Cluster lights (and others) - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

NitroDC · 07-13-2010, 11:37 AM

I've read that you can replace the dashboard lights using 194-type light bulbs, and that you don't need to worry about disconnecting wires when taking out the panel. Is this true? I was thinking of getting some bulbs and painting them with a sharpie so they'd give off a color instead of white. Would that even work or would it be a lightly tinted white?

Also, how would I go about replacing the lights for my auto transmission and AC panel? My transmission light burned out a long while ago but I haven't gotten around to getting a new one in.

BigDAT · 07-13-2010, 11:45 AM

if you used a few coats of the sharpie you might be able to get a decent color, but most likely just a light tint. And I am almost positive you can switch them out without an issue.

NitroDC · 07-13-2010, 12:29 PM

Yeah, and would it be better to paint with multiple coats of sharpie or spray paint?

I've read about both and they seem to work fine. I heard that autozone colored bulbs are bad though.

BigDAT · 07-13-2010, 12:37 PM

I would not use spray paint, would probably cover the bulb rather then color. If you get a bulb that has a plastic lens rather then glass, you can get some RIT dye and heat the dye up and soak the lens in the dye (if its one piece, you may wanna hang them on something with just the lens in the bowl) soak that in there for an hour or two (far after the dye is cooled) and it should do the job.

iToaster · 07-13-2010, 12:54 PM

Sharpies actually do work fairly well, I was able to get a nice amber with just a single 'coat' of sharpie. Replacing the shifter bulb is fairly simple, but can be very annoying. You remove the rear part of the center console (where the arm rest is) and the trim piece around the shifter, after which you can see the four clips that need to be released, then just rotate the shifter face out of the way and replace the bulb. The AC panel is very simple, just pull the panel off, unclip the light diffuser, and replace the bulb (this one is a 74, not 194).

It's also worth mentioning that there are two types of sockets that Toyota used, one of them is a normal straight jam, but the other style has the contacts for the bulbs on the sides of the socket. The only real way to tell which one you have is to pull the sockets out of the gauge cluster.

NitroDC · 07-13-2010, 03:17 PM

Thanks so much, one more question. What types of bulbs are in each part? Or are they labeled?

cipher93 · 07-13-2010, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NitroDC

Thanks so much, one more question. What types of bulbs are in each part? Or are they labeled?

The 194's are the 4 big bulbs. Not going to miss them. have you thought about doing a 194 LED? If you go with one with an inverted lens like I did it will change the color while providing factory illumination levels, so it won't light up the entire bezel area if you don't want that.

NitroDC · 07-14-2010, 01:10 AM

I'd get LEDs but I'm terrible at soldering and all that. Unless doing LEDs is a real simple mod, I'd rather stray away because I don't want to break anything.

EDIT: Just looked on a website (superbrightleds.com) and they sell LED bulbs that use the 194 socket. (Link to bulbs)
I want to get a super-white kind of color, like the one on the new Camrys. Which one of those bulbs should I get, and what mm. I'm completely new to this.

brown0809 · 07-14-2010, 06:27 AM

If you get the LEDs make sure that it comes with a base, much like the brown base that's on the current old bulbs. When I changed my gauge lights to LED, they didn't come with a base. This made what could have been a simple swap challenging because I had to put the new LEDs into the old bases and make sure the wires from the LEDs were in the right position to touch the contacts on the gauge cluster.

musclecar64 · 07-14-2010, 08:46 AM

If I replaced these bulbs with leds, would the dimmer still work? I mean, would I still be able to control the brightness?

NitroDC · 07-14-2010, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musclecar64

If I replaced these bulbs with leds, would the dimmer still work? I mean, would I still be able to control the brightness?

I was wondering the same thing.

And regarding brown's post, the website seems to sell the LEDs in the black/gray sockets, but I don't know which one I need to buy. They're not labeled as 194, but T1.5 and others.

The reason I'm asking so many questions is because I'm on a month-long vacation right now and I'm halfway across the world so I have no access to my car. If I did, I'd be figuring some things out on my own but all I have is the internet. I want to be ready once I come back, so I can get right to modifying my car.

iToaster · 07-14-2010, 12:32 PM

The dimmer still works normally with LEDs. The bulbs you're looking for are these ones. If you want to buy sockets for them you'll find them at the bottom of the page, I would recommend you do incase you've got the funky bases on your current bulbs.

NitroDC · 07-15-2010, 08:45 AM

Great, but I still need to know which bulb type goes where, and how many I need of each. I've looked everywhere but there aren't any results on google that state all the bulbs for a 97 corolla.

Lanuza_fox · 07-16-2010, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NitroDC

Great, but I still need to know which bulb type goes where, and how many I need of each. I've looked everywhere but there aren't any results on google that state all the bulbs for a 97 corolla.

Gauge cluster with out tach 4x194
with tach 3x194

for the a/c controls 1x74bulb
if you have auto trans the shifter light also uses 1x74bulb

jawsofire · 07-16-2010, 04:20 PM

There is a guide for the LEDs somewhere on here. I was reading it when I did mine. I goes over everything.