Ok, now I've seen this done, so I KNOW it's possible. I've seen people change their guages, dash and console lights, and clock to glow blue (or any other color) by putting a blue LED behind them, and getting rid of the stock amber/orange glow in their 5th gen Ludes. Can some people please help me out on how to do this? I've found a few pics of finished products, but nothing to show me the steps on how to do it, and I'd like to have an idea of what I'm doin before I just start tearing into my interior. Thanks!

 

The clock is the easiest part. The clock is a whiteish green color normally. It has a amber plate in front of it. All I did was get a piece of plastic like a laminate that covers like a drivers lisence or sumthing then I colored it with blue permanent marker. I taped it the top and bottom and now it glows blue.

The climate control is in no way as easy. There are three major light bulbs in the climate control. One bulb for temp and fan speed on the bottom, one for the a/c rear defog and recircutlate. The last bulb covers all the arrow faces buttons. You will have to get rid of the bulbs and the plastic light shineir blocks things. Led wont work where the lgiht is becasue leds basically just shine straight. You will have to build a actual little plate behing the top ones and the fan speed. The temp should just be a brighter bulb becasue it is nealery inpossible to recreate the red blue glow using leds. The bottoms on the left side and door are pretty easy. Just take out the bulbs and put an led in there and shave it down.

This is just basic I hope it helps give you an idea of what msut be done.

 

Cool, so that takes care of how to do the center console. Now, any tips on how to remove and re-install? Don't wanna mess up the panels. Also, what about the guages? I know it's possible to just get the indiglo guages, but do you know about just LED'ing behind the stock ones to make them glow blue? and also, what to do about the needles? I know it's a lot of questions, but I really appriciate it all!

 

good thread, I want to change mine to red, I was going to be posting the same question

 

The center console removes with clips, there are 4 I believe, I just did this to my 01 EBP lude.. Just put a flat head screw driver in between the side plastic and the edge and pry. Try about 1 inch down from the top (to get closest to the clip and pry, you'll hear a pop, its ok, then on the opposite side to the same thing, do the top 2 first, then the bottom 2. After you remove the plastic, you'll see how the climate control comes out. I believe there are 2 screws that hold it in place.

The same process removes the sunroof, cruise, and dimmer box to the left of the steering wheel, again, 4 clips, 2 on each side, none on top or bottom, pry from the sides.

The gauges are a little more difficult, DO NOT remove the needles, there is no need to. There is NO filter at this point. In order to generate enough light you will need to use 8mm leds. you will notice they will not fit through the original light holes where you took the light bulb from. You will need to sand down the side lip from the led. you will not hurt the led by sanding it, also you must sand the round top of the led to make it flat to spread it's dispersion. --Let me know if you have any questions during this, since I just recently performed this.

 

Thanks a lot Katana. Now, when I get the climate control box out, how do I take it far enough apart to replace the LED's? I looked on the top of the climate control box, and their are two white "screws", but the light seems to come from them to light up the front panels, are these the LED's? If so, how do I use a standard 2-lead LED to replace them? If not, how do I take apart the climate control box to the point where I can replace the LED's?
Also, on the front of the controls, their are two lights for each button. One lights up the button (feet, head, defrost, etc.) and then there's a smaller, green light that comes on over the one you are currently using. How do I go about replacing those smaller ones?

 

You actually have to take out the climate control (unplug it from the back and disconnect the wire underneath (you have to remove the radio) to see the wire which controls the heat/cold slider. Those two white screws on top are two of the light bulbs that have to be replaced. Once you have the climate control out, you must pop each button off. Behind each button you will see a small thin plastic filter which can be popped off with a very thin small flat head screw driver. In the back you will see (2?) other plastic looking "screws" these lights also must be changed.

*Remember, when replacing standard 12v light bulbs you must solder a 470ohms resistor on the bottom of the Anode (+ side) of the LED - the Anode is the longer of the two leads. - Then when inserting the LED, if it does not light, take it back out and turn one half turn and reinsert. On normal lights, polarity does not matter. Polarity does matter with LEDs. I found this out the hard way after pulling my hair out

I don't believe you can replace the little light on top of those buttons (the ones that show which button is active) for there is a thick orange plastic filter glued into place. I guess you could heat up that area for each button to melt the glue and pop the plastic out, but I wouldn't.

here is a link to someone who performed it on an accord which will give you an idea, keep in mind, a prelude is different, and not all the same steps can be taken literally, but this gives you a good idea how to perform it.

http://www.99accord.com/HowToGuides/...cord/index.asp

 

Hey man, great post. That link helped a whole lot! I"ll be sure to post again or PM you with any questions.

 

Hi guys first time posting. I'm a complete noob at this, I just got my 00 lude and this is my first time doing anything to it.

You guys were talkin about changing the little white screw looking lights in the back of the a/c panel. I was wondering what kind of bulbs I need to replace those. And um I dont really understand where the 470ohm resistor goes?

3mm or 5mm?

Sorry but one last thing, how many led's do I need in total? I'm counting 4 twist locks in my gauges, 3 in the left panel, and 4(?) in the a/c console. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I know this is a lot of questions to ask at once, and I would be surprised if anyone takes the time to answer all of them. But any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

To get the best idea how to solder on the resistor, please see the above link to 99accord. regarding the number of LEDs, you are correct. You will need different sizes. For the Sunroof, dimmer and cruise, I used 3mm, for the a/c console (climate control), you need to use 5mm and for the gauges cluster(speedo, tach, fuel and temp) you will need to use 8mm.