MK2.5 Instrument dash lights

Any help appreciated as online is so conflicting.
I really dislike the red bulbs on my dash…
I’d like to swap the bulbs for green and white. (Pictured)
What bulbs do I need ?
Thank you :blush:
s-l300

Hmm, you might find the white is too dazzling at night.
Red or Amber are easier colours for the eye to adapt to. Blue is worst.
I’ve not seen any recent studies mentioning green, and all this was about thirty years ago, so I might be out of date by now.

However, speculation is useless. Try it and see!

Remove the “Meter Hood” (binnacle cover), by releasing the seven clips around the edges with a trim tool and pull the furthest edge towards you to release its locating peg. You might have to remove the upper cover of the steering column, but last time I saw binnacle cover removed that was not needed.

The back of the instrument-panel circuit-board is visible through the windscreen, but in-situ it’s awkward to reach the bulb holders which fit with a quarter turn. Your small fingers might just about do it!

If you need to remove the panel, disconnect the battery first.

The rest of us with fat fingers will undo the four screws holding the instrument assembly to the dash and gently draw it forward a few inches. Beware, there are leads attached. Now the bulb holders are easy to remove.

Compare the bulbs in the holders with what is now available, there’ll be lots of LED after-market options sold now, not available at the time it was built. Some LEDs will claim to fit, but only the contacts area is OK the bulb itself may be too long and/or too fat.

Ideally you should be able to find an LED that will fit and is the right colour for you. However before the days of self-coloured lights (ie very bright LEDs) the bulbs were painted, or the holders gave them colour.

Two last notes about LEDs;
. some are not dimmable! Those beat and flicker when the PWM switching dimmer has a go.
. some will only work one way round, many others don’t care. So if you find one that’s ideal in every way except it doesn’t light up, try it the other way round!

I changed mine for LEDs as the stock bulbs were very dim. There’s 4 bulbs that are shared between instruments so unfortunately you won’t be able to have a mixture of white and green in the way you’d like :frowning:

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