after changing my a/c controls to red i wanted to do the same to the head unit, since i have a 6 disc i can change the display to red, but the buttons are amber. I took apart my head unit and found that there were no actual bulbs in it like most head units. So I sort of improvised and took out the buttons and colored the backs of them where the light shown through suspecting the light was coming out of the corners of the display. After doing this i found that the light was really cut down alot but it did have a hint of red. Thinking that this couldn't be all that could be done and that they HAD to have lights somewhere lighting the buttons I laid the control panel of the head unit into the head unit while it was plugged into my car and turned the car on. BINGO! The lights are actually little diodes on the control board.

as you can see from the pic, it just shows the actual lights lighting up, it'd be too hard to see if i took it without them lit up. Sorry, pics kinda blurry... camera can't focus too good in the dark.
Anyways... you can see that the diodes are actually yellow, not amber, which means that the buttons are probably giving it an orangish glow. I tried coloring the diodes with red permanent marker and my buttons are definately red now, just not very bright. The reason they're not bright is cause I colored the buttons also so that's cutting down my light very bad. I'm going to rub down the inside of the buttons with rubbing alcohol to get rid of the red inside them. After that it should work like a champ.

Took a while trying to figure this out but easy enough now. Here's the steps to get it out assuming you know how to take apart your dash to get to the head unit.

1. Remove the head unit. 4 screws. 3 plugs in back.
2. Remove the face plate. 2 clips on top, 2 clips on each side and 2 clips on bottom.
3. Remove screws from face plate to remove control panel. 8 tiny screws. Have numbers next to them so they're easy to spot. The control board will pull up after you unscrew it.
4. Flip the control board over so you're looking at the side with the display and locate the diodes and color them with a permanent marker. It will take more than one coat with the marker. I'd say coat it, then let it dry for about a couple minutes then do this again about 3 times so it gets a good coat that won't burn off on it.
5. Screw everything back together and you're good to go. :D

 

good job!

 

tempting,,,once that is done, all we have to do is the gauge cluster clock...

 

I have heard that if you change the color or even tamper with the clock/odometer
panel that it is considered tampering with the odometer...i want to change mine as
well, but I am not willing to risk a permanent notation on my CARFAX report...just
something to think about...

 

I don't know...that isn't exactly the "odometer." It's just a read out of what the odometer sends to the display.

 

That's how I see it too.. Besides, I don't plan on getting rid of this car any time soon. I'll worry about that later.

As far as the lights, props for digging in that deep. I really want to get a hold of some diffusion gel or something to color it besides a Sharpie if I'm going in that deep. My speedo was a nice blue but now it has faded and its a dull white. I don't want to have to touch it up every few months.

 

yea... it has really dimmed the lights by coloring them. i'm going down to radioshack to see if i can find some red leds to solder on there. hopefully that will work. :D

 

I'd watch out with that... If you install your own LEDs, it might end up with an unevenly lit screen...

 

aye... true true.. think i'ma just leave it alone.. unless someone knows of a type of gel coating you can put over the lights. :D it's just a stock head unit, i'm not gonna go crazy with it. glad i got the 6disc with the color changing lcd scree.. helps alot.

 

Stained glass spraypaint works decently, but i don't think you'd want to go messing around the head unit with it (that would be a masking nightmare).

 

sick mod

 

how bout stained glass paint using a brush... hmm... spray that sucker down in the cap of the spray can and brush it on with a fine fine brush... i guess i'll be the first to try hate being the tester.. lol

 

You can get them at AutoZone. They look like condoms lol!

They are heat resistant and come in green, red, blue and purple colors. plus they are very cheap, less than $2

I have one of this red rubber covers on my Dome Light Bulb and it looks so cool.

You can also try a red marker, instead of the paint. That would do the trick with LEDs.

by the way, I found the INTERIOR LIGHTING UPGRADE manual for the xA here:

http://www.toyotaparts4u.com/0001679...ight%20Kit.pdf

in case you want to do it yourself

Cris

 

For my interior light mods I didn't spend a penny. I used a red marker (not permanent, removable with alcohol) instead of the bulb covers.

I figured putting bulb covers would make the interiour look darker and not bright enough for my taste.

So far I have the Courtesy light, Dash lights and the Stock radio display in red (this was a difficult mod).

Be careful if you do the stock radio, to access the display LEDs you need to remove the metal cover that holds the display, and then put it back making sure is aligned correctly and that it has enough pressure.

when i first put it back the display letters were gone, i thouth i screw it, but it was an aligment problem. Since i still have the odometer clock in amber i left the rest of the stock radio lights ( for buttons) in amber so it doesn't look so noticeble in respect with the clock.

Also i broke in half the transparent plastic for the dash lights, nothing that superglue can't fix, just be careful when removing the dash.

my next mod will be the clock, but it looks hard, so if any of you have done the clock let us know how to and some tips not break stuff.

http://cristopher.tripod.com

 

The problem with markers is that they don't last. The heat from the bulb bakes the ink. My speedo was a nice blue now it has faded back to white, but a duller white. I had to clean the baked ink off my climate control bulbs when I condomed them...

 

i took out the face plate...those are not the regular LEDs right?? kinda like the one for cell phone :?: :?: