rdaneel

Hey -

After all the talk of changing the dash lights on the 4th Gen, I decided to give it a try on my 95 GLE. Short version: it takes five 194 bulbs, easy to do, takes time (an hour) to disassemble the dash and put it back together. (I can't imagine it being possible without taking the bottom dash and top steering wheel panels off as one user alleged!)

All in all, for less than $10-15 and an hour or two, a nice looking mod!

Here's are my pics and writeup:

My dashboard light writeup...

Cheers,
RDaneel

P.S. Thanks for those that have done this before and taken pics to show me the way!

P.P.S. Teaser photo:

hotmax97

Nice Work Man . How About A Red Bulb For The Redline Area I Think It Would Look Hot

rdaneel

Yeah, I mention that option in the write-up - because the bulb that's in the temp area "bleeds" into the tach as well, it would look kind of cool. Too bad I didn't order any reds, otherwise I would give it a shot!

hotmax97

Do You Know If Is The Same For A 97 Gxe??

ManualMaxima

iTrader: (10)

can you change the clor of the needles?? i would ike **** to be blue background wirth red needles

Ladzio

iTrader: (8)

No, 97-99 have different bulbs, not sure exactly which one but you can read more here


You would need to get needles separately that use their own illimination (kinda indiglo gauges technology). They are costly though, I guess $60-100

rdaneel

hotmax97 - I've heard that the 97-99 (4.5th Gen) have a different type of bulb, and they are not easily replaceble. There was another thread on dash lighting a week ago in which the poster bought a bunch of lights then found he couldn't use them!

Manual - the color of the needles is based on the color of the plastic, and that can't be changed unless you swap them out physically. I've seen dash clusters on ebay for $50-100, I almost bought one from a SE model with the white faces and red needles. AFAIK that is the only way to change their color, unless you wanted to try the Sharpie marker route...

rdaneel

Wow, Vlad, you echoed my thoughts at the exact same time!

JSutter

iTrader: (46)

So what happend to the redline? Once you put colored bulbs in.....it dissapears?

The other thread (for 97? 98-99) for colored gauges gave a link for the replacement colored bulbs. They make all bulbs (95-96 97 98-99) in LEDs too.

I can see it comming. The 97-99 owners will want clear needles to match colored bulbs...and 95-96 owners who want red needles, well I do. It seams what ever you have you're never satisfied. I hate the MOD BUG....not.

Broaner

iTrader: (10)

I will be doing this in red over X-mas. The gauges will kick off about two months of stock to red converting. After gauges are the windows. Looks good.

rdaneel

The mod bug is tough, but great...

I stayed away from the LED bulbs for two reasons: first, they're much more expensive, and second, they tend to be dimmer and directional, and you want a good "spill" of light all over so you don't have dim spots. The 4 and 6 LED 194 bulbs I have tried haven't impressed me with their brightness... (I tried them in the doors, bumper lights, and dome)

broaner - are you resoldering the door switch LEDs? I have thought about going to blue for that, too. What else are you doing in red? I'm curious, as we both have the pebble beige metallic, right?

maxsthebest

People, people, people...will anybody - EVER - decide whether the 97 Maxima take 194 bulbs or not! I have yet to see a definitive answer.

Come on folks! For once and for all, can anyone give a definite YES or NO on 194 bulbs for the 97 Maxima? Please!

Note KEVLO911 remarks below:

98 and up, 95-97 have the same thing(194)
i have said this about 8 times in the past 1.5 weeks and no one listens

rdaneel

97-99 Maximas (the 4.5th Gen) can NOT take 194 bulbs. Sorry! Something about the holes being the wrong size in the board at the back of the gauge cluster...

clee130

Oh how I wish search was still available to everybody.

*sigh*

WhiteMaxima99

so what light bulbs for a 99 se?? anyone with a haynes manuel?

clee130

Christ almighty! The answer is in this thread!










*runs off the scream and pull his hair out*

myke321

I thought we covered the whole bulb thing?

HBFT

Just a sidenote: I don't think it's that we haven't covered that 98-99s don't take 194s, but instead that us 98-99 people are curious as to what gauge bulbs our cars do take without modification. I don't know about you, but I'm dead scared of messing with electrical stuff (soldering). Besides, even if I were to attempt "the mod" there isn't really access to a writeup. Especially without the search function, the only reference I've heard to a writeup is through "Chris's Link". ("myke321 said he used Chris's link, which is to mod the dash to FIT 194s." posted by SXN) I'm not sure who Chris is, or where his link is, but yeah. The point is that, we're just curious and mean no foul or harm.

myke321

I'm feeling giving today!
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/245554/11

HBFT

ho ho ho! Thank you very much Myke

d_warner

Ummm. Not to piss in your Weaties or anything, but I changed the bulbs in my gauges in my 97 na dused 194's. I did it last week. The bulbs such as the check engine light, blinkers, and etc. can not be 194's, but the color of the needles and gauges sure as heck can.

d_warner

Read post number 20 in your own link. Geez. Don't come in here ******* people when you don't have all the facts yourself.

David

clee130

d_warner

Is that yours Clee? Looks like a normal white bulb on the far left, a hyper white for the speedo, and red LEDs on the right.

clee130

Old Maxima, but yep ... those were to show the difference in bulbs.

Eventually, I took them all out and put orange bulbs in there.

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

i was JUST about to ask if someone wanted stock look but brighter white would there be brighter white. Thats something i may do

d_warner

Hey Mecca. You might look into these wide angle White LEDs. They should work real well. And you'd get the brightest white you'd ever think about. I'm bout to place my order now.

WLED-W White LED bulb
12VDC White 1-LED Wedge Base Bulb (194/168 type)
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR

Bout two thirds down the page.

rdaneel

d_warner - I STRONGLY advise against those LEDs. I purchased those exact bulbs for my license plate lights, and they weren't even half as bright as the smoked OEM bulbs... those LEDs (actually, even multi-LED bulbs) just don't put out that much light compared to a normal filament bulb.

d_warner

Really. Cause I got their multi LED bulb, and they are bright as hell.

Did you get your bulb from there, or some autopart store?

I'm seeing that their wide angle white is 390 mcd, which is a little low, but their 4 LED bulb is 7850mcd per bulb. That's very impressive.

rdaneel

I got my bulbs from Superlumination.com (not recommended, as I had incorrect bulbs shipped, defective bulbs, and bulbs that were VERY dim). The wide angles aren't that bright, though the multi-LED arrays are much brighter. For example, I repaced the OEM yellowish-white bulbs in the doors with Polarg Hyper Whites from custommaxima.com. Then I tried the 4 LED 194 bulbs, and they were brighter from head on, but not anywhere near as bright overall because of the angle of the socket. If you have an area you want to "spotlight", the LEDs are perfect, but for diffuse lighting, I haven't had much luck.

Good luck with whichever bulbs you try!

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

OMG people listen to me, 95-97 have 194
98-99 have 74 or 72

d_warner

ha ha. I'm not disagreeing with you.

rdaneel

I had no idea this was such a vexing issue!

DMad8724

iTrader: (4)

rdaneel...i own a 3rd gen...a 91 gxe...would your way work on my gauges?

Ladzio

iTrader: (8)

I suggest you read the whole thread at that link so you could have a clue what I was talking about, allrigt buddy...

OK I'll clarify myself, the guy posted pics of gauges with red bulbs but did not say which ones, cause he could have LED buls or Incandescent bulb and that was what I was trying to find out.
Peace.

Ladzio

iTrader: (8)

So you say Polargs perform slightly worse than LED bulbs, but they diffuse light much better..... Thanks for info, because I am asking people already for weeks on the Org if someone had experience with LED bulbs and Polargs and looks like really few people tried it..

myke321

I LIKE DEM POLARGS.

rdaneel

Vlad - actually, I don't think the 4 or 6 LED bulbs are as bright as the polargs in most cases. They are brighter only in the spotlight area, otherwise they aren't as good. LEDs will get there, but they aren't there (in terms of brightness) yet. I'd stick with Polargs if you want the brightest dash.

Also, the LEDs can't be dimmed, so if you ever want to turn the illumination down, keep that in mind!

cerumo

iTrader: (2)

I've tried LEDs and polargs. Both are dimmer than stock. LEDs are even worst, like rdaneel says , the light from LED is not distributed evenly, more like pointed straight.

Clee : the mph gauge in your pic looks bright. Is that superwhite polarg?

One more thing, polarg bulbs produce a lot of heat, is it safe for our gauge?

JDogg96

you can get intelliglo needles from here http://www.importintelligence.com/index.html they make them in red, then you should just be able to get some blue leds or bulbs behind the gauges.


I just got those and I don't like them. They don't really look white. They look kind of blue on the side with the speedo and almost purple on the side with the tach. I wouldn't recomend them for behind the gauges. They do however look good in my courtesy lights.

Hey clee, what kind of superwhite bulbs do you have in that pic? That's basically the color I'm going for.