hey,
i just noticed last night that there is a light out on my dash. its behind the battery level gauge....
so how is this all set up? is it just one bulb? suggestions on how to fix it...

thankfully this is the 1st thing ive had to replace in this trck*knock on wood*

shawna

 

8 bulbs in the cluster

about a 3 hour job for your first time pulling the cluster

i suggest using white leds instead of bulbs

do it once and never again

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/10-19...39167896QQrdZ1

 

3 hour job are you outta your mind? i did mine for the first time and had it out in 20min not even..what did u take the whole dash outta your truck?

 

i can take it out in 5 ive taken it out b4. thx 4 tht link i just bought the LED's. Do they just pop in and pop out?

shawna

 

yea if there 194 led there plug and play..

 

by the time you locate tools pull parts and look up any snags you hit
3 hours a is a good number to plan for

 

lol o wow sounds like fun

 

these 194 bulbs are "plug and play" as mentioned below. I have never taken my cluster out before but I'm wondering how they get their power, what plugs into them? 2ndly, wondering if you can replace the leds in the holder or are they glued in there?

 

lol dont worry im right there with ya... as soon as i get the parts and do the job ill letch know.

 

yeah I'm gonna go for it here in a few days myself....got a white face cluster from a sporttrac coming and I wanted to replace the existing bulbs with LED's. but not just any LED, UV LED's. making everything white glow. found these UV LED's here..
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...traviolet.html

Anyone else have any xperience with these or something similar?

 

the 194's have a bulb holder that spins into the back of the cluster.


YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE CLUSTER BY CHANGING BULBS. YOU MUST REMOVE THE GREEN PAINT OFF THE BACK OF THE CLUSTER FIRST.

if you remove the green and add blue leds you will get this(not the only method)



this isnt for the weak you must remove the needles which potentially will turn your cluster into junk if you dont put them on in the same place.

N3elz has a how to for the switches which is very good.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/12

 

That blue looks awesome... I'd like to see pics of how the cluster is taken out seeing as I'm in the same boat as 03RangerInROC.

 

Blhde...
im not worried about the color... i just want to see my gauges..lol.
tht is a nice set up though...

 

Remove the two layers of the knee-board (plastic and metal)
Remove Radio Bezel
Remove dash panel (shift to 1st gear if automatic to make this easier…without the engine running of course)
Remove gauges
more detail
http://www.rangerpowersports.com/tech/?p=109



if your gonna do a color change more work is needed

 

the most time consuming part is making that darn main piece come out in a truck w/o having the tilt column. that's a PITA.

 

ya i hear ya on tht but thes lights need to hurry up cuz the lights on the left side of the dash blew out tonight n the only thing left i can see at night is my speedomiter.. if tht goes out...lol o damn am i in trouble....

 

took a towel and wrapped the column with it

still sucks to pull it out

 

ive got tilt so tht is a +

 

i finaly got them done. the 1st day we replaced em all with the LEDS... then the freakin spedomiter ones didnt work after i replaced them wit new bubls, so I replaced them again.. but the one bulb for my RPM guage i kept one of the old bulbs in because I couldnt get any of the LEDS to work for it. I did D's trick of sandin the LED'S and that helped to. the LED'S turned the guage needles like this off blue color but the RPM needle is like a off white color from the original bulb... lol got to get ya a pick.. dosnt look bad i think its kinda cool havin the RPM needle a off color from the rest.

 

did you use the inveted 194's?

i have the white 194's on my plates and they kinda look purple

but the dome lights are like moon light

 

i bought the ones directly off tht ebay link.

 

Those inverted 194s are a "one way working" sorta deal. I found that out when I did my hvac controls. They only work when they are placed in the right way...something with the polarities or something....can't remember.

shawna...did you just use the diodes from radio shack?? or did you sand the 194 replacements??

 

i used the ones of the ebayu link off the previous page...