Center Dash Lighting Coloe

[GMJAP]

Just got my 2005 base vibe, and love it! Not real crazy about the red center dash console lighting, though (gauges are fine).I looked through this forum, but only found a thread on instrument (gauge) color changing.Would someone point me to any known resources for changing the at-night light coloring of the center dash controls??Also, if someone knows where to get service manual, I'd appreciate it.Cheers!Walt

[Mr. Poopypants]

This would be a daunting task that I would not recommend doing. It would involve soldering new LED's into the board and altering the display overlay.

[Kari]

As far as I can tell, most of the red glow comes from the lights, not from the overlay, which appears to be white on the semi-transparent parts. I could be wrong, though.

[GMJAP]

Thanks for the reply.I'm an electrical engineer by profession, and solder/desolder very tiny parts on an almost daily basis. Thus, changing LEDs wouldn't be a problem.Is getting access to this board and putting things back together particularly daunting? Any info out there on this aspect?Cheers,W

[agbhyde]

this helped me in getting the front center moldings removed. I installed a 6" tiny tube light on the undershelf of the radio molding. I did see the littled LED bulbs for the climate controls, is that what your talking about. I think that the climate control block can come out with a few screws.good luck and keep us posted!!!

[joatmon]

You're talking about the lights for the heat/fan climate controls right?The biggest problem will be getting to them. see http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=6683 I think they are regular glass light bulbs, but I never got mine apart enough to see how to swap them out. If they are basic white lights, then the color change would have to be done in the plastic that filters out all but the red.The 2005 service manual isn't out yet, but sometimes you can pick up a preior year's on ebay. Or, you could order a set from Helm, the 2005 manual will be at http://www.helminc.com/helm/pr...H95UC when it's released.

[Jahntassa]

If you're talking about the fan/climate controls, the whole center section around the gearshift comes off and there're two incandecscant bulbs behind it. You'd have to scrape off the red coloring from the climate controls themselves and figure out how to apply something new.

[Kari]

But there's no red coloring on them, is there? I seem to remember them being white on the back.

[GMJAP]

To all the curious: I did some hands-on research involving my vibe tonight.(Lots of thanks to joatmon for replying with the link to the thread about getting the console apart).It seems Mr. Poopypants' description of the task as daunting is, in fact, almost an understatement.There are 2 white incandescent bulbs that light the climate controls. The entire front appears to be a thin layer of clear plastic. On the back it is painted with opaque silver where light is blocked, and then with a translucent red stuff over the parts that are lighted in red (or blue in the case of the cold temp dot)kira is right in that the back appears white in many areas - this appears to be some kind of light-reducing masking over the red to even out the amount of light, or brightness, over the whole panel (Since the incandescents are shining around the knobs, etc to reach certain areas)Bottom line: attempting to scrape the red off would also scrape the opaque silver (allowing light to shine through) and the brightness-evening-out masking. To try scraping only the actual non-opaque areas would be daunting indeed, if not downright impossible.Ah well. Perhaps the radio lighting would be easier........ (but probably not Thanks to all who replied,W

[Kari]

Well, what I can tell you is that the climate control labels are just a thick sticker, basically. If you really wanted to, you could have another one made with a different color, maybe.

[Jahntassa]

Or get a lighting gel, put on the back between the lights and the red part that shows. Granted, your colors are limited to those that include red, but it'd change it none-theless.. Or change the bulbs to a different color (if available)

[ColonelPanic]

Not sure what type of bulb the A/C controls take, but I have found LED replacements for type '74' here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm in a few different colors. That's about the smallest LED replacement bulb that I've found... If the bulbs fit, there's still the red filter issue like you mentioned. I guess you could possibly add a blue bulb to get purple, or something like that.I'm trying to figure out what the light for the gear indicator on the automatics is... It is a standard incandescent, but shines through a green filter. I'd like to somehow change the color of that. Also considering soldering a red LED in place of the green one that illuminates the lighter socket.