So amongst other light/wiring stuff I've dealt with, I had the centre console stuff out so thought I'd replace the shifter bulb with an LED as it had often flickered or gone off.
However it turns out the problem is most likely the holder the bulb sits in and my LEDs also struggle to stay in it, and if I put a bulb in and tap the holder it often flickers off/on again.

The other issue is my LEDs seem too long to be used since this bulb is held in the clear plastic shifter guard and when you try to clip that down on the shifter it has an annoying white plastic block point blank in front of the LED so it just knocks my LEDs out of this loose bulb holder.

Anyone got any tips or parts I can use? I could try to put it back together with the original bulb but it's still going to annoy my if it keeps going off cos of a looser holder or whatever 😞

This shows where the bulb is held in the guard

The original size bulb on left, LEDs middle and right

So I played around some more and also found the domed LED don't fit in the ashtray space either and the no-domed ones are too directional upwards whereas they need to go sideways.
I may be able to squeeze a non-domed one into the shifter light spot but I'm fairly sure there is an issue with either the holder's connectivity causing them to flicker (multiple bulbs) or the wire going into it. I don't really have a way to test 😞 But I'll at least need shorter but side illuminating LEDs if possible?
I thought maybe I could trim the top off the plastic but there is a little resistor or something on 1 of the wires from the bulb inside there so I can't save any vertical space that way 😞

My issue is 1 the LEDs seem to stick out too far and 2 the socket/wire seems to result in an intermittently flickering bulb so I dunno what I can do about that - I don't wanna put this back together and have a flicker 😕

If anyone has experience with this light, or knows where I can buy LEDs that fit (same for the ashtray that also doesn't fit my dome one and the direct one doesn't really light it) that'd be great.
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So I just had another fiddle and basically if I twist the holder (it twists into place in the plastic guard) then it almost definitely makes the light flicker/go off. So is this likely a dodgy wire? or dodgy connections in the holder? or loose holder connections?
I don't really want to have to cut back the wire and replace it and refit the holder as it disappears under the shifter unit.

 

If the original bulb also flickered, then it is definitely a wiring issue at the socket

 

Update!

I tried these sockets for the bigger bulbs, but the 'latch' bit on the side is be too wide for the gaps in the PCB so they were useless - I went back to using the originals!

These T5 bulbs I used in the dash for the 2 small ones including their sockets to replace the 2 blue sockets, and they worked well!
I also used these lights to fit in the gearshift light and it fits nicely as it's short! And no flickering at all! Only down side is the light is pointed end on whereas the gearshift to light is above it when it's fixed in place sideways, but can't complain at finally having a non flickering gearshift light! Just be nice if there were some of these small wedge bulbs where the LED was mounted for sideways illumination not end-on?
I also used them for the ashtray light which was a tight fit in the socket but works fine, and I think also the glovebox light and the key barrel light.

These T10 ones below I used in the cluster for the 3 larger bulbs, put in the front for sidelights, and put in the boot/trunk too

IMPORTANTLY :
The LEDs I had tried before were the ones with 2 wires sticking out of them as seen in my above posts, and the flickering problem you see in the video happened on the cluster ones too. The fact I can't find any like that now and the fact the ones I'm using are all the type where the actual pcb board with metal contacts is used to plug in (like the ones linked in this post) instead of plastic holders with flimsy wires is probably the reason. Last night I had to solder a load of the wire ones back on as the wires come off when you pull them out of the sockets. Basically, don't get any like you see in previous posts, get ones like you see in this post where you're plugging board in not plastic with wires wrapped on it.


My cluster with a spare blue LED in while I fixed some white ones - I liked the gradient so much I nearly kept it!

My ghetto tester for testing lights!

These wedge bulbs were a tight fit in the ashtray lighter socket here, but it did work well in the end

You can see the same smallw edge LED used for the gearshift and it's working and not flickering, I deduce it's the older design with wires in the sockets causing it instead of pcb with metal contacts shoved in like the other picture. Only downside is you see it's a hotspot not shining 'around'

Now the gearshift is lit at least, allbe it not evenly. The ashtray LED works nice and is illuminating the handgell which is super cool. I've seen that done in the drink holder too