was looking into tackling the blue dash lights mod; however, i am confused about something. i noticed that every bulb in the dash is clear (a few have the green condom thing). i looked at the what i am confused about is, even if i change to a blue bulb, i noticed that the colors i do see (mainly green) comes from a film on the actual layers of the gauges (ie. PRMD2L). so, if i just change the bulb, how is it that i will get the blue glow if the color of the layer is green or yellow? is there a way to remove that film?
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Old Apr 28, 2004 | 01:09 PM
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You can take them off real easy, especially on the hazard and defrost buttons, just pick at the corner of the film with a razor blade and it will come right off
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Old Apr 29, 2004 | 04:17 AM
  #65  
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excellent. i'll have to check it out this weekend...
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Old Apr 29, 2004 | 06:16 PM
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I'm also looking to do this mod in the near future. There's definitely a lot of helpful information out there. However, I was wondering if anyone has more information pertaining to 98+ (i think) style 4runners. Was there anything in particular that was easier, more difficult, or just plain different between Wild Bill's description and your experience on the new models. Also, does anyone have some pics of their new model with their lights changed. Any help would be much appreciated
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Old Apr 29, 2004 | 11:26 PM
  #67  
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Originally Posted by chuckd
Yeah, I'm changing mine as well. I was wondering if I need 194 or 74 for the odometer.
Looks like 194:
http://www.sylvania.com/auto/carapp/

Hope that helps. I'm thinking of this mod meself...
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Old Apr 30, 2004 | 05:23 AM
  #68  
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For my odo/needles I replaced the three stock bulbs with two blue and a white led. My needles light up well and I can see my odometer in the same blue as my gauges. Some people have complained about having all blue back there being too dark.

Last edited by chuckd; Apr 30, 2004 at 05:29 AM.
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Old Apr 30, 2004 | 05:35 AM
  #69  
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Bill,, when you drilled the holes for each led behing your a/c, did you take that piece out? I'm just wondering how you did the wiring back there.
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Old May 1, 2004 | 03:42 PM
  #70  
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From: Langley AFB, VA
Originally Posted by chuckd
Bill,, when you drilled the holes for each led behing your a/c, did you take that piece out? I'm just wondering how you did the wiring back there.
At the time I did not take it out, just did it all in dash. I ahve since taken out for other reasons, but be for-warned that getting the cables for the controls in out and back in the little clips can be a real pain in ass. The only way I found to get them back in was holding them in place then popping them in with a c-clamp.
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Old May 3, 2004 | 11:46 AM
  #71  
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Got the heater control, ac button, back window, and ect. I found an easy way to do the heater. Take a mini blade fuse and break it, but keep the two blades. Then solder the leds you have wired up onto the flat ends. then stick the ends with holes in them into the top and bottom slots of the original bulb socket. This way i made two strings of four leds each and then just plugged them in. I am going to redo it later in the week with a red behind the heat display. The buttons were easy as well, once I figured out that on the ac and back window positive is the outermost metal thing and negative is inside. I don't know if that makes sense but I think it would if you were looking at it. Not a difficult project once you get started I think.
ibsprocket, I could take some pictures of what my opened buttons and stuff looks like if you would want.

Last edited by chuckd; May 9, 2004 at 10:24 AM.
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Old May 9, 2004 | 10:26 AM
  #72  
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Just wondering, has anyone come up with any new way to change the clock?
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Old May 9, 2004 | 11:44 AM
  #73  
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I don't really convert the stock lighting. I just went all indeglo.

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Old May 9, 2004 | 12:45 PM
  #74  
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I think that heater control would be a bit bright for my taste. But it matches the halo in your gauges. What's that big glowing thing toward the bottom?
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Old May 9, 2004 | 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by chuckd
I think that heater control would be a bit bright for my taste. But it matches the halo in your gauges. What's that big glowing thing toward the bottom?
That is a not smoking cigerett lighter (doesn't light cigeretts, just lights up ). Got it on ebay along with everything else you see in the picture.
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Old May 9, 2004 | 02:08 PM
  #76  
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Originally Posted by bike4miles
That is a not smoking cigerett lighter (doesn't light cigeretts, just lights up ). Got it on ebay along with everything else you see in the picture.

do you have a writeup of everything you've done?? I really like the blue lights under the driver's dash.

-Russell
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Old May 9, 2004 | 05:10 PM
  #77  
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i just converted mine to red led's but my digicam is out so i will post pics later, it took about a half hour to do the dash and only twenty or thirty bucks
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Old May 9, 2004 | 08:19 PM
  #78  
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Originally Posted by boogyman
do you have a writeup of everything you've done?? I really like the blue lights under the driver's dash.

-Russell
No but since your interested I will put one up some time.
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Old May 10, 2004 | 05:51 PM
  #79  
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Originally Posted by bike4miles
No but since your interested I will put one up some time.
cool, thanks
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Old May 12, 2004 | 09:20 PM
  #80  
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Originally Posted by chuckd
Got the heater control, ac button, back window, and ect. I found an easy way to do the heater. Take a mini blade fuse and break it, but keep the two blades. Then solder the leds you have wired up onto the flat ends. then stick the ends with holes in them into the top and bottom slots of the original bulb socket. This way i made two strings of four leds each and then just plugged them in. I am going to redo it later in the week with a red behind the heat display.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on this but the heater thing has me worried. Pics would be great, and maybe something of a wiring diagram? Did you put a resistor on each LED or just the beginning of the series? Virtually zero experience with this stuff here. Thanks...
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