ScottyBoy
Full Access Member
Here are step by step instructions on how to change the color of the guages in your instrument cluster in any 99-02 GMT-800 truck or SUV. This is a very quick and easy mod, as no soldering is involved and it takes less than 30 minutes start to finish.This write-up only applies to 00-02 guage clusters. 2003-2006 have the bulbs soldered to the board and the cluster has to be completely disassembled to replace the bulbs.
Here is a list of all the supplies and tools you need to accomplish this:
6- size 194 or equivalent wedge base LED bulbs of your color choice.
Here are the bulbs I used:
6 - twist lock bulb bases for a 194 size bulb.They should look like this:
-a 7mm nutdriver or 7mm socket and ratchet with at least a 6 inch extension on it
-a flatheaded screwdriver or nylon pry/trim removal tool
First, remove the instrument cluster/radio dash bezel. This plastic trim will pop off with your bare hands, no tools are needed to remove it. You will need to move the gear shifter all the way to the right (preferrably with the engine off) to get the bezel offf of the dash. Now use your 7mm socket or nutdriver to unscrew the four 7mm screws holding the instrument cluster in the dash. Now lift out the cluster and unplug the harness from the top of it. Now you need to pry the back off of the cluster to get the bulbs out. Just use your screwdriver and work your way around the cluster release each of these tabs.
once you get the back cover off of the cluster it should look like this:
The 6 black bulb bases you see will actually be gray. (I took the picture after I replaced the bulbs) Simply remove your 6 stock gray bulbs and bases by twisting them a 1/4 turn and popping them out. Now replace them with your 194 LED bulbs with the twistlock bases. Here are my LED bulbs and twist lock bases compared to the stock bulbs:
Now put the back cover of the cluster back on, but don't pop all the tabs back on just yet. Go plug it in to your dash and test it out. Turn on the parking lights and see if all your LED's are lit up. If not, take out the ones that areant and flip them around. LED's are directional, so they will only work if installed with the polarity one way. Once you verify they are all functioning properly, re-install everything the reverse of removal.
Here are some before and after pics of mine.
Before:
After:
And here are some more after shots to show how they match the rest of my blue interior LED's that I did:
The write ups to the rest of my interior LED's can be found at the following links:
LED Power window switch mod
LED AC control panel mod
Here is a list of all the supplies and tools you need to accomplish this:
6- size 194 or equivalent wedge base LED bulbs of your color choice.
Here are the bulbs I used:
6 - twist lock bulb bases for a 194 size bulb.They should look like this:
-a 7mm nutdriver or 7mm socket and ratchet with at least a 6 inch extension on it
-a flatheaded screwdriver or nylon pry/trim removal tool
First, remove the instrument cluster/radio dash bezel. This plastic trim will pop off with your bare hands, no tools are needed to remove it. You will need to move the gear shifter all the way to the right (preferrably with the engine off) to get the bezel offf of the dash. Now use your 7mm socket or nutdriver to unscrew the four 7mm screws holding the instrument cluster in the dash. Now lift out the cluster and unplug the harness from the top of it. Now you need to pry the back off of the cluster to get the bulbs out. Just use your screwdriver and work your way around the cluster release each of these tabs.
once you get the back cover off of the cluster it should look like this:
The 6 black bulb bases you see will actually be gray. (I took the picture after I replaced the bulbs) Simply remove your 6 stock gray bulbs and bases by twisting them a 1/4 turn and popping them out. Now replace them with your 194 LED bulbs with the twistlock bases. Here are my LED bulbs and twist lock bases compared to the stock bulbs:
Now put the back cover of the cluster back on, but don't pop all the tabs back on just yet. Go plug it in to your dash and test it out. Turn on the parking lights and see if all your LED's are lit up. If not, take out the ones that areant and flip them around. LED's are directional, so they will only work if installed with the polarity one way. Once you verify they are all functioning properly, re-install everything the reverse of removal.
Here are some before and after pics of mine.
Before:
After:
And here are some more after shots to show how they match the rest of my blue interior LED's that I did:
The write ups to the rest of my interior LED's can be found at the following links:
LED Power window switch mod
LED AC control panel mod
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