Changed the Dash Lights

Post by **Pwnin O'Brien** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 3:48 pm

Here are a few random pics from my latest endeavor...

Post by **Pwnin O'Brien** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:13 pm

Those did not come out well at all.

Post by **miamiheat3332** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:50 pm

really? are you talking about the cluster in particular? it looks just like mine, so i dont know what you not happy about?

Post by **Pwnin O'Brien** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:42 pm

miamiheat3332 wrote:really? are you talking about the cluster in particular? it looks just like mine, so i dont know what you not happy about?

No no no, I meant the pics, not the lights. Sorry.

Post by **miamiheat3332** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:30 pm

ahh, hahah did;nt think of it that way, well then nevermind

Post by **nheitz** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:22 am

Looks good. The right half of the gauges are dark on mine anyway. They've been intermittent for years but finally seem to be out for good. Maybe I'll make the switch.

Post by **Freyspath** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:13 pm

Ok quick noob question... I just bought my 03 pathfinder 2 days ago, and I really want to do this mod to it, because the stock lighting is crap.

How do you get the cluster out? is there a step by step? Do you have to remove the dash?

thanks

Post by **slickroger** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:40 pm

mine there was 2 screws above the gauge cluster take those out then squeeze the black cover that covers the 4 screws to remove the gauge cluster.

In the first pic I posted in this thread you can see the two screw holes im talking about.

Post by **jrow003** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:18 pm

What exactly do you guys mean by Polarity? I installed all 3 lights and none of the worked. Took them out and reinstalled them, and now only 1 works. I haven't had time to get back in there and finish the job but I'm wondering why I can get the other two lights to light up. Thanks for your input

Post by **Pwnin O'Brien** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:21 pm

jrow003 wrote:What exactly do you guys mean by Polarity? I installed all 3 lights and none of the worked. Took them out and reinstalled them, and now only 1 works. I haven't had time to get back in there and finish the job but I'm wondering why I can get the other two lights to light up. Thanks for your input

LED's require the correct polarity (positive and negative) to work. If the polarity is backwards, the bulb will not illuminate. All you need to do is rotate the bulb socket (with the LED in it) 180 degrees and put it back in. Once you have the polarity correct they should light up perfectly.

Post by **jrow003** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:28 am

T

Pwnin O’Brien wrote:
LED's require the correct polarity (positive and negative) to work. If the polarity is backwards, the bulb will not illuminate. All you need to do is rotate the bulb socket (with the LED in it) 180 degrees and put it back in. Once you have the polarity correct they should light up perfectly.

Thanks man, I wasn't sure if you meant switch the bulb 180 or the actual socket it is in. I'm going to try this now. thanks I really appreciate your input.

Post by **greynolds** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 9:13 pm

Roger, saw this thread even though its kind of old figured I would share what I did with mine...lemme know what you think.

Post by **slickroger** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:56 pm

very nice did you custom place LEDs for the gauge needles because they look nice and bright

Post by **greynolds** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:49 am

Yeah that was the easy part. I actually bought a instrument panel from an old maxima on ebay and swapped the needles so my needles are white instead of orange. The next thing I want to try is going to white with the LEDs and then putting a blue lighting filter so I can cut out areas for the red on the tach so it looks a little more finished but I've put it off because I haven't been able to decide what color filter would give me the best looking blue. Also if anyone has any theater or stage lighting experience I would appreciate any suggestions.

Post by **greynolds** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:00 am

ohh and i forgot to mention the kit is from importintelligence.com

Post by **Tweedy918** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:48 pm

I have a 1997 Pathy, and am attempting to swap my gauge and dash lights out for LEDs. I ordered 4 #74 bulbs from Autolumination. These fit the housings around the AC controls, but lights behind the gauges were much larger. Anyone know what size these bulbs are? And how many would I need?

Post by **Pianodemon** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:25 am

Tweedy:

I had the same problem on my '98 Pathy where the bases behind the gauge cluster wouldn't hold the #74 Matrix 3 LEDs from Autolumination.

Fortunately, there's a very easy fix to this. If you take a look at the base, you should see copper lining each side of the base. I simple poked a very thin, flat screwdriver between the copper and the outer wall of the base, so as to bend the copper inwards just a little bit. Do this *before* you put an LED in.

After doing this, the LEDs fit very snugly and worked fine with no issues.

Hope this helps!

-Alan

Post by **Pianodemon** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:29 am

Also, my gauge cluster took 5 bulbs, as I also swapped out the Odometer light for a blue LED.

If you're just doing the dials, it should be 2 on the left and 2 on the right. They likely have black bases. All the warning lights had maroon/brown bases on mine.

There were also some empty black bases that looked to be placeholders if used in a different vehicle trim, as well as empty holes for bases. For example, there are holes for the center PRND23 indicators, but no bases in them. There's also a strip in the center of the cluster console, but no template for the indicators even if I was to put in new bases/bulbs.

Pianodemon wrote:Tweedy:

I had the same problem on my '98 Pathy where the bases behind the gauge cluster wouldn't hold the #74 Matrix 3 LEDs from Autolumination.

Fortunately, there's a very easy fix to this. If you take a look at the base, you should see copper lining each side of the base. I simple poked a very thin, flat screwdriver between the copper and the outer wall of the base, so as to bend the copper inwards just a little bit. Do this *before* you put an LED in.

After doing this, the LEDs fit very snugly and worked fine with no issues.

Hope this helps!

-Alan

Post by **Black2003SE** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 4:49 pm

Thanks to Roger for the writeup on this. I did mine with the Matrix 3 as well and I'm happy with the results. Only problem I encountered was trying to remove the base; I managed to break one while doing so.

Post by **rydebynite** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:18 am

Hoping my install goes smoothly I just ordered a set as well. I been riding around with half gauge cluster out for like 4-5 months~!~!~!

Post by **Innovazn** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:24 am

once the screws are out and you got the first initial trim out its easy as breathing.

for my install i didnt even unplug any harnesses. easy out easy in and VOILA!

Post by **rydebynite** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 12:09 pm

Anyone know where I can find a set of these clear corners?

Post by **Innovazn** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 4:43 pm

rydebynite wrote:Anyone know where I can find a set of these clear corners?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ories

Post by **rydebynite** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:38 pm

Yeaaah I had seen these but i think what threw me off was that in the description the date says 1999. And i know that body style's lenses wont fit the 2000-2004's!

Post by **Innovazn** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:07 am

perhaps they ment 99.5? if it dont fit then... i guess you can send it back and let ebayknow that his guys selling something wheres hes sending something else :S i dunno or you can just ask the seller

Post by **rydebynite** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 5:48 am

Well I finally got my led's in. After installing everything my RPM/Hot and Cold side wouldnt light up. so I flipped it to check polarity and still nothing. Then I figured maybe its the black base I saw a couple of them look like they were burn up when I pulled them out so I replaced it with another side from the working ones and still I got nothing. Very irritating to have half this thing all light up w/ the new hyper White Led and the other half all black.

Post by **chinook1352** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:58 am

@ Pwnin O'Brien,

Did you end up going with the tri-power LED's? And how many of them did you need, just 2 or 3? And what did you do to make the trip meter show up in blue as well? It looks really good! Nice work.

Post by **Pwnin O'Brien** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:17 am

chinook1352 wrote:@ Pwnin O'Brien,

Did you end up going with the tri-power LED's? And how many of them did you need, just 2 or 3? And what did you do to make the trip meter show up in blue as well? It looks really good! Nice work.

For my instrument cluster I used two Matrix II bulbs (the one with five SMT LED's) in blue for the gauges and I used a single super white Matrix II for the trip meter. The instrument cluster in the later model Pathfinders (2003-2004) is best lit using side-firing LED's as opposed to front-firing LED's. Essentially behind the cluster overlay is a huge piece of clear plastic that lights up the gauges; you light the clear plastic at the edges, so a side-firing LED will be most effective. For the trip meter, you also need to use side-firing LED's but only half of the bulb is utilized because the bulb sits to one side of the meter, it's a really weird setup.

I did use two super white tri-power LED's for my HVAC controls, which required a front-firing LED with maximum viewing angle, for which the tri-power worked perfectly.

Post by **chinook1352** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:32 pm

Awesome, thanks so much! I've got a project ahead of me

Post by **slickroger** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:22 pm

rydebynite wrote:Well I finally got my led's in. After installing everything my RPM/Hot and Cold side wouldnt light up. so I flipped it to check polarity and still nothing. Then I figured maybe its the black base I saw a couple of them look like they were burn up when I pulled them out so I replaced it with another side from the working ones and still I got nothing. Very irritating to have half this thing all light up w/ the new hyper White Led and the other half all black.

Do the original bulbs still work?

Changed the Dash Lights

Re: Changed the Dash Lights (Empty V)

Re: Changed the Dash Lights (Pwnin O'Brien)

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Re: Changed the Dash Lights (miamiheat3332)

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