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Mustang LED lights in gauge cluster
SN95
LED Gauge Cluster and HVAC Controls
DISCLAIMER - I am not responsible for any problems (cluster failures,
HVAC failures, shortages, electrical issues, personal harm to you or anyone
else, etc...) from YOU attempting to do this LED swap. MY HOW TO article
is to simply guide you through the process and help those that are unsure.
I assume no responsibility if anything were to go wrong. However, I
am responsible for all POSITIVE outcomes. =] This swap is very simple,
just need basic knowledge and tools. You have been warned! If you wish
to proceed, please continue, be safe and have fun!
After receiving about 5-10 PM's per day dealing solely with my 1998 Cobra's
Gauge Cluster and HVAC controls, I have decided to write a "HOW TO" article.
First and for most, I would like to clarify a few questions I have been
asked. The gauge cluster and HVAC controls you will see in the following
pictures or the first pictures are not aftermarket, not reverse-glo, not
special edition or anything else. My gauge cluster and HVAC controls are
the ones that were installed in my car from the factory.
Q. Now you might be asking, why do my gauges and controls look "bluer"
or "brighter" than all of the other "stock" gauge clusters and HVAC controls?
A. I swapped out the stock "incandescent" bulbs in my cluster and controls
with super bright "LED's."
Q. So what's the difference in the incandescent bulbs and LED bulbs and
why does it make it appear blue?
A. Behind our clusters and HVAC controls lies a blue film (the film behind
the number and dial cut outs are blue). An incandescent bulb emits a yellowish
light (like most household bulbs that are incandescent). When you mix
this yellowish light with a blue film, you get a green hue showing through
the numbers of our clusters and dials of our controls. NOW, when you take
the stock incandescent bulbs out and swap in their places the super bright,
pure white LED's and mix it with the stock blue film, you get a BLUE hue.
So white and blue = blue. Hopefully you get what im saying. That is why
my gauge numbers and HVAC controls are now BLUE and not the stock green.
What you will need
7 Super Bright White LED's - Socket 194/168 (sockets are the same,
just different numbers)
I bought my LED's from here
(mine are the WLED-x5 Wedge Based Bulbs)
A T-15 Torx Screwdriver
A 2 mm (i believe that's what it was) allen/hex wrench. YOU ONLY NEED
THIS IF YOU HAVE AN AFTERMARKET HEADLIGHT KNOB!
An 8mm Socket, Socket Wrench and a few LONG extensions. YOU ONLY NEED
THESE IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON DOING THE HVAC CONTROL LED SWAP!
OK, so lets get started!
Step
1
Start with your untouched
gauge cluster.
Remove the two T-15
Torx head screws.
Step
2
STOCK HEADLIGHT KNOB
"You need to pull
a retainer clip outwards (away from the shaft) and then pull this knob
off gently." - MustangWorld.com
Aftermarket Headlight
Knob
Remove the 2 mm Allen/Hex
screw in the side of your Headlight Knob Switch
Step
3
Once you have the
knob taken care of, carefully remove the gauge clusters bezel (clusters
surrounding piece). It will be stubborn more than likely but it should
come out, just try not to break it! After the bezel is out, unscrew
the four surrounding bolts to remove the cluster itself. They are again
T-15 Torx headed bolts.
Step
4
Tilt the cluster
by bringing the bottom out first. (like you would be putting the gauge
faces pointing upwards)
Step
4.1
Remove the black
connector that is connected into the back of the cluster. Carefully
pull it straight back and out.
Step
4.2
Notice the white
connector on the opposite end of the gauge cluster. Just like the black
connector, remove the white connector the same way. Carefully pull straight
back and out.
Step 5
Once the two connectors are unplugged from the back of the cluster, carefully pull the cluster out. (It helps if you have the wheel tilted as low as it can go). From there, flip the cluster over and notice the 5 black TWIST style sockets. Untwisting the black sockets to the left will unlock them and allow you to pull them straight out.
Step 6
Notice MY already installed LED.
To replace the bulbs with your new LED's, simply pull the stock bulb out and replace with the LED. Put all the sockets back into the holes and get ready to reinstall the cluster!
So CONGRATS, we are halfway done with the swap! See, its not so bad right!?
REINSTALLATION of the Cluster
Step 7
Start by re-inserting the white connector the the back of the gauge cluster. Do not force it in, it will go in if you have it aligned right. It will require a bit of pressure but not 100% strength lol.
Step 7.1
Then go to the opposite side of the cluster and reinsert the black connector. Rules are the same as the white connector.
Step 7.2
Reinsert the Cluster with the gauge faces pointing upwards again and slide the bottom up and back to insert the cluster in its original position.
Step 7.3
ATTENTION! I would now suggest that you reconnect the negative battery cable to ensure your newly installed LED's are all working! Once you verify they are all on and in working condition, go back and DISCONNECT your negative battery cable.
Step 8
Screw in the 4 T-15 Torx headed bolts to hold the cluster in place (be careful not to drop the bolts behind the cluster, you may not get them back!)
Step 9
ATTENTION! Don't forget about the HEADLIGHT KNOB! I've done this and reinstalled everything and its annoying to think your done and then notice your missing a headlight knob! Go ahead and pull out the headlight knobs shaft to the ON position and THEN install the gauge clusters bezel.
Step 10
Reinstall your Headlight Knob with your 2 mm Allen/Hex wrench or simply push your stock knob back on (i remember having to adjust the retaining clip inside the knob when I had mine so you may have to play with it)
Step 11
Reinstall the two T-15 Torx headed bolts into the clusters bezel and vwalah! or walah! or.... you get the point.
So, we have no completed the gauge cluster LED swap! If you are continuing on and doing the HVAC control LED swap, now is a great time to have a coke or a beer ;)
LED HVAC CONTROLS SWAP
Step 1
Here we start with a stock HVAC control head unit. If you have a DVD player, make sure you fold the face down before unplugging the negative battery cable.
Step 2
Here I undid my shifter knob so I can remove the shifters bezel and boot.
Step 2.1
Once the shifter bezel and boot is taken off of the main console, unplug the cigarette lighter.
Step 3
Continuing, unscrew the two T-15 Torx headed screws securing the bezel.
Step 4
After taking out your stereo's head unit, take your extensions as well as your 8mm (i believe that's what I used) socket and socket wrench.
Unscrew the 8mm headed bolt that secure the bezel in place inside of the dash. (It is directly behind the stereo head unit. Follow the long black plastic piece)
Step 5
YAY! Our bezel can now come off after a few pulls around the perimeter of the bezel! Like the gauge cluster bezel, be careful not to break it! The bezel will be stubborn but should come out with a bit of strength!
Step 6
Here is the long black piece attached to the bezel and the hole that the 8mm screw goes in.
Step 7
After the bezel is removed and carefully set down to avoid scratches, take your T-15 Torx screw driver and unscrew the four bolts holding the HVAC controls in place.
Step 7.1
Once the four bolts are removed, carefully pull out the HVAC control unit and look for the 2 black TWIST style sockets. (These are exactly the same as the gauge cluster sockets)
Step 8
Twist out the sockets, replace the bulbs, and reinstall.
ATTENTION! I would suggest replugging up the negative battery cable and making sure the LED's work like before. Once you verify they are working, go ahead and unplug the negative battery cable again. After doing that, reinstall EVERYTHING in REVERSE order! Reconnect your negative battery cable, pull the headlight knob and again, VWALAH! You should now be greeted with a nice blue gauge cluster and HVAC controls!
That's it! Not to long of a job but it can be aggravating. However, the results definitely speak for themselves! Hope my HOW TO was easy to follow and you got the output you desired
After shots!
By: Trey - "TxCobrA98"
www.sn95forums.com
instructions were great everything went in ok. i have one problem. the left side of my gauge cluster doesnt light up and it is not the bulb since i tried switching the bulbs in and out as well as the whole socket set up. Any sugestions on what the problem is or how i can fix it? i think its the board its self. please email me if you can help me. alexp@wpi.edu
I tell you this was a great write up. I have order my LED's and I hope to see them turn out as great as yours. I have a 98 Cobra and man it just sucks trying to see the gauge at night. I can not wait. I will post some pix if I can. thank you so much for your time and effort. Also, is the HVAC worth the work. It straight look like some time maybe a couple of beers and I will be good.
Nice write up, but I read somewhere that the 00-04 Mustang gauge film is green not blue and that you would have to dremel the green film off and replace it with blue film in order to get blue lights. Is this true? I would like to do this, but don't want to go into that much work.
Hey guys wassup. I saw that some guys were commenting on what size bulb they need for a 99 Cobra, 00 GT, and 04 GT. Well Im here to tell you. I have a 2003 Mustang GT and I saw that you guys said the bulb that the man above was posting for his 98 cobra wasnt working in the 99-04 mustangs. The reason why is because our (99-04) clusters are electrically controlled theirs (94-98) are mechanically controlled.
Anyways the bulb size for a 99-04 mustang is a 74-GHP3 you can get it from the above website that he posted. Your bulb size may not have a "G" in it mine has it because I ordered bulbs that were green so for example if you order blue bulbs for your car it'll say 74-BHP3.
HOPE THIS HELPS!! 
-CHASE A
03 GT
Super write up. Ordered the bulbs of e-bay and going to tackle this as soon as they arrive.
Hopefully this works exactly the same on my '96.
Just wonder about the factory Mach 460 sound system and a way to change the bulbs on this to match.
If anybody knows, please give info.
Thanks
hey i thought you could change the Mach 460 lights, but you cant, so i just went ahead and bought a Kenwood CD player with the blue lights so it would match, i took the 460 radio and CD player apart and there is no way to change the lights they are actually on the main circuit board..hope this helps
Great write up but i am having a bit of a problem, i purchased the same bulbs you have and ran into a problem, the bulbs in mine are smaller, i have a 2000 GT would the Cobra's be different? do you think the 74-xHP Wedge Base LED Bulbs will work instead of the ones you have? thanks
They work on my 2002 GT. I ordered the 74-xHP in blue, and it came out almost an aqua color, but definitely an improvement if you're looking for blue. I don't know if using white would've made a difference, but when the result after blue lights is aqua, it's safe to assume the gauges in our mustangs have a somewhat greenish tint. Mine don't light as bright as Mike's but definitely do the job.
Also forgot to mention, the Wedges he recommends work on the A/C knobs, and my dimmer worked until i changed my gauges, but after that swap, the dimmer stopped working
First off great write up. I purchased the WLED-B5 (194) wedge base bulbs. When I removed my instrument cluster gauge I realized the bulbs seemed bigger and would not wedge into the socket base. Do you know what bulbs I need? Thank you in advance.
What color LED is that??? Looks great!!!!!!!!
I noticed you have exactly what I am looking for to cover up the lower din slot. If I may be so bold as to ask, where did u purchase this from? Or if you custom fabricated it. I basically am looking to find a site where I can purchase that type of plate, because a pocket replacement doesn't really float my boat. Thanks!!!
Sincerly,
Paul
P.S. The LED lighting is an awesome customization!!!
Hey, this is a great write up, I've been trying to do this myself for a while, I ordered some 194/168 bulbs, but when I took the gauge cluster off I found the bulbs on my 2004 GT are smaller ones then the 194/168. Do you know by any chance what other size bulbs Ford might have put in? Thanks.
Did you use Cool white Natural white or wram white?
Thank you for a well explained walk-through. The pics were an excellent aide as well. I stumbled across this site while searching for a clear plastic bezel for my 94 GT and thought that this would be neat to try. I wish I had done it sooner. The outcome is amazing.
Thank you again.
Oh and yes, the factory dimmer still works. 