Mach30SiR

reading is priceless.

$peed])emon

i think the red light will over power the green tint on the gauges...

suprachica79

I read that but I was wondering if anyone knew the exact steps and had a picture of what he is talking about. And how do you go about removing that green ink?

AgentOrange

nice write up.

3.0Redliner

Would removing the ink from the guages be similar to removing the ink from the shifter like the link explains? http://www.ledautomotive.com/HowToGu...ifterHowTo.asp

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Similar, the people I read that did it on here (which can be found by SEARCHING) used some sort of rubbing alcohol or something to remove the ink or whatever it is

Mach30SiR

Be careful, i used acetone to try and take the tint off the dimmer switch and it removed all the black paint

fliplyricist1

Great thread

Sucks that the cl clusters share the same problem as my old 4th gen accord with the built-in blue filters...but thank GOD the cluster itself is soooo easy to remove compared to my old accord (the bezel piece was on entire huge piece encompassing even the radio).

However, I've read up that the CL and 5th gen accord clusters are pretty much almost the same. Which makes me happy, because I already did a 98 prelude gauge cluster swap on my 4th gen. So I will be tackling switching the lude cluster over to the CL and studying wiring diagrams and make a new reverse harness and post the results!! For those of you that don't know, IMO the prelude cluster is one of the nicest clusters honda has made...very streamline with amber lettering and red lighted needles

Eski

I decided to go to Advance Auto without fully looking over this thread.. big mistake I asked the guy if he could look up the right bulbs for my car and he shows me the ones shown below.. i bought them, and by looking at this thread a little more i can see that theyre way off. Any way i can make these work with soldering or anything? If you can't see, it says 211-2B.

AznX TL

you can use those on your dome light, and if they're too small, you can use it for your door and trunk.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

That'll work for at least your dome if not trunk too

AznX TL

trunk and door are same bulb and the dome is a little bit bigger, but i forget what sizes the bulbs are suppose to be.

Eski

Ahh, my own mistake gets me something i didn't even think of.. id love to have LED dome lights If they don't fit I'm returning them and getting the dash lights and one for the dome anyway. Thanks for the help.

Eski

#4 on the directions does not state that there are screws behind the cruise and dimmer buttons that you need to remove. Please edit this.

1V4N

Well I finally took the plunge to swap out the dash lights with white LEDs, since for some reason the needles for both the fuel gauge and RPM don't seem illuminate now. My needles are RED compared to others who have WHITE.

I picked up some white LEDs. I got 4x of the 194, and 1x of the 74 bulbs.

* I've provided images from LEDAutomotive.com for reference purpose:

MOD:I installed the above noted LEDs as per the DIY info, and even rotated the ones which did not light up by rotating them 180degrees till they lit up.



I did not change the 2x bulbs in the top portion of the dash -- should these also be replaced? The bulbs were never discussed in this DIY thread.



RESULTS/PROBLEMS:
Since the white LEDs were double-checked and do light up once the dimmer switch is re-connected, the backlighting for the numbers and incremental markings for the speedometer and the tachometer show up as various shades from near white-to-blue (instead of the original green).

Also the needles for the fuel gauge and RPM still won't illuminate, plus a strange thing has happened -- if I turn the Dimmer dial all the way down (counter-clockwise) the newly installed LEDs go brighter but the dash console dims out, whereas if I turn the dial clockwise the dash illumination goes dim, and the dash console illumination brightens!!

If I were to replace the 2x wedge bulbs which were never touched, will they give me the same lighting effects as the image below (picture shows BLUE LED illumination, whereas I will use white LED):


*Image courtesy of Gregorio's Honda Accord on CarDomain.com

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, with any or all of the illumination problems.

Does anyone know what could be wrong?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

The 2 bulbs at the top will def give you the illumination like that blue. As for the issues with the dimmer, if the bulbs are in right, sounds like u might have some funky led bulbs. As for the various color shades, this is most likely attributed to you not having wide angle refractive led bulbs, I went through 3 sets before I settled on ones that gave evenly distributed light coming out. The dimmer situation is weird to me though, I used superbrightleds.com bulbs and had no problems like you're experiencing.

1V4N

Thanks for the info.

I'll definitely swap out the top 2 dash bulbs to round out the lighting.

As for the dimmer situation, I guess I'll have to keep diagosing till I find out the cause. Could the dimmer probs be caused by some type of weird load resistance / incompatibility since it was swapped out with higher/lower loads compared to the standard bulbs?

Damn I hope I don't have to go through several sets of LED bulbs, but it now looks like I'll be going the same route as you

As for the gauge needles not lighting up well, did you have such probs?

I assume there aren't any dedicated bulbs for the needles, but its illumination are fed off the same bulbs that light up the rest of the dash gauges?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

The guage needles don't light up, it's a common misconception. The only way to illuminate the guage needles is with the 2 above bulbs that you are trying to do. If a certain guage isn't turning on, point to that bulb in the back for the problem.

1V4N

Thanks so much for your answers!

I'll try the 2 above to see if that solves the illumination of the needles.

As always keep up the great work! You certainly represent everything great about AZ (which is the best forum I've participated in -- period).

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Thanks man, I certainly do try my best

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

what are the sizes of the top two bulbs??

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

btw are we able to open the guage cluster? i bought a carbon fiber overlay for it. and wondering if i had to just srew off and on or is there something more to it.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

And they're #74 bulbs up top I believe, if not they're wedge

Germ

wow those overlays are killer...where can i get that.

i think im in way over my head here with all the stuff ive gotten for my car. after my projector headlight project ill grab this..hahah



EDIT

nevermind dont tell me. im an impulsive buyer

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

kool looks good. so the top ones are wedge also?? oh yeah and i ended buying the auto one cuhz its the only one i could find.. what should i do about the auto in the middle? leave it blank.. cuhz i have a manual.. and how did you search/order the bulbs on superbrightleds.com?

1V4N

I just found out the 2x top bulbs are also #74 bulbs. Its a bitch to yank out the original bulbs out of the "clips/holders" which connect to the back of the dash, but once out just replace with the #74 LED's.

As for the uneven colouring of my dash, I double-checked and realized the shop where I bought the LED's accidentily gave me White LED for the 194's and Blue LED for the #74! So I swapped them to White now so the output colour is more closely matched.

The dimmer is still retarded though, where if its dialed all the way to the left (counterclock-wise) the illumination output is at its highest, and if the dial is turned all the way to the right (clock-wise) the output is dimly lit!

Anyone have any ideas?

DoubleSh0t

iTrader: (1)

That's how mine came from the factory. Seems dumb, but as far as I know, all of our cars are like that.

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

i never paid attention to mine.. (maybe cuhz im cheap) haha lame

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

if you guys used superbrightleds.com what were the part numbers you guys bought? im a bit confused

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Which ones are you looking for? For the guage cluster, use these.

WLED 5-LED Wide Angle LED bulb

For the #74 bulbs (Shifter, and guage) use theses
B8.5D Instrument Cluster LED bulb

Dome - 3910-x6 LED Festoon bulb

Trunk and Doors - 3022-x4 LED Festoon bulb

Depends on what year your car is for the maps and glove box.

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

98 2.3

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

should i go with the blue or white??

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

what is the size of our coner light on our headlight.. not the turn signal but the acutual parking light next to low beam!!

young03

the corner light next to your low beam should be a 168 or you can use a 194 led bulb.

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

thANKs

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

black am i able to use WLED 5-LED Wide Angle LED bulb on my corner light?

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

*and for my map lights??

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I don't see why not, I was able to fit them in the guage. I think there's more room in the corner housing than the guage cluster

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

and what about the maps?? will they fit also?

Shoshinsha_KiDs_CL

so i swapped out the big 4 leds... there working. but when i try to install the 74 led (on80mph) the other 4 shut off.. and when i twist off the 74 the big 4 work again.. any advice?!