speedometer lighting

[thecrash91]

was thinking of swapping out the red LEDs for blue ones after i change my stock stereo to aftermarket. i'd like blue because the stereo i want has blue already and cant stand it to not match. is there a how to for this? i have already searched and came up dry.

 

[azuelke]

More work that what you may want to incur. If it is anything like modern speedometers, they LEDs are the flat surface mount type and you require tearing apart the cluster, breaking the solders and removing the old LEDs, and then replacing them all with whatever color you may chose.

If you are so inclined to do this type of work, remember that heating up the cluster too much to break the old solders could possibly fry the board, as with any other electronics.

 

[SocialStealth]

Yeah there are a couple of different how-to's that I've found.
I'm planning on changing the red/orange leds to blue as well (to match my new cd player).

When are you planning on doing this? Maybe we can help eachother out with it.
They say you cannot remove the 'newer' proteges gauge needles without breaking them. Anyone know a way around this? It would suck having everything blue with orange needles!

If you get a new odometer, will it change the mileage your car reads?

How to remove cluster:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22542

How to disassemble cluster:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48154

How to change A/C control panel lights:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58027

 

[PFUNK5]

Yeah there are a couple of different how-to's that I've found.
I'm planning on changing the red/orange leds to blue as well (to match my new cd player).

When are you planning on doing this? Maybe we can help eachother out with it.
They say you cannot remove the 'newer' proteges gauge needles without breaking them. Anyone know a way around this? It would suck having everything blue with orange needles!

If you get a new odometer, will it change the mileage your car reads?

How to remove cluster:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22542

How to disassemble cluster:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48154

How to change A/C control panel lights:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58027

Funny...mine is starting to dim in my car (tach). Let me know how this goes OK? I guess I'll be doing this soon in the future.

 

[RABID_MP5]

Is stock speedometer lighting done with LEDs or have you already replaced light bulbs with red LEDs & want blue?

 

[thecrash91]

i have no idea, its all stock in there as far as i know. how would i go about replacing it with LEDs? what type of bulb is it now?

 

[azuelke]

When I got my P5, some areas on my cluster were dim, so I took it out and there were light bulbs on the back with orange/red condoms on them. As far as I could tell, all of the lights were still good so I don't know what was wrong.

And now that I think about it, I shined a flashlight through the hole where the bulb went, and IIRC, the part that should have lit up was already orange, so I don't know if changing the colors could work without changing the gauges.

 

[SocialStealth]

When I got my P5, some areas on my cluster were dim, so I took it out and there were light bulbs on the back with orange/red condoms on them. As far as I could tell, all of the lights were still good so I don't know what was wrong.

And now that I think about it, I shined a flashlight through the hole where the bulb went, and IIRC, the part that should have lit up was already orange, so I don't know if changing the colors could work without changing the gauges.

You have to scrape the paint off the lens. This allows the (new) light to shine through.
I believe the stock lights are bulbs, not leds.
You could just scrape the paint off, and put new (blue) light condoms on. Replace any dim lights.
However this is of course ghetto. Remember the needles cannot be changed and will stay orange.

 

[thecrash91]

damn, alright sounds like im getting a red stereo instead.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

im pretty sure they are just bulbs in there.

my dash lighting is poor as well, and one day half my speedo went dark. i just hit the top of the dash a couple times with my fist and it lit back up. no problems since!

 

[magnumP5]

No LEDs - standard bulbs with orange bulb "condoms" over them. There is also a thin orange/red film within the gauge so simply changing the "condom" color will not change the color of the gauges.

 

[Rockafella]

If you really want blue, you could always get something custom done at Speedhut.com.

 

[SpeedPro5]

does anyone know what size bulb it is in the speedo i have one that went out and i dont wanna take it apart till i know what size bulb it is

 

[azuelke]

One of those stupid little computer boxes at any Wal-Mart should tell you. Also, a quick look at Sylvania's website gave this:

"Instrument-general
194
194LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp"

 

[BIGROB]

IMO its much easier to change the bulb in the deck. ive done it and its not bad

 

[SocialStealth]

If you really want blue, you could always get something custom done at Speedhut.com.

That actually looks pretty awesome!

Has anyone ever gotten custom gauges from speedhut??


With my car... the DX model came with black faced gauges and the ES came with white.... my question is... Why is white better? Whats the difference?

 

[SpeedPro5]

you talking about the dash light is easy to change..

 

[RABID_MP5]

I went ahead and changed my bulbs - they were original. I left off the red condoms. This plus not having blackened bulbs really lightened things up. The remaining red is pretty decent too. I used 194 for the two center bulbs. The outer two I got 74 bulbs, which are a lil too thick. Too lazy to return them I just drilled the sockets a bit and they fit in with the proper light balance. Not sure what the proper light bulbs for these really are(?) Note: When you remove the old bulbs you'll probably ruin them by vibration. I thought I was careful but broke 3 of 4 filaments just pulling them out etc.