VY-How to change the lights in instrument cluster?

[HERONVY]

Just wondering, how do you change the lights in the instrument cluster? I really hate that stock green colour and it bugs me every time i drive my baby, I'd really like to have them all white.
Anyone know how to do this? Also where to buy the lights from?
As i dont really want to pay for an auto electrician to put them in if i can help it
cheers

[D-mac]

hey mate, ur cluster facia has a green film on the back of it and the light bulbs have little green condoms on them. what i did on my old wrx and my old VT was pulled out the cluster, pull it appart (carefully) untwist and remove the lights and pull off the green condoms, once thats done i removed the facia (carefully) and got some light sand paper and sanded the green film off the back of it, while sanding every now and then hold the facia up to a light and see where ul need to keep sanding. Once uve sanded off the green the lights will show white, if u want other colors i colored the back of the facia with a red texta for the red affect. Im unsure how to make ur display screen white thought, all i did was installed a red LED instead of the original bulb, good luck.

[D-mac]

if u want more detail pm me

[Kingston_99]

or you could look up ASR audio!

[Antsmash]

I was under the impression that VYs have SMD LEDs?

[HERONVY]

Thanks for the help guys! Ive decided to see my auto electrician as im getting a few things wired up by him so hes going to do it for me when i get a bit more $$$
Not a bad idea there D-mac but im not sure that im game enough to be sanding the back of the instrument cluster :P
Do you have a pic of how it looks? Wouldnt mind having a look to see how they turned out

[DevilDRake]

I got blue through my car done by ASR Audio in the sponsers section. I saw him do it with all the little LEDS. There's no bulbs behind there like VT's and stuff.

[kcpwns]

Hit ASR up man..it is their specialty

[TMM]

VYs have 3225 (or 3216? i forget) SMD LEDs. The facia is clear already, the LEDs are green.

[MEESEN]

VYs have 3225 (or 3216? i forget) SMD LEDs. The facia is clear already, the LEDs are green.

Yeah was wondering if i could do it myself but was wondering what size they were

[CAPRILICIOUS WL]

From guys who have had it done from ASR, how much did it cost to do $$$ and what did that include?

[-VY LoVeR-]

Definitely a job for Phreddy at ASR. You shouldnt be too far from him i think he is based in NSW. Its about 300-400 bucks. Dont even attempt to do it urself you'll break your cluster and have to buy a new one. Phreddy spent years perfecting it

[kcpwns]

Definitely a job for Phreddy at ASR. You shouldnt be too far from him i think he is based in NSW. Its about 300-400 bucks. Dont even attempt to do it urself you'll break your cluster and have to buy a new one. Phreddy spent years perfecting it

Plus you would be supporting a local business

[Antsmash]

I wish Phreddy was in New Zealand Maybe I'll pay him to fly over here, haha.

[milo]

its almost a DIY job as long as your handy with an iron

I did it myself even put in a hidden shift light

‪VY Commodore Tacho Shiftlight‬‏ - YouTube

[DUK13Y]

Oh wow. Well done. Should do a write up on how to do it.

[MEESEN]

its almost a DIY job as long as your handy with an iron

I did it myself even put in a hidden shift light

‪VY Commodore Tacho Shiftlight‬‏ - YouTube

Yeah mate do a write up... was going to try to DIY and do a write up but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also where did you source the smd's?

[milo]

Well i dont have a great deal of photos on how I did it but i would be able to throw together a write up soon

the SMD LEDs i purchased from Jaycar
12VDC SMD LED Light Strips - Blue - Jaycar Electronics

Just have to unsolder them from the board they come on and resolder to the Cluster

Gimme a day or so and ill make a write up

[MEESEN]

yeah i figured thats all you have to do! main problem i thought i might have is finding the correct size smd's...screw paying $250 for it to be done when you can do it for $20 yourself... also when writing up the how to can you describe how to do the colour morphing needles/shift light?

Cheers

[milo]

Changing Cluster LEDs in a VY Commodore
Removing the Cluster
1. Start your Car and take a photo of your current needle positions
2. Turn car off again
3. Remove the Cluster Garnish from the car it is held in with 2 screws at the top of the garnish
4. Remove the cluster it is held in with 4 screws
5. Unplug the cam lock harness holding the cluster in
6. Take the cluster out of the car
Disassembling the Cluster
1. Use a flat blade screw driver to unlock the plastic tabs that go all around the outside of the cluster
2. Once you have the needles exposed you can remove them with a kitchen fork, slide the prongs of the fork under the needles and pry the needle upward, BE CAREFUL they are fragile and need to be pulled straight up if you pull it to one side you can break the inner workings of the Dial
3. Once the dials are removed you should be able to gain access to the inside of the cluster shown below



4. when you get to this stage you can start unsoldering the SMDs one at a time and replacing them with your new blue/white/red LEDs ( MAKE SURE they go back in the same direction as you pulled them off you will be able to tell as there is a corner cut off the LED.......I used a pair of long nose pillars to hold the LEDs while I heated the solder up and removed them. Repeat this process in reverse for reinstallation

I prefer to put 1 or 2 in and go and test it this way I know if they have been installed correctly and to make sure i haven’t fried the LEDs with my soldering iron

You can test it by going out to the car plugging the cluster back in and turning the lights on no need to reassemble the cluster at this point in time

You’ll know by the first 1 or 2 LEDs to know if you’re doing it correctly

5. To do the LEDs behind the LCD in the middle of the dash you have to remove the back panel of the Cluster which means you’ll need a small torx head screw driver

Remove all rear plastic covers until you can locate the row of connections on the PCB which connect the LCD, For this step youll need a solder sucker or some solder wick to remove the solder holding the LCD to the PCB



Be Careful not to provide to much heat to the LCD legs as you may cause damage to the LCD if you hold the iron there to long, I would recommend using a 5watt soldering iron for most of this job, This step will take a fairly long time but once you get it out its time for a break :P

After you have removed the LCD you can then remove the White Shield that sits over the top of the PCB


6. After you have removed the white shield you can replace the SMD LEDs that make up the LCD backlighting following the same procedure as you for the rest of the LEDs Make sure when you unsoldered the LCD screen you didn’t allow solder to blob from one contact to another, reason is you will want to test it before putting it back together and the last thing you want it to blow something up while testing
7. If you have tested your LEDs and they all seem ok, make sure none of them are flickering or have been damaged while you were installing them
8. Put the Cluster back together, hopefully remember how you pulled it apart
Reassembling the Cluster
1. Ill skip the boring parts of putting it back together again and just focus on what you need to know
2. When resoldering the LCD back to the board be careful not to burn anything or use to much solder don’t bridge any connections if you do, something is going to go bang and no one wants that
3. When you have the cluster dials back on and your ready to put the needles back on you need to take your cluster back outside to your car with the needles
4. Plug your cluster in and start your car while holding the MODE and SET buttons this will put the car into engineering mode press MODE until the Cluster makes one Solid beep noise
5. The Needles now need to go back on to the mid way markers on all the dials, so that means that you place the needle on 100KM/H, 3000RPM, Half Fuel and Half Temp, I would do this before pulling your car apart as well just so you can see where they sit, NOTE if you own a V8 or a car with a ¾ Sweeping Tacho check what it sits at before you pull your cluster apart it may sit somewhere different
6. When you push the Needles down don’t push them so far as they clip on the dial face or they won’t work
7. Press Mode again and the needles should drop back to the normal positions, so 0 RPM 0KM/H, Cold engine and whatever your fuel was before you started ( Check your Photo)
8. If they are not sitting in the right spot get your fork out and leaver that needle off and start do this process again until its correct, it can take time be patient
9. Once they are all sitting in the correct Position then simply put your cluster back together again, Screw it back into the car and take it for a test
Please I cant stress enough to take your time with this its delicate work and I don’t want a bunch of emails saying how im to blame for you breaking something if you don’t feel your upto it or you want more info PM me
More to come on the Shift light Mod next

[milo]

Let me know if that makes sense, I wrote it in word quickly then threw it in here

[MEESEN]

Ill be doing this mod as soon as I get a spare cluster cant wait for shift light alsoi

[milo]

MEESEN just be careful about putting in a new cluster, normally it sets off the DTC alert and it will complain that you have no airbags then you need to have the Alert reset

[MEESEN]

yeah i heard about that but its going for a service that week anyway so ill just put up with it if not ill just see if it works well then mod my original.

Thanks mate

[DUK13Y]

Awesome write up mate. Having this already done by Greg at ASR and seeing him do it. I can't stress enough how important it is for you to have experience with soldering. May sound easy but very easy to burn and stuff up. And stuffing it up can result in maybe a $600 new cluster. So don't blame anyone but yourself if you bugger it up. If you're not confident or unsure, contact ASR. Might cost a bit more than $20, but if you spend $20 to do it yourself and ruin your cluster, you're up for a much bigger expense.

Well done on this write up though. Very impressive to the point that you might be too liked by the guys at ASR now . Look forward to the shift light mod.