So I've been wanting to change over my dash lights for a while but I can not for the life of me find the bulb type. I'm looking at swapping over my cluster and climate control's to blue to match my radar detector and HU and to give it a nicer look. I'll leave the needles red though.

I've read through a couple write-ups, (http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/f-q...pdate-f-q.html) and, (http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/f-q...ts-w-pics.html). I'll be the first to admit I hate electrical work and am horrible at soldering so I would much prefer an LED bulb if at all possible. Are the bulbs in the cluster a specific type or are they just a soldered connection? In BeeCee's writeup I saw pictures of the climate control bulbs. Are those just a basic 194 wedge or are they something else? Neil? Ed? Dj? Dan?

Pick up a thing of regular LED's from fleabay, you can get something like 200 for $20 with resistors. Some thin speaker wire. I can give you a hand, pending slave hours obviously lol.

Ok, I checked out V-LED's website. I just still can't figure out the bulb types I need. I know V-LED's is wicked quality since one of the guys on nissanclub.com offers an LED footwell kit, underhood kit, and trunk light and all of them are constructed with V-LED products. His stuff is on http://www.racingline.ca and http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/2002-2006...d-q-thread.html.

The VLED's I bought died after 6months. I might have had a bad batch but I bought some regular style and LED's off of ebay and they've been fine ever since I put them in. I'll see if I can find a link.


For the window switches you'll probably have to solder in LED's since most factory ones are weak leds. You might be able to find ones that fit the climate control but idk. And I think they make boards with LED's in them too, but I made my own lol.

I bought a set like these

The only thing that sucked was the amount of time it took to ship. Stoopid overseas crap. But I haven't had a single one of those flicker or die.

I used 5 way LEDs in my Cougar for illumination and inverted LEDs for the indicator lights. Worked excellent.

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have hotspots on your gauges? After conversing with BeeCee (the first write-up I referenced) I can use wedge style LED bulbs for my gauge clusters but I may have to use 5mm LED's for the climate control and a 5mm LED for the one light I have in my window switch. I'm trying to figure out what type of a twist lock bulb could be used. If I can't figure out the twist lock bulb do you have any extra 560 Ohm resistors that could possibly be used?

EDIT: After more googling I've found that both the Pathfinder and Maxima use a #74 bulb in the climate control but nothing on the Altima's yet.

EDIT #2: I e-mailed http://www.superbrightleds.com inquiring about the twist lock bulbs. Less than an hour later I received an e-mail back directing me towards the "neo wedge bulbs" (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/sto...specs%2FNEO.htm) Now I just need to figure out what the differences are and which bulbs I need.

There was more with the VLED smt ones I used. 98-99's use a tiny 74 base bulb so not much can fit in there. I have about 15 individual LED's in my gauges right now with virtually no hotspots. I do want to add a few more, one under each gauge needle to make them glow better.



They are all white LEDs. Nissan used a blue transparent plastic on the maxima gauges.




9 leds in the door lights



24 in the dome light

I also have 12 in each map light.

I still have more room for more leds in the door and dome lights. But I didn't feel like cutting the insides down for clearance.

Hmmm, your gauges and HVAC controls look exactly the same as mine. . .

EDIT: It seems as though the only difference between the NEO3 and NEO4 bulbs is size. BeeCee is gonna measure the OEM twist lock's that he has later on tonight since when he did his conversion the twist locks were not available.

I know when I had the bulb style. I had to wrap etape around them to make them fit nice and snug. Just a heads up.

Are you talking for the HVAC controls or the gauge cluster? The cluster on mine is just the typical wedge design and the HVAC controls are twist-locks. I'm in the process right now of determining which of these, (NeoWedge Series LED Lamp Specifications) I need, NEO3-x or NEO4-x.

I only had the premade stuff in the cluster. Now everything is soldered in.

Got ya. I just don't feel comfortable soldering connections like that if I can get a premade design that will fit and function like OEM.

Aww cmon! Solder is for the real men!

The last time I soldered anything was 5 years ago and the solder dripped and fell on my ankle right where my sock ended. I've still got the scar from it too. . .

Ok, tomorrow the order goes in. I will be ordering. . .
4: 194 mini-wedge bulbs in blue for my gauge cluster, (Super Bright LEDs - Miniature Wedge Base Bulbs).
2: 194 mini-wedge bulbs in cool white for my license plate lights, (Super Bright LEDs - Miniature Wedge Base Bulbs).
1: 658 mini-wedge base bulb for my glove box, (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/sto...dge.html%23wled).
3: Neo-4 wedge base bulbs in blue for my HVAC cluster, (Super Bright LEDs - Instrument Cluster and Gauge Backlights)
1: Festoon bulb in cool white for my dome light, (Super Bright LEDs ? Festoon Light Bulbs)
2: Rigid Loop Festoon bulbs in cool white for the map lights, Super Bright LEDs ? Festoon Light Bulbs)

The only thing I haven't been able to nail down is the freaking vanity lights. Does anyone know what they are? And once again, when these go in the auto-dimming mirror will be going in as well as the XE/SE HVAC trim piece will be going in as well.

Order is submitted as of 9:55PM. And now the waiting begins.

UPDATE TIME!

So. . .after 6 long hours half of my project is done.
The NEO-4 wedge bulbs fit perfectly and there are minimal hot spots. The hot spots that are there are faint and not to to noticeable. Install was cake. If you've installed an aftermarket radio then you're halfway there. Disassemble the dash as you would for the HU and then their are 4 screws staring you in the face. Remove those and then push the HVAC back and then angle it out. Once out there are 3 OBD-II clips and a mechanical line. Be VERY careful with the line. The line is what changes you over from hot to cold. Unclip the 3 harnesses and unhook the line and the HVAC controls are now free. There are 2 phillips head screws on the back that need to be removed. Once they are removed take a small flat head and gently pry off the black slider piece on the front of the HVAC. Once that is off the HVAC will be in two pieces and you will now have easier access to the NEO-wedge bulbs. It may be possible to replace the bulbs with the HVAC still intact because you can see the bulbs, but to get them out and replace them may be a pain in the ass that way. Once the bulbs are in re-attach the 3 harnesses and check to make sure the polarity is right. If a bulb does not light up try turning it 180 degrees. Once you have confirmed that all 3 light up re-attach the mechanical line and re-install the HVAC controls, the HU, and surrounding dash trim. Congratulations, you've just changed out the HVAC bulbs! One thing I did notice was that the OEM bulbs have a blue cap over them similar to a light bulb condom but when they were turned on they were white. So I dunno, I just found that intriguing.

The LED festoon for the dome light went in without a hitch. It fit perfectly, locked right into place and stayed there, which is more than I can say for some of the LED replacements that I've read about. I'm talking about the ones that supposedly fit but you have to bend the bracket or squeeze it to make the bulb stay in.

The LED's for the license plate lights also went in smoothly. To install them take a small flathead screwdriver and gently work your way around the housing until it pops out being careful to not damage it or the surrounding paint. The bulb socket rotates out like the corner lights and turn signals. Then remove the old bulb and replace with the new one. Re-installation is the reverse of removal.

The last thing we accomplished was the auto-dimming mirror. The mirror that I bought was from a 5th gen i30 and requires a switched power source and a ground. If you have a 98-99 or a 93-97 Altima which does not have the overhead map lights or sunglass holder you can use either the one I used or you can buy a 4th gen i30 mirror. The 4th gen mirror mounts to the headliner and requires a power source, an ACC source, and a ground. Hence why an 00-01 or a 98-99 SE or GLE can't use it. Prior to removal tape or mark the outline of the old mirror from the outside so you know where to mount the new one. Removing the old mirror was not a fun time. Supposedly you can pop the mirror off of its mount with a flathead screwdriver and then heat up the mount and use fishing line to get it off, similar to when debadging a car. This is not how we did it. While trying to figure out how to insert the flathead the mirror was inadvertently ripped from the windshield. This left small spider cracks on the inside pane of glass and a small chunk missing. If you have the tint strip on top of the windshield you'll never notice from the outside and if you position the new mount correctly the inside either. So be careful with this part, the last thing you want to do is replace your windshield. In some states you may not care, like in Massachusetts you can get 1 free windshield per year through your insurance company. Once the old mirror is off it's time to run your wires and disassemble some interior pieces. Start by pulling out the weather stripping around the A-pillar. Once that is removed gently pull at the pillar from the top and bottom until it pops out. It will pop out suddenly and forcefully. When this happens don't worry it's nothing you did wrong and you didn't break anything. Next remove the running board and kick plate. Once they are removed you can remove the piece under the steering wheel if you are tapping into the fuse box. If you are tapping in at the cig lighter this piece can stay on. Once the last piece is off you can unbolt the fuse box and find the wire you want to tap into. You can either use a vampire tap and hope it makes a strong enough connection, cut the wire and solder the new wire in to the two pieces (what we did), or you can not remove the fuse box at all and just use an add-a-circuit fuse. Once you have discerned which wire you'll be using, keep in mind it must be an ACC source run your wire. We started by tucking the end into the headliner with about 5" left hanging, then ran it across the headliner, down the pillar, and under the dash keeping plenty of slack to be safe. I bought some wire from radio-shack that had a red and black wire together to make life simple. We used the windshield wiper circuit which is light green with no stripe for power and a bolt for a ground. Once you have connected both ends of the wire try turning it on to make sure you have a strong connection. If your wire is ran correctly the LED on the mirror will light up green. Now de-attach the mount from the rest of the mirror. On mine it was one self retaining phillips head screw. Now your next step is to thoroughly clean the windshield and mirror mount of any grime or old epoxy. Now apply your new adhesive to your mount and immediately place it on the windshield where you marked earlier. Now because on mine there was a piece of glass missing I had to use extra epoxy and epoxy around the whole mount. Normally you would just need to use it on the button itself. The instructions for mine said to use only one drop but I decided to be a little more liberal. The first two times we tried to mount it it would not stay once the mirror was attached because of the missing piece of glass. So we ended up using a 2 part epoxy and coating the mount liberally. Once the mount has had time to set you can now attach the rest of the mirror. The one unforeseen issue we had was the plastic piece that hides the wire. Because we had to mount my mirror exactly where the old one was to cover the glass the plastic piece was to long. So after some careful cutting of the plastic piece the mirror fit and was able to be screwed in. To be careful we did not adjust the mirror yet. Once the mirror was attached the interior was re-assembled in the reverse of removal. Once it was back together the mirror was adjusted and voila.

A good chunk of this time was spent waiting for the adhesive to set. So it may take you more or less time depending how well you know the interior of your car. Also take into account how humid it is on the day of installation as that will affect drying time for the adhesive.

Tomorrow my cluster bulbs should be in along with the map light bulbs. The one light that was not done today that could've been done was the glove box because the light wouldn't come out. The last thing we did was replace the blower motor resistor. I've had the resistor since last year I just haven't gotten to replacing it. There are two screws just above the passenger side kick plate and a brown harness plug. Remove the brown harness, unscrew the two screws and the piece falls out. When reinstalling it do not attach the harness until both screws are in or the inside screw will be a bitch to get in. Big thanks to Neil for helping me with this.

Mirror's still holding up good? And did you notice it dim at all?

Yea, the mirrors still holding fine. It dimmed for a little while on the way home and then stopped. I think the sensors might just be dirty so I'll clean them and see what happens.

UPDATE TIME PART #2!

Sorry for the delay folks. My vacation was a crazy vacation. I was hoping to have at least one day to myself to get this completed but sadly it was not meant to be.

Luckily today while on my lunch break I looked over and remembered I had my new map lights in my car so I figured what the hell. Might as well see how involved this is going to be. To my surprise the cover was very easily removed. There is a self retaining plastic screw in the sunglass holder part and two clips in the rear. Once the screw is out the whole unit comes down with a firm tug. Once removed you will see the 2 festoon bulbs staring back at you. Gently remove them and place them aside. Grab your 2 replacement bulbs (RL-4410) and insert them into the brackets. You may have to bend the bracket slightly to ensure solid contact on each end of the bulb. Polarity does not matter with these. When installing these make sure the LED's are facing the reflecting piece. Otherwise the end result will not be as bright or well dispersed. You may be able to replace these bulbs by simply removing the plastic covers and pulling out the old bulb. I was unable to so I pulled the whole cover off. While doing this I checked the size of the vanity bulbs. They are not the same size as the map lights. They are smaller in width and diameter so I have to do some more digging on the SBL website and try and figure out which size they are. Re-installation is as per usual the reverse of removal. But before you put the cover back up make sure you check that each bulb is working properly. Now for some more pictures.

Dome light with LED # 3022-4:


Map lights with LED # RL-4410:


And as promised pics of the auto-dimming mirror and dash piece. In the picture of the mirror you can see the cracks I was talking about. These cracks are only on the inside and are not visible from the outside.





For those of you that are stuck with the ugly wood grain dash piece I can not stress how much of a difference this piece makes. If you intend to swap it out the black piece only came on the XE and SE trim levels. To me the whole dash just flows better now that there is continuity across the entire length of it.

Now all I have left to do is pull the cluster out and swap the 4 illumination bulbs and research which size bulb is in the vanity lights and swap them out. Stay tuned for part #3. The final saga!

And as far as updates go. . .

I got the dash lights done this morning with thankfully no hiccups. For those of you who are doing this, first tilt your steering wheel all the way down to give yourself a little more room to work. If you don't know how to tilt the steering wheel then you probably shouldn't be attempting this. Now there are 2 philips head screws visible from the top of the cluster shroud. When removing these be sure to apply a lot of force with your screwdriver to make sure you do not strip the heads. It took me a good 15 minutes of fighting with the left hand one to get it out. If you have access to a stubby philips head I would recommend using it for the left side because the turn signal stalk gets in the way and is a nuisance. Once the two screws are out place them somewhere where they won't get lost. I used the little pocket in the drivers door to hold all of my screws from this part of the project. Now I took a flat head screwdriver and started working my war from right to left around the right side of the shroud. Once that started to pop out I started to work my way around the left hand side. Once the whole shroud was free I had to wiggle it back and forth to unplug the 3 harnesses. The 3 harnesses are, 1 for the security light, 1 for the rear defogger, and 1 for the hazard button. I used the flat head to make removal of the clips easier. Once all the clips are detached I started to bend and wiggle the dash piece out. It is possible to get the shroud out with the steering column intact. It just takes time and patience. Once that popped out I placed it on the passenger seat away from where I would be working. Now there are 4 philips head screws steering back at you around the edge of the cluster. Removal of these is straight forward, just be careful not to drop them. Once they were removed I placed them with the other 2 that were removed earlier. All 6 screws you have removed are the same size so there is no need to keep them separated. Once all 4 are removed you can now pull the cluster towards yourself being very careful with the odometer reset pin and the 2 harnesses. Unclip the 2 harnesses and turn the cluster over. Now you're looking for the bulbs that say ILL next to them. There are 5 total. I only replaced 4 of them. The 5th is the illumination for the odometer. To remove the bulbs from their holders I wrapped the bulb in paper towel and gently pulled with a pair of needle nose pliers. Once all 4 were done I plugged the harnesses back in and checked to make sure all 4 lit up. These are polarity sensitive so if at first they do not light turn the bulb 180 degrees and try again. Re-installation was the reverse of removal. When reinstalling the dash piece take your time and do not force it. It only bends so much. Pictures will follow tonight when it gets dark out.

But in the mean time I snapped a comparison picture of the vanity lights.



The cool white festoon LED is on the left and the OEM halogen festoon is on the right. I ordered the 4 bulbs last night to finish this project and they should be here by the end of the week.

Also, for anyone replacing the map lights. If you break the plastic screw in the sun glass holder an 8mm x 1.25 bolt is just slightly to small to fit securely, so use some teflon thread tape and voila! You have a replacement.

Oh I should have probably given you a heads up about tilting the steering column down

So whats this I hear about the windshield...? lol

I did LEDs in my Cougar in the dash. I used a 5x LED kit that a Ford aftermarket dealer puts together.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/69-70-Ford-...#ht_4126wt_1227

He has a kit for 72-79 Mid Sized cars as well.. (kit = # of bulbs and proper colors for all indicators, inverted LEDs for the indicators, 5x LEDs for illumination).

I'm tempted to do the rest in the interior as well

Edit: Yes, original lights were wayyyyy dimmer than that.



Any pics of your plate light?

I was waiting for someone to make a comment about that.



Umm. . .yea. Neil leaned a little to hard and well the mirror kinda came off. Thankfully you can't see it from the outside.



I can take some pictures tomorrow. Do you want day shots or night shots?

night if you can.

I had to drop my car off at a buddies house this evening to get some stuff sandblasted for CFK. So all I have is this shot. When I get my car back I'll get some night shots.

So here we go. THE FINAL UPDATE.

Just now I managed to get a decent shot of all the gauges with my phone and I installed the LED's in the vanity mirrors. I also snagged a night shot for P2 of the license plate lights.

License Plate Lights:

Full Dash Shot:

Vanity Mirror:

Once again, a big thanks to Neil for helping me out with the first part of this project. I must say being the guinea pig for this on nissanclub was kinda fun but sucked in the same way that I spent a lot of money that future Altima owners won't have to from buying the wrong bulbs to having to place multiple orders resulting in paying shipping multiple times. But I am definitely glad I did it and now we know there is a plug & play solution for everything.