[959frontier]

This is probably the trickiest one cuz its the hardest to change the color. Remove the tray at the top of the center counsel. There should be a screw beneath that. The rest of the dash just unclips. Remove the wiring harnesses for the AC, passenger airbag light, etc. There are four screws holding the AC unit in place. I think they were torx screws. Remove unit. This part was the part that took the longest for me. I had the HARDEST time prying this thing apart for some reason. Its held together by clips on the sides. Just keep prying until it comes apart as it may be on TIGHT! Once apart, you should see the circuit board and on the other half, a clear plastic light diffusor. The easiest lights to change out will be the 6 LEDs surrounded by the grey rubber (pic #4). The rubber just pulls off from the front. Follow same steps as in http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/...-cargo-switch-gear-selector-54738/#post813811 for desoldering and soldering new LEDs. The rubber can be reattached. I just put the rubber legs (you'll see what i mean when you have it off) through the holes and and pulled them with a plier. The top 3 lights are the hardest to do (pic #5). You can either pull out the bulbs and try to solder in some LEDs in there place but this will require resistors to keep them from blowing. Or you can buy some colored film and just stick it to the clear plastic on the other half of the unit. That works if your changing to red cuz the light is already orange but if your doing blue, youll just have to swap the bulbs. Test, reassemble.

 

[959frontier]

Finish pics. Oh and the bottom 3 buttons lights only go on when you push them and with air con running. I know its a no brainer but when i first tested out the new lights and those didnt go on i was like CRAP! Oh wait...pushes button....voila! Anyway, will post all the rest of the swaps up as i have time.

 

[Deltaphi216]

once i swap mine to blue, i will post up pics...how does the temp knob in the middle look in real life? in the pic it seems like you cant see the blue at all.

 

[JagNorb]

Finish pics. Oh and the bottom 3 buttons lights only go on when you push them and with air con running. I know its a no brainer but when i first tested out the new lights and those didnt go on i was like CRAP! Oh wait...pushes button....voila! Anyway, will post all the rest of the swaps up as i have time.

I didn't change the color of the rotary controls or any of the switches. I did change the A/C, rear window DEFROST and RECIRC indicator LEDs just above the switches. I made the A/C blue, the Defrost red and RECIRC green.

 

[Deltaphi216]

jagnorb, how bout a pic?

 

[JagNorb]

jagnorb, how bout a pic?

I'll post a photo when I get off work this afternoon, provided I don't freeze!

 

[JagNorb]

jagnorb, how bout a pic?

Here ya go...

 

[959frontier]

Looks cool in different colors man! Good to see what the other colors would look like!

once i swap mine to blue, i will post up pics...how does the temp knob in the middle look in real life? in the pic it seems like you cant see the blue at all.

It's brighter then in the pictures but it's still pretty dim. That's the one I shoulda left normal and just put film over the clear plastic. Maybe when I take it apart again.

 

[[email protected]]

good job. im going to do mine blue as well. thanks for the write up:goodjob:

 

[Deltaphi216]

i am trying to get the ac panel open...how the hell do you get the fan selector knob off? the other 2 just popped right off!

edit: nevermind....just got it. found this

...First, use a flat-head screw driver to pry out the middle and right dials from the front, stick the flat-head screw driver under the dial. Second, the left dial need to pry from the back, there are 3 legs holding it to the housing. Pinch those legs in as you pry and it'll come out. Then there are a few tabs, but that's pretty much piece of cake.

that knob is a B!

 

[JagNorb]

Hey Delta, you should make the A/C, Defog, and Recirc SMDs different colors like this:

 

[Deltaphi216]

well, the ac panel has defeated me. i can't figure out how to switch the rotary knobs to blue. there are just 3 little bulbs and i am stumped. anybody have any ideas, besides blue gel caps? (which i still don't think will work)

the smd button leds were a cinch by the way.

 

[cnicook]

all of that looks cool, but i'm scared to try it myself...and i'm 7000 miles away from my truck for another 9 months

 

[JagNorb]

well, the ac panel has defeated me. i can't figure out how to switch the rotary knobs to blue. there are just 3 little bulbs and i am stumped. anybody have any ideas, besides blue gel caps? (which i still don't think will work)

the smd button leds were a cinch by the way.

Delta, the HVAC panel is illuminated by the incandescent bulbs (so the intensity can be raised or lowered by the variable knob on the odometer), and that light is distributed by the clear plastic that goes around each knob dial. You can change the color of that lighting by changing the color of the 3 incandescent bulbs and that can be accomplished by plastic sleeves or by painting them. I am thinking you can find the plastic sleeves on-line by doing searches for 'gauge light coloring'. You will find some links to different car forums and see how others have done it.

I had '77 Trans Am many many years ago that I pulled the gauge lights and spray painted them red and had red lighted gauges, it was slick!

I hope this helps.

 

[JagNorb]

Here's a site that has these different color diffusers.

Light Diffusers / Bulb Covers: Light Diffusers - Type E/C, Wedge type, T-10 bulb - egauges.com

 

[Mandangalo]

^^ wow shipping costs are a nightmare. $15 for a $4 item. insane

 

[Deltaphi216]

for those of you who didn't see this in the other post, i think i am going to try this.

Escape City - Ford Escape Forums - Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, Mazda Tribute, Ford Maverick - View topic - 2005-2007 gauge cluster LED lighting

 

[Deltaphi216]

well, i think i have bad news. I can't see a way to switch the a/c knobs to anything other than a reddish or greenish color. i pulled everything completely apart last night. i tried using blue leds directly behind the symbols, using blue film behind the symbols, using blue leds and blue film, and finally using white leds and blue film.

The results all looked crappy. the blue leds turned everything a greenish color. the blue film made it too dark for light to shine thru witht the stock bulbs. the blue leds and blue film still looked green. you have to figure out a way to get rid of the amber already on there.

the amber color is actually on the front of the plastic under the paint of the numbers. i saw on another forum that if the paint is on the backside, you can sand it off and repaint it. no dice....AND, the knobs have amber plastic inserts molded into them. so even if you could somehow get the numbers/symbols to blue, the knobs would look greenish.

i have failed...:damn:

 

[JagNorb]

well, i think i have bad news...

i have failed...:damn:

No you haven't, you have learned about the Frontier lighting system and enlighted your fellow forum members in the process! Thanks for teaching us how to get wild and crazy with different colors on our Frontiers.
:udaman:

 

[Kort]

I found a pretty easy solution to getting a true bright LED blue in the HVAC controls the other day wondering thru autozone. I’ll apologize in advance I completely spaced on taking pictures of the process, plus I really didn’t think it would turn out as good as it did. So what I got was these blue flexible LED bars for about 20 bucks (link at bottom). They have 3M tape on the back and come in various lengths but can be cut to any size (as long as you cut where indicated). They come in red, blue, amber, and white. They have the resistors built in to the bar and are designed to run off of 12V. They are pretty bright! So what I did was yank off the incandescent bulbs and soldered the wires from the LED bar to one of the spots where the incandescent bulbs were. I then sandwiched the LED bar around the inside of the black casing for the circuit board (it fits barely). It is just as bright as the amber was and also still dims with the little dimmer control on the gauges. What I was really impressed with is that its bright enough that it washes out the amber color in the plastic where the light comes thru, but isn’t too overpowering. I got the 12 inch long strips, they cost me 22 bucks and it came with 2 LED bars. I used the other bar in the gear shifter. Sorry 959frontier I jacked one of your pictures and did some mad artwork with paint to help explain what I did. The blue is where I fit the LED strip in and the red is where i attached it to the board. I’m at work right now but I will try and take some pictures of it at night in the next few days and post them. Hopefully this makes sense to everyone. If this doesn’t make sense I guess I could take it all apart again for pictures and do a write up if there is a big enough demand...

The link is to the white ones cuz it was the only one with a picture
AUTOZONE LED's