I am literally in my garage right now with my truck torn apart, and come to find out that my 1999 f150 ext. cab has green film on the gauge cluster..doesnt matter what kind of light i put in, its gonna be green...may want to spread the word...

 

woah...not cool...i wanted to do this mod to my 99 ext cab.

 

any way to post a link to the LED's you used so that I know I am getting the right ones?

 

Pics please?

Are you using LEDs or regular bulbs? From what I know, ALL 97-03 F-150's came with a BLUE film. The 3,000K color of incandescent bulbs make it look teal.

Here, take a #2 Torx bit and take off the plastic cover, and then you can remove the cluster into two pieces. If you hold the first half with the overlay up so the sun, you can see whatever color (again, should be blue) shining through.

Here you go. I searched for white LEDs (if you want blue like mine). You should order 3 as your quantity (for 6 bulbs, you need five. Or if you are doing your HVAC, order 4 quantity.) :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-pcs...Q5fAccessories

Then order 1 of these (comes with 2)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-WHI...3A1|240%3A1318

The seller of the 194's has free shipping, so thats a pretty good deal, and the 37's are pretty cheap too.

 

If you look, the back of mine is wayyyy different than yours...and if you look closely through the light hole opening, you can see the green tint on the number "0"...looks green to me at least...





Im using bulbs I got from advanced auto, theyre not LED's but they do burn white...but if my cluster has green tint, i dont think its going to matter...

 

1BAf150, thanks for the pics. It seems you have the PATS (digital readout) model. Could you hold it up to some sunlight or something and take a picture of that 0 again? And possibly the bulbs? I don't mean to contradict you, but incandescents dont burn anywhere near the clarity of LEDs. But please get those pics if you havent already put it back together, this may require changing my thread. Thanks,

-Alex

Edit: could you also find out how many bulbs the 99+ use? Your pic isnt close enough to read it, but look for the ones marked "ILL" next to them. IT looks to me you have six, is this correct? Does the 99's utilize the 37s or do they get their illumination straight from the 194s?

 

No problem, more pics on the way..I just want to get this thing figured out haha, its ok if Im stuck with green...but yea, i know its no where near an LED, but its lookin like green tint definitely...more pics now...

Ok, this is how I held the cluster with the plastic cover REMOVED. I held the front of the cluster to direct sunlight and then took a picture through the back, with NO flash on, the illuminated lights are from direct sunlight..







Looks like Im stuck with green...:/

 

PS- there are 6 bulbs that have to be replaced on the back of my cluster, sorry forgot to add that..

 

thanks for the info. I would REALLY like someone else with a 99 to confirm this.

just wondering, what color were you planning on switching to?

 

blue...

 

I bought white leds for my ac unit and installed them yesterday and it is still green. I have a 2001. If my memory is right, I think the 97 & 98's are a different shade green from the factory than the 99 - 03. I could be wrong though.

 

Okay, I just updated my thread accordingly. Here's what you can do.

A.) Buy blue LEDs and overpower the green overlay. No gaurantees on the exact output, but it wont be as green as it is now.

B.) Use some acetone and strip off the green tint. I have a spare cluster in my garage right now, so before you do that I'll go find some acetone and try and do a write-up.

-Alex

 

Ok. so dont hold this against me, but I droppef a screw puttin stuff back together and guess what I went to grab in order to help look for it...my LED, let me repeat that..my WHITE LED FLASHLIGHT...the one that never dawned on me to use on the back of the cluster...but bad news guys, its still shown through as nasty nasty green...sorry raptor, definitely a good article and project for 97's and prolly 98's to...

 

...im sad now. all i wanted was blue gauges!!!

 

1BAF150, right now I'm in the process of acetoning my old cluster. If I can get it down-pat, I'll let you know the results.

Edit: This guy did a simple swap to blue LEDs even with his stock Ford green backing: