I put together a tutorial on the LED swap. I think its pretty intense, check it out and let me know what you think. It is hosted from my website because it seemed a little big for the forum.

Feedback is welcomed, enjoy and happy modding.

http://www.sickstick.com/Downloads/2011SciontCLEDSwap.pdf

Very nice, i'm still looking to do my first one. great job!!

Good write up. Pictures could be a little clearer as some are a little fuzzy, but spot on about everything. I know that you mention you are using a cordless soldering iron, but be sure to mention to with all soldering irons, the wattage should be around 15watts for amatuer users. Great care and skill are needed if using higher wattage irons. As you mention in the write up, they can potentially burn through the LEDs.

Wow, you've given me hope for LED swapping! 14 LEDs isn't nearly as bad as I was thinking it would be.

Two things:

1. I would put a caution or something in your write up about re-installing the needles. I only say this because I didn't realize my needles were installed wrong when I first tore my dash apart and my rpms were way off.

2. You said the circuit board has marking for the current, do the LEDs have markings too?

Between you and SquallHeart, we really have LED swaps down. Great write up!

I love this! Great job on filling us in with this :)

I did some correcting added the suggestions this far.

Here is a tutorial I put together to change your clock display on your 2011 Scion tC!

Feedback is welcomed, enjoy and happy modding. I know I plug my company in it but seriously, it was an enormous PITA finding these things.

http://sickstick.com/Downloads/2011SciontCClockLEDSwap.pdf

awesome and very detailed, i love it

now i see you have a red on the site, anyway to get pics of a stock and ur red side by side?

sure I'll have ya a pic tomorrow

@Mighty

The best thing to do is to look closely at the LEDs already on the PCB (printed circuit board). In one corner of the LED, there will be a small corner that looks indented. Here is a pic of one.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.digikey.com/renders/Vishay%2520Semi%2520Renders/Vishay%2520-%2520PLCC-2%2520Pkg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts-kws/plcc-2-led&usg=__hQ0JfLkZyCOTihe4uXT9AmRSiVk=&h=640&w=640&sz=102&hl=en&start=0&sig2=fM21UISyXvUA-CU6EHJJ2w&zoom=1&tbnid=bZqvSb7QLetQ6M:&tbnh=145&tbnw=171&ei=AMKCTaPXPM680QHCw_XQCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPLCC-2%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2ADFA_enUS377%26biw%3D1357%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=466&vpy=82&dur=399&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=95&ty=145&oei=AMKCTaPXPM680QHCw_XQCA&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

Notice, the indentation. The new LEDs you order will appear the same. Keep that notch in the same location when resoldering. So if the indentation is in the bottom left when taking the old LED off, put the new LED down with the indentation on the bottom left.

Make sense? Or should I explain a little more?

Wow, finally someone to give Papa Bear a run for his "How to Install" money!!!

Great on both of you!

BTW, you take custom color requests?

^ Ahh... Makes sense. I'm a little slow sometimes.

No problem. And I would also suggest before you screw the gauges back to the dash and reinstall everything that you plug the harness into the back of the gauges to test the lights. If one does not light up, just flip it. But all notches should be in the same area.

Also, the 14 LEDs that he is talking about only changes the color of light around the needles. If you wanted to do all of the light indicators (turn signals, cel, bright lights...) you will need more LEDs.

Depends on the color what are you looking for?

No problem. And I would also suggest before you screw the gauges back to the dash and reinstall everything that you plug the harness into the back of the gauges to test the lights. If one does not light up, just flip it. But all notches should be in the same area.

Also, the 14 LEDs that he is talking about only changes the color of light around the needles. If you wanted to do all of the light indicators (turn signals, cel, bright lights...) you will need more LEDs.

Yeah didn't go through all of the, I changed my traction control off light green lol, now I need to change out the VSC light from amber to green. Also I changed my turn signals to white...which I don't suggest since they are extremely bright...but I like the way it looks.

Ohh yeah definitely test it, one thing to be sure of is to not push the needles too far down because they get stuck on the black cover, it makes you think you fried something when it happens.

great writeup! hey.. it's a LCD, not LED display! well.. LCD with an LED backlight.. lol

i had wanted to make a video, but I was pushing so quick to be the first person to swap a 2nd gen and get photos of it up online... i was unable to put up any DIY.

for the most part, the process hasn't changed.. only difference is number of LEDs and disassembling the car (which like every other scion.. comes apart like legos).. at that point.. there wasn't much need to post one up.

thanks for putting this together though! certainly a nice effort and i'm sure people uncomfortable at just yanking away at the legofied interior will feel more better knowing.. yes! you can just yank this part and that.. and it comes out. LOL.

hope you don't mind. i merged both your topics together to make it somewhat easier to keep track.. being together, yanno.

Wow, finally someone to give Papa Bear a run for his "How to Install" money!!!

Great on both of you!

BTW, you take custom color requests?

If he was closer I would make a video with him on this!

Sweet thanks for merging the two I'll prolly have the hvac tutorial to go with it next week.

The odometer is an LCD display with led back lighting. The clock is a 8 segment LED display. Actually called a vacuum florescent display.

ahh.. that's right. it's called a VFD (which yes.. is cheap as hell to make and produce)...
i got it confused as even more older styles used EL

dude, thanks for taking the time man. this is great stuff!

scary, im not gonna attempt lol

Sooo... I'm giving this a shot. Started with the Airbag OFF LEDs in case I royally screw up, it's no big deal. That said, I can't seem to get the Airbag OFF lights to work. I'm using white PLCC2 LEDs, they're oriented properly and there is a solid piece of solder on each end. I did notice there is a difference between the original LEDs which had 2 points on each end and the new ones which only have one, large connecter on each end. Further, my soldering skills are rudimentary (at best) and I basically have a glob on each end (though I did check to ensure globs didn't touch).

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Soo... When I put the original LEDs back on, they worked. Just wouldn't work with the new ones. I also have my cluster gauge LED swap nearly complete. Plugged the circuit board in and the new LEDs work wonderfully. It's after 1am, so I'll finish tomorrow, but I still can't figure out why I can't get the Airbag ON/OFF LEDs to work correctly.

The stock LED is a 4 point PLCC4 and of course you are replacing with a two point PLCC2. When replacing this LED make sure that you have it placed right. Personally, I don't like the Airbag off light running, so I never bothered to fix mine, I took it not lighting up as a problem with my solder joint. I contacted Oznium about carrying PLCC4 leds and they said they might if there was enough interest. I'll take mine out and see if I cant get it to come back on. Sorry about that man, post some pics!

What are you looking for pics of?

And I may try the airbag on light again. I may have just burnt out the LED before getting it finished.

It's a good thing those PLCC2 LEDs are cheap! I destroy half of them. :(

Sorry for the late response, but ill take pics of what I have changed and show ya what im looking for. Its basically the inside of the knob modules.

Just replaced the light in the window control unit. It's a square, 5mm LED stock, so just a matter of pulling that one out and putting a new one in. I used a round, 5mm bulb I had from Radio Shack. It works, but you have to set it at an angle or you'll block the window switch.

I'll post pictures tonight.

Can we get this stickied, please?

agreed...also

the guide only shows how to change the main background leds...but not the indicator lights. i'm sure it's pretty easy but this might helpful to those who want to plan before they take things a part...

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/6272/tc2instrumentcluster.jpg
Left cluster going from bottom left in a clock-wise motion
Headlight Low Beam - Green
Low Coolant Temp - Green
High Coolant Temp - Red
Open Door - Red
AT Trans Fluid Temp - Red
Air Bag SRS - Red
Electric Power Steering - Red
ABS - Orange

middle section going from left to right
Low Fuel Level - Orange
Left Turn Signal - Green
Smart Key - Orange (thanks eddystc)
Seat Belt Reminder - Red
Headlight High Beam - Blue
Check Engine - Orange
Right Turn Signal - Green

Right cluster going from bottom left (above needle) in a clock-wise motion (finish under the needle)
Tire Pressure - Orange
Charging System - Red
Low Engine Oil Pressure - Red
Brake System - Red
Vehicle Stability - Orange
Slip - Orange
Eco Driving - Green
Maintenance Required - Orange
Traction Control Off - Orange
Cruise Control/Set - both Green

...........i'm not sure what the key with "!" means or what color...and if i made any errors since i did it from memory just let me know

^ thats for the smart key. It lights orange and indicates that the key is not inside the car either when the car is already on or when its off and try to start it.

This gauge swap tutorial says you need 19 LED's but the actual tutorial only shows switching 12. Is that to provide extra's or are there actually 19 LED's to be swapped?

I wonder if a swap with green leds would be nice.

I wonder if a swap with green leds would be nice.

i hope so. was scanning through colors on aftermarket radio the other day, and decided green looked good, and im gonna swap mine out green

green looks good. :)

you dont have pictures of green by chance do you?

sorry... i didn't take any when i did one.. didn't really have a camera at the time..

i would say just do it.

already ordered. green for all regular lights, and white for any warning lights, so ill still notice when they come on. checked out ozniums site pictures to see green

cool. you planning to do the work yourself?

lemme know if you need any help.

Yea. I've already torn everything apart so I got that down, and coworker has done his gauges before so he's gonna help out

leds just arrived, and holy crap. i didnt think they were that small. i dont know if my hands are gonna be steady enough to undertake this one

i use tweezers... but i also grow out my left hand fingernails a little bit as well if i need more control than tweezers. trust me.. these leds are not small compared to others i have dealt with.

breathe, take a deep breath, and relax. it might take some time to do.. but the biggest thing is be patient and don't rush it.

for anyone else with NO experience doing this, its not the easiest thing. on two leds the surface on the board that solder sticks to came off, was able to fix one but not the other.

and a question. the three LEDs on lower display for mileage, i can not get them to light up. tried relacing with new ones incase i burnt the first ones, and still nothing. any ideas?

.. you ripped the pads off the circuit board??
too much heat..

the leds that are wired in series/parallel.. if one doesn't work in a series, the rest in that series will not work.

as far as what it could be? exactly? could be one led doesn't work (or two.. or all three)... or you messed up the circuit board... besides those.. there's not much else.

pads came off i believe because the solder wasnt completely seperated from leds and i yanked on it. and do you know which one is first in line in the series? i noticed when i hit one side of some leds it lit up some of the leds, and i know one of em did.

and the bad part, the middle of those 3 was one where pad came off. any way to still get current through to light up the last in the line?

repair it... make jumpers from one part to another if you really ripped the pad and cant get a connection.

This gauge swap tutorial says you need 19 LED's but the actual tutorial only shows switching 12. Is that to provide extra's or are there actually 19 LED's to be swapped?

19 Are shown in the Gauge cluster swap tutorial:

7-Tach
7-Speedometer
3-Odometer/MPG/Trip Gauge
2-Fuel

---------
for anyone else with NO experience doing this, its not the easiest thing. on two leds the surface on the board that solder sticks to came off, was able to fix one but not the other.

and a question. the three LEDs on lower display for mileage, i can not get them to light up. tried relacing with new ones incase i burnt the first ones, and still nothing. any ideas?


Gotta take it slow if its your first swap. The key is know how to control the heat and always work on them like its your only chance and you cannot order a new one. Previous soldering experience helps tons. One of the reasons I recommend using the soldering gun in the tutorial is that you can use it to push the LEDs and you don't end up ripping off the solder pads.

I havent been on Scionlife much lately but if you get into a bind and need some help you guys feel free to email me at Contact@sickstick.com and ill be more than happy to give ya some advice.

Blood...u dont happen to have any people in the SoCal area that could do the swap for those of us in need, would u?

ill have to find someone to help me out with part where i ripped off pad, but i lost the two displays showing gear and mileage.

buuut, overall, very happy with new looks :)

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/313614_10150344203017690_647487689_8389713_870763850_n.jpg

That's sexy, thats what I want with my black tc. Can you post the link to what leds you bought? And is that at its brightest setting?

i just went to oznium as suggested in tutorial. and thats headlights off brightness. its plenty bright

I don't want to do this on my own. :( can I pay someone in San Diego to do this for me?

you're in a military town... talk to the navy guys there and see if you can find someone... or talk to friends.. or buy an iron at Fry's.. and maybe a practice soldering kit there too.

btw.. photos never are accurate when it comes to lighting.. the photo above is really overexposed... (aka... it isn't that bright)

as far as socal is concerned... i have few friends i know down there (i'll ask)..
and many folks who wait until i make a visit (one buddy waited over 2 years until we finally got a schedule that worked for both of us.. :shock:)

good looking out SquallL...

i've been able to solder some other things to give me practice (HVAC leds, window button led, shifter leds, strip leds for the glove box...mainly big stuff) so im getting a somewhat good feel...

i might just have to man up and try to swap the gauge myself. its the only thing left!

the gauges aren't as bad in my opinion. just re-aligning the needles is really the only non-soldering thing that would remotely give someone trouble... and even then that's not bad at all.

soldering small leds?? ehh.. takes some practice... but it really isn't too hard once you get the hang of it.

^still need a practice on soldering smell LEDS. A/C botton light is not workin. mess it up, i think... ahaahaha

the gauges aren't as bad in my opinion. just re-aligning the needles is really the only non-soldering thing that would remotely give someone trouble... and even then that's not bad at all.

soldering small leds?? ehh.. takes some practice... but it really isn't too hard once you get the hang of it.

my main problem with solder is i dont have the feel yet...in my opinion...i leave the solder on too long...or in the wrong spot. either way, i feel like i take too much time on it and im scared that i'm going to burn the board (either by leaving it on too long...or being in the wrong spot so i have keep putting the solder on the board more than i need to)

Do any of you guys know where I can find pink led lights for my gauges. Id really appreciate it thanks

i found some for the gauges, but if you want to do your whole dash pink, the other leds might be slightly difficult to find.

link to leds for gauges. http://www.oznium.com/plcc-2

^^ thanks well I just would like to just the 2 gauges pink. So with these leds I need to take the dash off right

Not the whole dash just a couple pieces from the dash. So you can get to the gauges.

I hate re-aligning the needles. Its always a PITA. Do any of you guys know where I can find pink led lights for my gauges. Id really appreciate it thanks

Cillia820:http://www.oznium.com/plcc-2 Oznium has pink PLCC2 LEDs

I just finished changing out my gauge cluster lights to blue LEDs to get away from the stock orange, now the light for the AC is bugging me. As you all know, when you click the button on to turn on the AC the light that comes on is Orange. I want to change it out. Has anyone done this? If not, I was thinking of doing a write up, but I would be very very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

take it all apart. and i believe all you do is cut them. and solder on the new ones. i know kidjustin swapped his out. my bulbs are sitting in my room awaiting install.

heres a link to the correct ones
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/component-leds/filter/Color,Blue,3,14:

its the 5mm ones

and these are for the ac controls also. there the ones that light up the other part of the controls. and there the 4mm ones (NeoWedge series LED Lamp)

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Finstrument.html

ive changes 99% off all my lights/leds on my car. if you have any questions. im glad to answer to the best of my knowledge.

take it all apart. and i believe all you do is cut them. and solder on the new ones. i know kidjustin swapped his out. my bulbs are sitting in my room awaiting install.

heres a link to the correct ones
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/component-leds/filter/Color,Blue,3,14:

its the 5mm ones

and these are for the ac controls also. there the ones that light up the other part of the controls. and there the 4mm ones (NeoWedge series LED Lamp)

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Finstrument.html

ive changes 99% off all my lights/leds on my car. if you have any questions. im glad to answer to the best of my knowledge.


Ahh thanks for the details on what to order. I might send you a PM if i run into a snag while putting them in in next week.

the button part?

once u get to it...i desoldered...then pulled them out
reinserted the leds from the holes of the original
soldered

done

just make sure everything is put back THE SAME way...oh and that the leds are in correctly of course

Hi everybody il this swap the soldering thing doesnt bother me its to remove the needles ......how you do it because in the past few year a brake many cluster by broken needle ...... to you have a trick ?, is they where glue to the shaft? does I have to pull very hard etc.... its just to give a feeling if I am going to pull to hard .thanks a lot have a nice day !!:icon_razz:

Pull by the knob, not the needle.

Alright so just finished and only have 2 problems, my display is blank orange (where MPG goes) its lit up by the leds behind if but no info is being displayed
And my mph needle wont light up and seems like the speed is deff not accurate

Anyone find replacement for that little LCD screen that shows all the different info or maby I didn't plug it back in all the way?

any help is much appreciated Thanks!!

what about buying new needles? my gas one is a little messed up

Alright so just finished and only have 2 problems, my display is blank orange (where MPG goes) its lit up by the leds behind if but no info is being displayed
And my mph needle wont light up and seems like the speed is deff not accurate

Anyone find replacement for that little LCD screen that shows all the different info or maby I didn't plug it back in all the way?

any help is much appreciated Thanks!!

what about buying new needles? my gas one is a little messed up


All fixed, i feel like a tard the LCD wasnt plugged all the way in i think it was mightyp that suggested it idr tho, pic doesnt do justice it transitions from orange to red CEL now white and trac off is white
http://s11.postimage.org/yoxd2cok3/IMG560.jpg

Very nice

Blood born... If I paid ya would you be interested in swapping my leds for me!?! I can ship and pay for shipping! I want someone who is really good at doing this and don't trust myself..... So wanna help me out???

37 degrees? Dang bro, Thank god for Florida

I need assistance with a swap i just did for a club member locally. I first ordered yellow LEDs that turned out looking like crap, so we went with the white led, yellow vinyl approach that turns out looking like yellow/green. Anyhow my main issue is that I cannot get the 3 leds around the Tach gauge to light up. I have done multiple led swaps on multiple scions and have not had this issue so far. Initially I removed the 3 leds around the needle and only installed the one above the needle and tried powering it on, and obviously it didnt work. So i found that i missed the other two and installed them also, and they still will not turn on. Also, the dimmer switch doesn't want to work always. I have unsoldered and resoldered atleast 3 leds in each spot, and added solder to multiple more leds hoping that there was a connection issue to one of the leds in the series.. however i cant find any other led that isn't working properly..
So:
1. I need suggestions on making gauges yellow, that doesn't look yellow/green
and
2. I need help troubleshooting the leds around the Tach Needle

Please and thank you!!
-Sommerz

Hey Guys,

I was wondering I have been searching around and some say that with the blue or red LED's you need resistors? Anyone have experience with that?

Thanks a lot!

@jngox3 - I just did a swap on my cluster and made it all blue. Personally I didn't use any resistors and it is plenty bright for me. This is the first swap I did so resistors may make it brighter? I didn't use them though and it looks great.

you don't need resistors.. i wouldn't worry about it.

you don't need resistors.. i wouldn't worry about it.

Okay awesome! Thanks for the quick response guys! I'm excited for this, surprised there are not a lot more people doing it or, at least posting about it.

Another question,

So i purchased the iron that the OP posted about, I attempt to use it on the board and it doesn't appear to melt. Just seems to be melting the plastic on the LED but not enough to melt the solder

Anyone use a different Iron?

Only reason you'd want resistors is to make the light less bright. And you might want them somewhat less bright, depending on what color you use.

And while I can't speak to the specific iron you're using, make sure it's heated completely before trying to melt the solder. The solder will go from solid to liquid instantly as it hits the right temp.

To answer your specific question, I just used a 15W soldering iron I bought from Home Depot (or maybe Lowes...). Worked just fine.

Damn, this woudl look pretty cool but I am terrible at electrical...

Thanks for the quick reply!

I was just not waiting long enough for the heatup.

Seems to be going okay now!

One last thing (hopefully haha)

The solder I am using keeps balling up, was there any additional prep involved to get it to not do that?

Thanks again for all the help!

It's not hard. Just tedious. Im terrible at this stuff and I managed it.

Missed your last question. Short answer is, no, there is no additional prep you can do. Solder will bead up. Unless there is some trick I don't know, you just have to work with it.

Thanks for all your help mighty P! I got it all done!

The only thing left is the needles, I changed the LED's but the needles are still orange, after searching I found that you can remove it with Nail polish remover, but I can't figure out how to pull the plastic off the needle. Do you just pull?

Thanks again!

Ya, I just used nail polish remover to take off the paint. To remove the needles I use 2 spoons and use them as leavers at the same time. Just wedge them under the needle and push. You can just pull as well, but I felt this the safer method.

ok so i finished the swap with red needles and white gauges and i have three problems :cry:

first, my tach and speed needles arent moving

second, my gas gauge is pointing straight down

and last, none of the white LEDs are lighting up

any help is mucho appreciated!

ok so i finished the swap with red needles and white gauges and i have three problems :cry:

first, my tach and speed needles arent moving

second, my gas gauge is pointing straight down

and last, none of the white LEDs are lighting up

any help is mucho appreciated!

Your needles are probably pushed too far down, pull them back up and just push them down just enough to hear like one or 2 clicks.

The gas gauge needs be zero'd out. Well all needles do. It's in the Guide the OP wrote.

The LED's I'd make sure all the joints look good, also make sure none are burnt out, you can use the soldering iron and another object to quickly tap both sides to test if the light lights up.

dumb question but the iron has to be on to test them correct?

Yeah just very briefly as you don't want it to burn the LED

Ok well I got everything else working fine, but the white gauge leds still aren't working. I took a few off and tested them individually and nothing. Must have got a bad batch?

It's very unlikely that you got a bad batch. The LED's on the display are hooked up in a series circuit. So if 1 of them is not fully connected, then a large portion of them will not work. My guess is 2 or 3 of them are not connected, or they are on backwards. Make sure they are all on the correct way, and use some solder to connect them better

ok so i repleced all of them and still nothing. connections are all solid and now my cel and no trac lights are both on. do i need resistors to run the whites?