2004 Tacoma Dash Light LED Conversion

I just bought a new to me 04 Taco and some of the dash bulbs weren't working so I pulled the dash (thanks to a lot of great how-to's), I'm going to go the LED route.

Since LED bulbs are polarity specific I'm having a hard time figuring out which side of the connections are Positive and which is the ground. I've searched hard (probably not hard enough ) but can't find a wiring diagram for the gauge cluster.

Yeah, I know, plug them in and test'em then reverse if needed but I'm replacing all of the bulbs with LED's I really don't want to install the dash just to test and then remove it again to correct. Also, I'm not 100% sure how to test all of the bulbs. Problem is I think I need to connect all switches which currently aren't connected since pulling all of the panels. The one panel that covers the gauge cluster (which has the switches on it) is a pain to remove/replace.

Sorry for the long post, but does anyone have a wiring diagram for an 04 Tacoma gauge cluster?

Thanks,

 

Dude the dash is going to be out...4 bulbs only
Untwist, plug in new LEDs, twist back Into place...plug it in. Takes you seconds to switch the bulbs polarity over hours finding wiring schematics lmao

 

Actually it's more like 20 LED's, I'm replacing all bulbs, not just the gauge lights. 4 194's or T10's and 16 of the 74 or T5's. Which brings me to the point of how do I check all of the lights? With a schematic it would be real simple, I've already identified the LED's polarity. I'll keep looking, I'm sure I'll figure it out and if I do I'll post my results here in case someone else wants to do it.

 

taking the dash itself (all panels) yea its a bit of a pain, but once the cluster itself is free you can just move around with it...idk super easy but ive done tons on 1st and 2nd gen swap

alright for sure hopefully you find what youre looking for.

 

you don't need to do this in reality. only the 4x 194 bulbs are actually changing anything. the little bulbs are not going to look different unless you are trying to make every warning light/accessory light blue or red or some whack-ass color

I just pulled the cluster forward, covered my head and cluster with a towel and made sure they worked. easy-peasy

 

Some of us are anal okay? Yeah, I know it's not necessary but hell I was bored and thought why not go all LED on the dash, when I figure it out I doubt I'll ever have to replace these lights again. I'm going blue on the gauges but sticking with white so it will appear all stock on the idiot lights. Thought briefly about going all blue but I'm not that bored nor want to over do it.

Update, I finally found a schematic so my questions have been answered. I'm attaching the schematic I found that might help anyone else that is wanting to do this.

 

Following up, I just finished it and all is well. Couple of notes here, the charge light and fuel lights don't like LED's. The charge light stays lit even when the system is charging/running properly. It goes from bright to a dimmer light, it's still visible so I reverted to an incandescent bulb. Fuel light simply stays on, so I removed the LED and put a bulb back in. I'm sure the circuitry is expecting more of a load than an LED can provide.

Here's the result:

 

Thanks for all the hard work getting this info!

 

And still valid information - tks... Wish there was a sticky format on forums that had a BOM with links and pics for parts that stayed on the top.
Cheers

 

How does that attachment help find polarity when looking at the cluster traces?

 

Illumination:
“From power source [green/ red wire] +”
“To rheostat [white/ green wire] -“

Look at the flexible PCB where the bulb attaches (on the backside of the gauge cluster). Follow the traces back to where it would attach at the connector. Use that to reference which pin on the harness connection it is. Whichever color it is will give you the answer.



I’ve noticed over time that Toyota will usually use solid green or green w/ red stripe for power and white or white w/ black stripe for ground.