My Gage Cluster blue LED swap!!! 2003 tacoma 1st gen

Okay so I was inspired by other guys on the site to swap out the LED lights in the gage cluster. I didn't order them from superbrightleds.com but it is a good idea to.. got mine on ebay in a set of 10 for about $8. I know other people have their threads about it with their own pictures and such but everyone is different so I am posting my own mini dash build.

I won't be showing you how to take the dash apart but pretty much you need to take most everything else off in order to get to the dash. I'll leave that part for you to figure out.

Started with this mess (if you're an unorganized person, lay out all the bolts on a piece of paper and write what goes where, or take pictures to make it easier to put all back together.)



Once you get your cluster out of the truck this is what you will have, infront you also see my new blue #194 LED lights (Be careful when taking out the cluster because in mine there were three big clusters of wires plugged into it but they unplugged easily.)



This is the back of the cluster. There are four lights total that you need to change and they are the four big green circles you see on the back of the cluster. They are real easy to take out you just twist them and the socket pops out with the light plugged into it.



Pull the old orange (or whatever color you have maybe green) light out of the green socket



Plug the new light into the socket



Put the green socket back into the back of the cluster and make sure it is in and twisted the opposite way it came out so that it stays in.



NOTE!!!!!!! MUST READ!!!!!
When you have put the four new lights into the cluster, plug the gage cluster in and MAKE SURE EACH LIGHT WORKS! If you put the sockets back into the gage cluster the wrong way then they will not turn on! Luckily I tested it myself before putting my truck back together because only one of the lights was in the right way. I am saving you a lot of time by telling you this because trust me it would not be fun to take it apart again after seeing only half of your gage cluster work.

Okay now that i'm done with that.. here is the final view



Next I plan on ordering the smaller bulbs that go in my heater knob cluster or whatever it's called so that they match the blue lights in my gages.

Hope this thread helps and thanks for looking!

 

OH MAN! THAT IS THE BEST!!!!!!

I've got an intermittent bulb behind the heat knob/AC switch, and the wife's first comment on the 'new' truck is, "I hate the white cluster, especially with the red lighting."

Looks like I should swap the stereo at the same time.

 

Great job Eric! How long did it take you from start to finish?

 

Same setup as a 97?

 

looks good

 

I had a 95 single cab that I had taken apart multiple times before this and so I took it apart in about half an hour or so and took about two hours to complete. Not bad

 

My 95 tacoma was just like this. Although I never took the cluster out and swapped the lights I only installed underglow but I know all the panels on the dash were the same so I am going to take a wild guess and assume that it is the same. Might want to search a little and find someone on here with a truck around your year who has done it.

 

Yeah same with me I have an orange stock radio deck still and I want to buy a new one that is blue to match my gages. I had a 95 that I put blue 8 inch underglow lights under the dash too it was all hooked up I loved it. makes driving at night so much more fun and enjoyable

 

I wish I had the blue clock out of my 93 now.

 

Ordered bulbs from superbrightleds to do this. That looks sick!! I always liked the orange but this looks way better

 

Thanks! I f*cked up the AC/Heater bulbs when I tried to take them out. Instead of taking that whole thing all the way out of the dash and twisting the small bulbs out behind my ac/heater knobs I thought they were small wedge bulbs so I took my pliers and tried to pull them out and broke two of them before I took it all apart and realized I was going the complete opposite way. guess it's time to order the right bulbs

 

Yeah i read you have to take the bulb out, drill out the holder to 5/32, cut the plastic 'wedge' part off the 74 bulb, put the led in the holder and twist the wires to match the old one..

 

that's way too much work maybe i'll just delete those lights all together until i find blue bulbs

 

What about the clock and A/C? Can I switch those out too?

 

Nice write up man

 

thanks nice truck!!

 

guessing you did yours red?

 

Looks good man. I never drive more than an hour really at night so i don't get tired. Next year driving two hours north to college though I might. HIDs will cure that being bright!

 

Damn. I thought the Tacoma gauge cluster had an orange filament so I ordered a 4runner cluster for $80. I guess I can return it...

As for the AC cluster, you can do this too but be aware that the Tacoma cover does have an orange filament so if you want another color, you need to order a 4runner cover (clear filament). Ill have pics up of my A/C cluster when done.

 

aw yeah totally you have to let me know when that's done! do a simple little write up too. as of now only one of my A/C knobs lights up because I was trying to get them out but I didn't know that you had to do it from the back of the panel so I broke two of them off trying to pull them out from the front with needle nose pliers .