LED Dash lights FAQs

[MStudt]

My rant; I'm getting tired of seeing the exact same threads pop up almost every week asking about bulbs sizes, differences in bulbs, where you can get them, and why aren't they working. Hopefully this thread will shine some light on these issue, and maybe we can reduce the number of interior LED questions that come up on a weekly basis.

First off, don't assume you have the correct bulbs on order. Check your vehicles bulb sizes on the chart below. This chart when help insure you're getting the correct bulb size for your year and model.

I'll use my 2001 as an example.

You need to remove the center section of you console. I'm not going to explain how to do this since most of you should already know how.

I didn't take a picture of this but the shifter bulb is on the wire in red, and bulb is located around where the yellow is. Just turn it counter clockwise and pull it out. (#74 LED)


Next, pull the knobs off the climate control, and also remove the cover plate. They both should just pull right off, nothing tricky about it. Take out the 3 screws marked in red and disconnect the 2 plugs in the back.


Remove the three screws in red and remove black cover.


Remove the 3 bulbs marked in yellow. No need to remove the 4 screws marked in red unless you have issues with the bulb to the far left. (NEO4-W)



I then replaced the ECT and rear window LED's. Remove the 2 bulbs marked in red (might be difficult to get out). NEO3-WHP



I started by removing the lower part of the dash. The screws I had to remove are marked in red.



Next I removed the section that's covering the key ring. I gently pulled in te bottom right corner to get it loose.


Once the cover is off there is a small white plastic pin thingy that holds the surround on, pull it out. Once it is removed you can slide the surround off and change the bulb (sorry no picture). (#74 LED)


Remove these two screws to loosen the trim around the instrument panel itself. Pull aside.



Remove the four screws and disconnect plugs to remove the instrument panel.



Now remove these six screws to be able to access the bulbs (bulbs are in yellow). I used #74 bulbs for the 2 blinker bulbs.


The two lower yellow squares are for the blinkers. (#74 LED)
The far left, far right, and upper middle yellow squares are for the speedo, tach, and 4wd. (#24 LED)


Used these for the speedo and tach bulbs.


The bulbs that I used where all from Super Bright LEDs. They have good pricing, and usually ship all orders the same. The bulb sizes I have with the pictures are clickable links, and will take you to what I purchased.

Here are some other LED threads for information:
[MENTION=21950]sn0wrunner[/MENTION]- LED Lighting
[MENTION=74071]Brilliant[/MENTION]- Brilliant's Mod Thread
[MENTION=14772]shootmymime[/MENTION]- http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...-climate-control-dash-bulbs-2000-limited.html

For the map lights I used the BA9S bulbs that I found on eBay.
For the dome lights I used some Festoon Sockets and 12SMD led panels from eBay.


If anyone wants to contribute their LED swap let me know and I'll add your thread.

Hopefully this helps.

Mike

 

[IBallEngineer]

But what about the flux capacitor?

J/K, great job with the illustrations. Now if you make this thread a permanent link at the top, we won't have to answer the same questions 40 times a week right? Nope, someone will still ask.

:couch2:

 

[TheeMikeB]

Well done write up and this will hopefully clear some things up. I know it certainly did for me AND I have an 01 too so I will def use this.

One thing... I don't see the yellow highlights you are mentioning in the post about the ECT and rear window LEDs.

 

[MStudt]

One thing... I don't see the yellow highlights you are mentioning in the post about the ECT and rear window LEDs.

Edited to say red. Thanks

 

[shootmymime]

:bash: looks a little familiar, but good thing you did it with a slightly different 4runner.

 

[SR5Runner97]

Also, my 97 4runner sr5 has 31mm in the map lights. I bought ba9s but then took it apart and it wasn't them. Oh well!

 

[MStudt]

Also, my 97 4runner sr5 has 31mm in the map lights. I bought ba9s but then took it apart and it wasn't them. Oh well!

Thanks, forgot about that one. I added a link the BA9S bulbs that I bought on eBay. I also put up links to the bulbs I used for the dome lights.

 

[snivilous]

Awesome, thanks for putting this together :clap2:

One question: Aren't all the round black pieces on the top of the this picture (bottom of the dash if you were looking at it in the truck) lights? Don't you need to replace those? I don't see a large number of #24 or #74 or whatever in the spreadsheet photo saying how many are needed for all of those or what size they are, though maybe I'm just missing it.

 

[MStudt]

Awesome, thanks for putting this together :clap2:

One question: Aren't all the round black pieces on the top of the this picture (bottom of the dash if you were looking at it in the truck) lights? Don't you need to replace those? I don't see a large number of #24 or #74 or whatever in the spreadsheet photo saying how many are needed for all of those or what size they are, though maybe I'm just missing it.

Yes, those are all bulbs. You can replace them if you want to spend the money on it. I just replaced the bulbs that were used on a regular basis. I didn't feel the need to have an led bulb for the check engine light, and so on.

 

[Brique]

Pure win. Thanks for this. I'll be using it within the next couple weeks.

 

[Stuck]

Excellent write up, I used the same brand for my swap. Thing to note - superbrightleds #74 cool white has a slightly different thickness than the colored #74 red, blue , green. The 74-chwp may not fit in all holders.

The picture shows the cool white facing left <- and a blue facing right -> . Notice the difference in thickness. The electrical connections don't make contact .
I can say for sure the cool white does not work in the shifter on mine, the blue works fine.

It works on the ignition - fine though.

 

[jgue467]

Thanks for this effort Mike-superb! Now I just gotta decide on what color to use!

 

[kolelt]

Does the dimmer still work on these bulbs ? If it's to bright at night ?

 

[MattAK]

Does the dimmer still work on these bulbs ? If it's to bright at night ?

I did this last year. Dimmer works fairly well. They'll go dim until there's not enough power then they shut off. So the dimming range isn't as good as the regular bulbs but still more than enough for me at night.

 

[kolelt]

What type of led do u get ? There's few different options. Like 5led bulbs or single led.

 

[MStudt]

What type of led do u get ? There's few different options. Like 5led bulbs or single led.

Depends on the bulb. The bulb numbers I list by my pictures are clickable, and take you to the bulbs I used.

 

[masson74]

So lets see a pic of your dash at night to see the difference. I have been running with a few burnt out bulbs for 4years because I didn't feel like tackling this thing. Maybe I should reconsider.

 

[4ortknox]

Awesome write up! Thanks so much for taking the time the post the photo's with highlighted area's. Please post some photo's of the new LED's in the cluster at night. I would love to see the difference.

 

[houjames98765]

What is the size the light bulbs

Do you know the number of the size from the original small light bulb because I need to replace it.
Is this size ::
Sylvania/License Plate Light Mini Bulb 194LL at AutoZone.com

 

[MStudt]

Do you know the number of the size from the original small light bulb because I need to replace it.
Is this size ::
Sylvania/License Plate Light Mini Bulb 194LL at AutoZone.com

Pretty sure that's it.