DIY Replacing Interior Lights

yangtastic

Member
DIY Replacing Interior Lights
I know there is already a DIY on this but I would juts like to contribute my edition. :D
So I got tired of the green orange lights from the cluster and the main controls. Also my cigarette lighter illumination wasn't working.
BEFORE
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So I decided to purchase a 10 pack of T10s and T5s. And away we go.

Requirements
- I only required 5 x T5 LEDs and 3 x T10 LEDs
- Smallest screwdriver possible
- Phillips head screwdriver

CLUSTER
Unscrew two Phillips head screws.
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Remove the trim and you should unscrew the four golden screws to remove the cluster. IMPORTANT: Removing the cluster will clear your trip odometer.
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Next you want to check what's behind each existing bulb. If I remember correctly, I replaced all the bulbs that were blue.
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Twist them back in and check your lights. NOTE: If an LED isn't working, pull it out, rotate it 180' and pop it back in. Let this be a rule for the rest of this post. I think I heard it's about matching the polarity or something. None the less, this would be the most annoying part.
So once the main cluster bulbs have been replaced it's just a matter of screwing it back in and installing the trim.

MAIN CONTROL
Use small screwdriver to pry the piece away. The four corners have clips so focus on those areas.
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Firstly you can change the clock bulb. Although it's hard to remove the tiny bulb from it's housing, I did it. Place in new T5. It turns in to a blue clock.
Either way, unplug both the clock and the hazard lights button. You'll have to re adjust the time later.
With that done, the main control bulbs are attached by wire and there is no twisting and no clips involved.
Not much room here so try not to get too frustrated.
It's pretty hard to get a hold of them but I managed to somehow poke a screw driver into the side of the black plastic housing and pretty much wiggled them out.
Push one side with screw driver until it gives then use your finger to push the other side to loosen it. I don't know if that was clear it's hard to compare.
I guess you can try to imagine when you pull on a power cable. When it's stuck, you wiggle it side to side for more "leverage".
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Once new T5s are put in, I tried to wiggle them back in but they wouldn't click in to place.
I think my new T5s were too long so I wiggled them in as far as they would go and just left it.
I don't think they'll fall out anyway.
So with that done, just clip the main control trim piece back on.

CIGARETTE LIGHTER
Pretty easy install.
Just remove the trim piece around the head unit. To do this, I removed the ash tray and then pulled on the trim.
The cigarette lighter has a blue bulb on the right hand side. So twist that and then replace it with a T5.
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Trim piece just snaps back on.

RESULT PHOTOS
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I will try to clarify any uncertainties.

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Was gonna have a go at replacing my bulbs tomorrow, this guide should help. Thanks mate!
 
Only question I have. With the head unit removal, is it the same process if you have a 2din headunit?
 
Not sure about your question, but I finished my dash lights. Looks very nice!
By far the best mod was simply changing the clock bulb to white, looks soooo mint. Also to those who struggle with taking out the a/c surround bulbs/the clock bulb, just use long nose pliers. After struggling for an hour in a hot car, I did everything in like 3 minutes haha.

Thanks for the DIY Yang, helped me so much
 
yangtastic said:
To advance this thread:

Which lights should I buy to replace the boot + dome light?

Thanks!

You can get SMD LED "festoon bulbs" - my dome light has i think 12 SMD LEDS, and its like a spotlight! The boot light wouldnt fit as large a festoon however, so a smaller light has to do
 
yangtastic said:
To advance this thread:

Which lights should I buy to replace the boot + dome light?

Thanks!

I replaced dome and boot with this http://www.oznium.com/led-domelight 16LED literally lights up your whole car and boot in the dark.

If you want to advance furthur to replacing the lights on your centre dash/console, i can see that your hazard, and demister and aircon light is out, if you open up the switches there are additional bulbs inside the switches, and they light up colourful when they work, hazard lights red, demister lights orange, and a/c lights up green as shown in this picture http://instagram.com/p/PG3leqkKO1/
 
Took a look at the hazard light today. The bulb is within the plug.

What bulb is it?

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Wanting to know can you actually take the control panel for the aircon and clock out? The piece where the dials are on the white bracket? It's too fiddly and my hands are too big to twist the globe things out to even be able to change the globes! :cry:
 
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So I'm here and using pointy nose pliers and I still cannot get them out. I see someone has before because they've capped the old globes with a little blue glove but it's not the effect I want. Help! How do I get them out without taking my entire dash out or something drastic like that?!?


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You want to take the entire control unit out? Because in a CC that requires removing the dash for easy access to all the bolts/screws/lines associated with that panel. If you're talking about trying to get the bulbs out of the back of the control unit, just requires turning and pulling the bulbs out of their respective locations. It is fiddly but can be done. Wouldn't bother changing the a/c or hazard light bulb colours because usually things like that have a coloured plastic associated with it that makes whatever colour bulb you put in there still light up the same colour. Just like the indicator lights in your speedo cluster. Trying changing them, won't do much.

In response to an earlier question about what bulbs to use for a boot light and dome light, I believe the dome light is a 31mm festoon and the boot light is the same.
 
The center console bulbs aren't the twist kind like the CE cluster ones. They are the 'pop in' kind where the rear housing has expanding clips which hold onto the edges of the opening.

Its a real pain but if you put a heap of pressure on one side they should pop out a bit to be able to pull them out.

Personally I pushed on them so hard the bulbs broke. But at least I got them out. Just removed the back end of the bulb from the housing with some pliers :lol:
 
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This is the globe I have in mine and it's a blue LED one. That's what it looks like.



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Spectre said:
The center console bulbs aren't the twist kind like the CE cluster ones. They are the 'pop in' kind where the rear housing has expanding clips which hold onto the edges of the opening.

Its a real pain but if you put a heap of pressure on one side they should pop out a bit to be able to pull them out.

Personally I pushed on them so hart the bulbs broke. But at least I got them out. Just removed the back end of the bulb from the housing with some pliers :lol:

Where are you so I can come and kiss you, by lord! I have been twisting and twisting for an hour straight and getting nowhere. I just popped one out after you said that and it took all of one second! [emoji24][emoji23]


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