Cool, Anyone know where buzz is lol i need his help!!! or someone who has done the 02+
I know this thread doesn't really need more pictures, but I just finished changing the backlights for my instruments my today. This is on a 1997 Cavalier.
For my first time removing the dash, I though things went rather well. My biggest issue was that I couldn't seem to remove the second smaller wiring harness from the instrument cluster. Ultimately, I just worked on it with that harness still attached. I used
these eBay LED lights. I was able to remove the old bulbs easily using a 1.5mm allen-key screw driver to pop them out from the back of the holder. I thought I was SOL when they were too big to fit into the holes, but I was able to Dremel enough material off of the sides of the bulb casing to squeeze them through. I turned the filiments to wrap around the sides of the bulb base, and flared the tips slightly so that they reached the holder's contacts. I had some problems with polarity and intermittent connections for a while, but eventually got it all sorted. The only difference I notice is that the LEDs only light up on the last 3 or 4 notches on the dimmer, which is completely understandable. Approximately time: 2.5 hours. (I suck.
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Shop Manuals, Brochures:
www.kenmcgeeautobooks.com
Anyone know where buzz went?
Alright, Does anyone know what size Leds i should put in my 02+ cluster??
Has anyone changed the color of the lights for a Sunfire before? I would like to change them to the same type of blue they use in Volkswagens...
Does anybody know how many leds there are for the gauge NEEDLES, and if they are 194's like the gauges themselves? Thank you.
there isnt specific leds for just the needles.. u have either ur 4 or 5 194 s that light up the numbers and the needles..
Lance Sharpe wrote:....nobody knows?
Lance, my 97 took 4 194 bulbs.
So to change the color of the needles I'd have to get new needles?
Lance Sharpe wrote:So to change the color of the needles I'd have to get new needles?
That, or maybe try to do something like mask the back of the needle hub with colored plastic to tint the light. Maybe that makes no sense -- I never had my cluster opened enough to judge if something like that would work.
Shop Manuals, Brochures:
www.kenmcgeeautobooks.com
i havea 96 sunfire and i just punked the needles from a cavy at the junkyard. i prefer them because they have a gritty white backing instead of the ugly ass yellow the sunfires have. also got a new HVAC overlay pannel from cavy as well and ordered some Blue #74 LED replament bulbs to light that bytch up. these threads are really helpful with the info posted. you know-it all guys rock! i'll post pics tomorrowish after i've replaced the HVAC overlay and the needles. (still waitin on the bulbs
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ok, so i don't have any pictures as of yet, and the needles i got from the cavy will not work in the sunfire because the clear plastic part of the needles are too short and don't reach the Numbers/Temp/Fuel. so instead i took off each individual needle from the sunfire and scraped off the yellow backing, then painted them white with white-out lol. looks pretty clean though. the HVAC i have installed but those #74 bulbs are taking forever. i ordered them a week ago friday so i'm hoping they will arrive by monday or tuesday. but thenagain u can never really tell with snail mail.
oh and i know i shouldn't post this here but incase anyone is wondering, i will be making a how-to video on soldeing 5mm 3.5v LED's to the back of the cluster for anyone in dier need of assistance.
Did anyone ever figure out a way to do '99 and older sunfire clusters (a fix for the film)? I am super envious of the Cavi guys, and so not into the malarial yellow in my '97 Sunfire cluster.
sorry eddie but the only way u can pretty much do that is order a custom gaugeface overlay from
black cat custom, or just buy some 194 replacement LED bulbs from lsdiodes.com, or autolumination.com (get the ones that have 2 or 5 LED's on them per bulb, it'll help with the blue glow more n hopefully get rid o that nasty orange/red) and just install those n hope for the best. i know where ur comin from though, i dunno wtf they were thnking when they made the cluster yellow and red....crappiest mix of colours i've ever seen. oh yeah you could swap out your door pannels/dash/ and cluster to a cavy set up. that would aways work, but a lot of work that imho, ain't worth it.
i don't know if this will help anybody but i came across it so i figured i'd toss it on here
click here
I just did this on my 98. no problem. Took about an hour including getting tools out and putting them back etc. On a scale of 1-10 its about a 4 becuase you have to know how to get the dash apart and how to solder decent. I did exactly as stated before for 95-99's and it works great, its still day light out so i will get pics tonight and put em up. Oh and I just used some colored 194 bulbs from autozone and they light up blue.
what did you solder? did you not read the "how to" ?
yeah, I did read the how to, and I rather solder them and know that the wires on the bulbs will not come loose from the connection, ever, by soldering them. Thats why I soldered them
Since this is a cluster thread, I just put mine in and 2 questions come to mind:
1. this is my first "cluster" install and I am sure you pro's will tell me I did it wrong, but cant they be dimmed? Mine are really neat but really bright as well.
2. since putting this in, my odometer does not work, light up or whatever. Any ideas???? Everything else works fine.
what year make model do you have?
they are dimmed by the dimmer roller switch next to your steering wheel if thats what your asking.
maybe the bulbs came loose or have blown out for your odometer. idk for that one exactly.
how could you of done it wrong, what did you do?
