ok i jus got some bulbs today from somebody, but im still waitin for my led's to come in the mail. when they do im just going to swap them out. we'll here's the long and awaited how-to with pics. the only things you will need are two 74 wedge bulbs and a small flathead screwdriver (optional)

First, shift to neutral and put on the e-brake. then take the shift knob off.

http://tinypic.com/mblc9j.jpg

Next, remove the part of the console that has the cigarette lighter attached to it. just tug on the silver sides and it will pop off. after that remove the cup holder section. same thing, just pull it off. it should look like this. i just left the cigaretty lighter attached to it and moved it to the side but you can unplug it if you want.

http://tinypic.com/mblcn6.jpg

http://tinypic.com/mbld3k.jpg

ok now is time for some good 'ol elbow grease. you're gonna have pull from the lower left corner where im pointing to. gently tug and wiggle at the same time you are pulling it up. but be sure to control urself because u may risk breaking something. you should hear a single click first. that means one of the clips are unhooked. it'll make the rest easier to take off since you got some slack now. so after the bottom left corner is loose, continue to take the face plate off from the entire left side and then to the right side.

http://tinypic.com/mblfs0.jpg

http://tinypic.com/mblg1c.jpg

Notice the black plastic piece that is still on the shifter. try not to move that around as much as possible because it'll be a pain to re-align with the shift pattern.

ok next step. take a look behind the plate and you will see the bulb with a yellow rubber cap over it. it is attacked to a clear plastic piece. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS PLASTIC PIECE! it is very very sensitive and if broken, ur gonna hafta replace it otherwise it wont illuminate the shifter properly.

http://tinypic.com/mblgdt.jpg

now, you will have to remove the clear piece from the shifter face in order to get the light out. use your thumb to hold down the clip circled red in the picture. then use a small flat head screw driver to gently lift up the plastic piece. i recommend placing the screw driver next to your thumb holding down the clip. it should lift up real easily.

http://tinypic.com/mbjyo2.jpg

http://tinypic.com/mblhzd.jpg

now, twist the black plug and remove it from the clear plastic piece. pull the wedge bulb out, replace it with your led. check to see if it turns on.

http://tinypic.com/mbli78.jpg

attach it onto the clear piece and put the clear piece back into the face plate. you will have to slide the top part in first and then press down so that the clip you held with your thumb clicks back on to hold the clear piece snugly to the face plate. you should hear a couple of clicks that the clips make which means the clear piece is securely back on. turn it on again to make sure it still works.

http://tinypic.com/mbliix.jpg

put everything back on in the reverse order that u took off. now remember that black piece that stayed on the shifter? after you put the face plate back on, shift around to see if it is still all lined up. if not you will have to take it off again and re-align it. re-aligning it is basically trial and error. took me about 5 min to re-align cuz i actually took that piece off :doh:

ok onto the cubby hole!

ok go to the passenger side and pull the carpet out a little bit. there will be one clip that you will have to unclip to get enough room to work with

http://tinypic.com/mbl2qw.jpg

now, feel for the cubby and find the plug that has the cubby light on it. twist it then wiggle and pull at the same time to get it out.

http://tinypic.com/mblj6o.jpg

now, same as the shifter bulb, pull out the wedge bulb and replace it with the led. again, turn it on to see that its working

http://tinypic.com/mblkw3.jpg

put it back in the reverse order. stuff the carpet back in and dont forget to put the clip back on. turn it on again...

http://tinypic.com/mblleh.jpg

and your done! enjoy the finished product! it is much brighter in person and even brighter if its led. like i said im still waiting for mine to come in so these are regular bulbs in there right now.

http://tinypic.com/mbllqx.jpg

wow, you did the cubby light the hard way. imo

the easier way would be just to take the top consol off and reach in there and swap it out, but i never even thought about taking the carpet out.


looks good none the less :clap: :clap:

lol i thought taking the console off was more of a hassle. did the cubby in less than 5 minutes. coulda done it even faster if i wasnt taking pics lol

its all good, u got it done thats all that matters haha :P

and for the record it looks really good!

just need some red interior lighting, and red gauges to set it off real nice :P

Looks good, bro! Glad to see you did the DIY. :P Changing the Cubby Hole light all depends on your hand size. If you have S-M sized hands, you could probably do the "pull-out-the-pin-reach-behind-center console" thing. If you have L-XL hands, then your best bet is to just detach the plastic piece that houses the radio cover (close the door first!) and AC controls. (You already have the Shifter piece with the Cig Lighter detached, so it makes removing the other piece easy.) Start from the bottom and work your way up. Just be careful around the center AC Duct because you have to dislodge it from the piece. You'll see the wires. Change the bulb and put back together in reverse order. If you need a little better "lit up" shot, I can post mine here.

its all good, u got it done thats all that matters haha :P

and for the record it looks really good!

just need some red interior lighting, and red gauges to set it off real nice :P

lol actually i jus got red gauges and console tonight! lol gotta re-take the pics though cuz they came out blurry. sooo those will go up later tonight :P

Nice job! What was the light u used for the shift part? Pleasssse don't tell me its the same as the one in the cubby hole? Cuz I already changed mine to white...meaning I would have to pay for another one with more shipping. blah! Anyways, good job!!!

yup same as cubby hole. you could always try lookin for a different rubber cap to put on but i tried that already and couldnt find any.

where did you buy your bulbs from?

where did you buy your bulbs from?
I purchased mine here... http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR&keywords=&cart_id=3845607.31301&next=50.
Just scroll down a bit. The bulb size is #74.

Nice walk-through man! Im gunna use this thread to change my cubby hole bulb & when I paint my center console parts.

where did you buy your bulbs from?

yup superbrightleds.com. glad to help guys!

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1312565#1312565

my full interior with gauges and console

When you get LED's installed at the dealer do they get rid of the cubby light?? I don't have one! Maybe they forgot to put it back in....Does the 2006 model have a cubby light??

yea my gf's 06 has one, im gona swap out the auto-shifter and cubby lights. im gona order some blue 74's for it.

When you get LED's installed at the dealer do they get rid of the cubby light?? I don't have one! Maybe they forgot to put it back in....Does the 2006 model have a cubby light??

Same thing happened to me... I had the factory LED package put in my car when I ordered it... a friend of mine has an '60 tC also without the package... one night riding with him i noticed his cubby had a light in it.

I thought- weird- is it because he has the ipod upgrade and i have stock radio/cd/mp3?

then one night i was pokin' around the carpet trying to decide how hard it might be to install some LED's in a few places, glanced inside the cubby and saw a light glowing BEHIND the hole where the light is supposed to be. So- you're not the ONLY one who was lucky enough to fall victim to this mistake. oh well- i plan to change my bulb anyway. This only motivates me to get on with it.

I too had the LED package installed and I didn't notice I had a cubby light for about 6 months...leads me to beleive it wasn't working for a while...

Is it the 74 Wedge Base LED bulb or the T1.5 Instrument LED bulb at superbrightleds.com?

74 wedge bulb..not the t1.5 instrumental bulb

man that looks really really good..

Hmm I cant seem to get the Shifter part off...any other ideas? i tried using a screw driver to pry it off, but it just wont come off!! If there is any other way to get back there pllleaasssee tell me :pray:

Well i broke that one clear part :( where can i buy a replacement? :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:

yeh u shouldnt have used the screw driver to pry the shifter plate..that sucker is on pretty tight, esp. if its ur first time taking it off. reason u dont want to use the screwdriver is cuz u risk breaking some clips that hold the shifter onto the rest of the assembly. it doesnt provide enough play for the clips to release vs. using ur hands.

how did you break ur clear piece?

Well I ended up getting it off with my hands and the clear piece is completely smashed its just the clip on the bottom...(super glue maybe?) So yeah i was pulling and tugging gently...so then it came up, but the plastic clip was already off...and bam next thing i know i couldnt clip it back on...but i put my LED in it anyways and sorta set it on the shifter and then put the cover on it snapping it in place...Im thinking it will probaly rattle around in their since its not really attached to the top piece of the shifter, but im not sure other than that my white LED looks good :P

great DIY

Well I ended up getting it off with my hands and the clear piece is completely smashed its just the clip on the bottom...(super glue maybe?) So yeah i was pulling and tugging gently...so then it came up, but the plastic clip was already off...and bam next thing i know i couldnt clip it back on...but i put my LED in it anyways and sorta set it on the shifter and then put the cover on it snapping it in place...Im thinking it will probaly rattle around in their since its not really attached to the top piece of the shifter, but im not sure other than that my white LED looks good :P

well at least everything still lights up ok. if you do end up taking it apart again, mayb superglue would be sufficient. but hey, if it works now and you can deal with any possible rattles, by all means just let it be. :P

I just ordered a pair or Xenon White #74 bulbs off Ebay for $3.30 shipped. I'll be sure to post some pix once I get them and install using this thread DIY.

Check them out here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190001778070&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=009

anyone did this with white LEDs? i did mine and my shifter lights up but it kidna gets darker when it goes towards L and towards Park. any ideas on how to make this thing bright all the way through?

^^You can't make it brighter. Its the way the LED emits its light. Compared to stock bulb the LED is a little longer, thus causing some dark areas. When I switched mine out to a green LED, I noticed the dark area. After a while, I got used to it. I don't even notice it now. :P

eh fair enough.. lol.. thanks for the help. trung said the same thing but through aim haha.

Yeah I just did mine with a white led from superbrightleds.com. Looks nicer now without the horrid amber color. I did notice the slight darker spots on the L and P spots, but when its dark out you can barely notice a difference. The green N looks a little lighter now too. Looks good though. Got the same light for my cubby hole too.

anyone seen this info for xB's?

Great DIY.....I just did it and it come out great....Thanks.

lol actually i jus got red gauges and console tonight! lol gotta re-take the pics though cuz they came out blurry. sooo those will go up later tonight :P

Where did you get your gauges done? I have been trying to email LedMods.net and I have gotten no response!

wow..thread revival lol. i got em done two years ago by kenny aka rosesofhouston..before supposedly he ran off with everyone's parts and money and left them out hanging. pm squallheart. he specializes in it i believe. he and 3 other guys i think

bumping because people still keep asking.

hopefully not too stupid of a question: can i assume that just swapping in a couple led's ( ie cubby, map lights, etc ) is a simple swap of bulbs, so that one doesn't need to worry about resistors, etc unless doing a larger piece like a gauge panel? The wife wants some blue in her ride, and some of the articles i've read on here lately were making me wonder if i could do something bad here.
thx

yes, these are easy swaps. cubby and shifter are 74 wedge bulbs. you can get them at superbrightleds.com ... find the bulb, pull it out, put in new one, turn on, open mouth in aww. :)

^^ thanks. can i assume as well that the bulbs for say map lights/rear dome lights are also just the simple swap, nothing "special" needed?

Boy, i wish all these things were available "back in the day" to dress up the old rides...... I had to rely on my "10 band eq" with all the flashing lights to give me something different in the interior... of course the switch from 8-track to cassette was pure heaven as well....

lol, the front domes are easy. the middle dome SHOULD be easy (but mine is giving me some problems, i used the 9led bulb from superbrightleds.com and i dont know if it doesnt fit or what but it doesnt always light up... fronts work fine though) and the cargo bulb, last i saw no one had figured out a bulb for that

i did all the swaps a long time ago, but if i remember right, the front is a walk in the park, but the rear dome however didnt fit that well. i think it's the same size as the trunk cargo light. i never found one for the trunk and the one i bought for the rear is slightly bigger then it's suppose to be. i managed to make it fit by slipping it in at sort of an angle. the bulb is still not straight, it's kind of slanted, but it turns on and works perfectly for me with no problems. it just took a bit longer then expected.

and the cargo bulb, last i saw no one had figured out a bulb for that
They're out there. And they do work with minor adjustments.

superbrightleds.com (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR&keywords=&cart_id=7896030.21097&next=50)

Scroll down 2/3 of the page. I have the 3022-x4 LED Festoon bulb (that's the size you want) in green and it works great!

just did the interior lights with new led's.... blue in 2 dome lights, rear cargo light ( yeah a little tight but we leave switch "on" at all times so it's fine ) and the cubby light ( easy swap by pulling plug from rear without removing anything ). Also the 2 map lights are now white led's. At most a 10 minute job to replace all; and the wife is happy with her interior look. Tried to take a couple pix, but will apologize for the poor visuals. They do look better in person, and add to the effect of her footwell/cupholder lighting. And she just put on the rear tailight kit.... so it's like Christmas in June around here... for her toy anyways...
Thanks guys for the tips on changing these. And all bulbs were from superbrightleds.com; good pricing and real quick order turn.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e306/basstrack17/tclite007.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e306/basstrack17/tclite006.jpg

just wanted to let you guys know, the T1.5 Instrument LED bulb and the 74 Wedge Base LED bulb both works for either the cubby or the shifter light =]

where did you buy your bulbs from?
I purchased mine here... http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR&keywords=&cart_id=3845607.31301&next=50.
Just scroll down a bit. The bulb size is #74.

i got mine from there too, and it won't fit into the shifter socket! it's too big, i can't twist the socket to secure it enough, and as i was reisintalling everything, the bulb fell into the abyss of the tC!

tho the cubby operation went fine, i now have no light coming from my shifter

just wanted to let you guys know, the T1.5 Instrument LED bulb and the 74 Wedge Base LED bulb both works for either the cubby or the shifter light =]

how about the B8.3D Instrument Cluster LED bulb?

Hey team. I have had this mod done for about a million years now, but I just moved back to Maryland. I had to get a Maryland Safety inspection, and they told me that my shifter light for L isn't bright enough. I think its BS because there is no way to measure how bright it is (or if there is, he didn't measure it anyway), but to pass I have to change back to the stock bulb (which of course i don't have anymore)

So for anybody who needs to switch back temporarily to pass an inspection, the part number for the stock amber lamp in the auto shifter is:
Part# 90981-30001

has anyone used a blue led for the shifter light, just curious as to how it would look

it'll look fine

What size do i need for the license plate bubs and the ones that go like in that dome thing

168/194 wedge bulbs.

dude that looks nice where did u buy the leds and whats the number for it

where did you buy your bulbs from?
I purchased mine here... http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR&keywords=&cart_id=3845607.31301&next=50.
Just scroll down a bit. The bulb size is #74.

OK i went to the site to buy the #74 bulb, but there are 2 #74 bulbs listed (74-xHP Wedge Base LED Bulb) and ( 74 Wedge Base LED bulb) i took a guess and purchased the second on, is that correct

the HP one is bigger and brighter... the wedge base will fit, but dunno if the overall size of the larger one will affect it as in making it too tight of a fit for the auto shifter.

I too had the LED package installed and I didn't notice I had a cubby light for about 6 months...leads me to beleive it wasn't working for a while...
Alright so i know This post was forever ago but ive been searching around and cant find a fix for it. I also had to LED package in my car when i bought it and didnt notice until now that there is a cubby hole light. Mine has never worked at all. I thought maybe it was the stock light buld that was bad so i replaced it with a new LED light and still it doesnt work. Anyone have the same problem and able to fix it?

^^Try switching the LED around. I can't remember why (something about polarized and non polarized LEDs I think :crazy: ), sometimes the connectors aren't touching.

Just installed my LED's and I LOVE them! For some reason my camera is showing the light a lot darker, but they are insanely bright blue! Thanks for the DIY!!!

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/5512/new004gx2.jpg

Man this is great. Thanks

nice will try this tonight

I wanted to say this is an excellent write up and I wanted to share my change over from the stock shifter light (its so dim it makes it look like the car is 40 years old) thanks to this write up!

I used the 74-xHP Wedge Base LED Bulb as my replacements: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR&keywords=&cart_id=3591427.31945&next=50

They are a little bigger than the stock light, so you'll need to carve out the interior of the socket a little to make room for the bulb, but then it'll be a perfect fit.

^^Try switching the LED around. I can't remember why (something about polarized and non polarized LEDs I think :crazy: ), sometimes the connectors aren't touching.

^yeah had the same issue with mine. They only worked when I put them in a certain direction. Not a big deal, but a good bit of info for people who aren't familiar with automotive electrical (like me!!)



Sorry for the poor quality pics....cell phone, ya know. (I went with the blue in the end, last picture)



Stock bulb under the cover
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2215.jpg


Stock bulb in the raw
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2200.jpg


White LED in the Raw
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2205.jpg


White LED under the cover
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2214.jpg


Blue LED in the raw
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2207.jpg


Blue LED under the cover
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2218.jpg


Blue LED final assembly
http://tonymachin.com/other/tc/03-03-09_2221.jpg

ok i went to the superbight leds site found the size i see there the wedge base and the hp wedge base im guessing its the wedge base leds am i correct

ok i went to the superbight leds site found the size i see there the wedge base and the hp wedge base im guessing its the wedge base leds am i correct

I used the HP wedge, but those are also slightly rounder than the housing the stock bulb fits into. I was able to just jam it in there and it worked, though I don't know if the other bulb is a good fit.

I think I will have to do this on my girlfriend's tC. The finished result looks awesome. I was just thinking the other day how ugly the factory lettering is.

Hey guys, need some help. I went to turn my tC on tonight to go to the gym when I noticed the shifter light was out. After nearly 5 years old in August, that's a good life for a bulb. So I went to swap the shifter light with the cubby hole light because I don't use the cubby at all.

Now, when I tried to put the cubby hole light into the shifter light, it didn't come on. I turned it around in the socket the other way (maybe it was in the wrong direction) and it still didn't work!

So I figured I'd cut my loss and just put the light back in the cubby hole because that lights up the shifter anyway. But now the cubby hole light won't light up. i didn't blow a fuse because all the other lights in the vehicle are operating just fine.

Anyone got any ideas? I mean, now I'm kinda ____ed, lol.

Wanted to reply to the original poster and say thanks. I did this a while back and it was really easy to do though I have a funny story in regards to the shifter light.

So I disassemble the whole thing and there is that plastic band under the shifter housing. Its the loose part with the hole in it that the shifter goes through.

Well I put everything back together and drove out of my parking garage. I overswung the turn by the exit and needed to back up or else drive over one of those big medians in the middle where the Pay Box is.

My shifter wouldn't move! I couldn't shift upwards, only downwards.

So I panic and throw the e-brake on and thankfully it stayed in place.

I ripped apart my console around the shifter again only to find that the plastic band had somehow gotten angled when I reinstalled the plastic cover that shows you what gear your in.

After a few minutes of fiddling with it, I got the plastic band aligned properly (there are little tabs on the underside of the gear lettering cover to help align it properly) then snapped it all back together.

Thankfully this fixed the problem and I was able to put the car into reverse and avoid driving over the median in the garage. Man would that have been some great footage on the security camera had that happened.

Anyway, thanks for the DIY and I now have a bright white shifter path and neon blue cubby!

Do I use the #74x or #74xHP? I do not want the light too bright. Maybe the same brightness as the stock one, but red.

you use the 74hp. i just did the install today. it was quite easy. the tricky part was putting the light underneath the shifter. that thing just wouldn't stay on i used electrical tape to make it stay on. it looks a hell of a lot nicer with the white. the L isn't illuminated much but oh well atleast i can see it again it was dark for a whole week.

... really?