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Hey guys, This is probably my first post on here, probably because I never have anything to post! But I've been looking around and Ive never seen a DIY on this and everyone thats asked I've always seen that people say it cant be done for our 2GS's!! I had to see for myself if it could, and for me it happened to work!! Some might say its "ghetto", but I think innovative is the proper term! If you wanna do it, do it. If not then whatevs, its your car.
Things you need are simple
Phillips head screwdriver
Flathead screwdriver
Colored Sharpie of choice (I used an orange one)
First, take the cluster out of the car. I didnt take any pictures, but its pretty easy, took me probably less than 5 minutes my first time. Pop the front plastic cover piece off and undo the wire harness connected to it from the clutser itself. Next there are four phillips head screws holding it in. I also had to put the key in the ignition so my steering wheel would drop. It's a little difficult the wiggle the cluster out, just turn it on its back and pull the left side out first. Work its way out and two harnesses are plugged into the right side, take those off.
Next, take the four screws off the back section, holding in the white plastic cover. There is a tab on top that you can use your fingers or a flathead to pry off and it should come off fairly easy.
Now the board is fully exposed. If you look there are four flex cables connected to it from the other part of the cluster. Take off all the bulbs, they should come off fairly easy with a smaller phillips head or a flathead, lefty loosey. Those flimsy green circuit flexible boards need to come off of the pins holding them on also. I used a flathead and carefully popped them off.
The BROWN flex connected to the board is held in by a connector, I used a flathead to carefully pry the lock off of the connection, it pops upward from the board to let the flex come off loose. be careful and dont try to pull or damage your flex, it connects to the lcd display under your speedo (displays mileage)
I didnt want to try taking off the green flexes, I wasnt sure if they could be pulled out of their connections. Didnt wanna risk that.
Next up, there is a silver screw holding the board on the main part of the cluster, take that off.
Now carefully take the board off. Take the white harness off the front of the cluster, its being held in by a tab on a metal bracket. It has four tabs holding it in, I broke TWO of them, but they dont seem to do much since the board is on there pretty sturdy. There are pins coming from the gauges also, so try and pull straight up when taking the board off. It was kind of stubborn, but you'll see why later.
Board is off, I didnt take pictures, but if you notice it has two sets of pins coming out of it that connects to the light source of the cluster. Be very careful and put this somehwere it cant be damaged.
There are two screws on the front side of the cluster, they're kind of hidden in between the gauges. phillips head screws. Take them off and undo the pins all around the cluster that are holding everything together. A white plastic section off the back should come off and expose the gauges and the light sources.
For the fun part!! I noticed I couldnt just color or change the color of the illuminating light thing, a wire is coiled around it. Didnt want to mess anything up. But I did notice that If i colored the edges of the gauges where the light flows in, of course the color of the gauges were mine to customize!!!
Sorry I dont have pictures of what the gauges looked like before, but here they are colored with an orange sharpie! I did as much of the sides as I could, I didnt want to go over into the main part of the cluster at all.
Thats all, now putting it back together just be careful and put everything back the way you took it off.
NOTICE!!!! the pins sticking out of the back of the gauges where the needles are connected, you have to kind of force them back into their connections, so AS BEFORE, try to put the board back on as STRAIGHT as possible, there are also the pins that connect into the light sources. After I put my board back on, I pushed the metal connectors of the gauges back down tight just in case, I dont know if it makes a difference, but just in case!!
I think that covers all of it. I did this because I got tired of the greenish white look. I also took the green caps off the lights of my climate control too, so now everything matches. I also chose to use sharpie because its reversible. Happy modding, I hope this helps others as much as this forum has helped me in the past!!! Clublexus is definitely a place where all lexus owners should come.
thanks guys. I figured i'd do an amberish color. I've personally always loved amber interior lighting, its so sporty and badass looking. But I also did forget all about the tinted covers we have over our gauges, so keep that in mind. At night the color is much darker than the climate control amber color i have, maybe ill have to sharpie those bulbs too?? hahah
Its a great mod if you want color. All I want is a bright pure White color with no Yellow, Blue, or Green ting to it. I don't think a white sharpie will work, and do not want to open up mines to find out it doesn't work.
Pretty sure white will simply limit the amount of light let thru. This mod could probably be done with lots of different colors using transparent colored film like e kind used on headlights and fog lights.
10-16-14, 05:09 PM
DIY Amber Colored Gauges/Cluster
