found 2 dead bulbs in my dash. before i replace them i am wondering if there are brighter bulbs i could use without damaging the circuit that powers those bulbs. i read the article about changing them to leds but i dont want to go through all that. do they make regulare bulbs that are just a little brighter? how will it look if i take off all those orange covers off the bulbs. i really hate the orange but while my dash be readible if i take the orange out?

Replace with high-intensity xenon 194s from McEwen.

JamesC

they'll plug right in and would overload the circuit at all? is white easy to read at night? right now the bulbs have orange covers over them and they suck. not sure how plain white would look.

oh and where exactly do i find the bulbs u mentioned? how much are they each?

These bulbs will work without any difficulties whatsoever--plug and play. As for color, you may be able to use you 'condoms' on the 194s. Check this site for further information.

http://members.aol.com/rmacewen1/

JamesC

2 dollars a bulb? i need 11 of them i think right? anywhere i can get those cheaper?

Two bucks a pop is right. I used a couple more than 11, as I recall, because I not only replaced bulbs in the cluster but also in the HVAC controls and in my console clock. I've never seen the bulbs any where else. Perhaps someone can chime in.

JamesC

rather not spend 2 bucks a pop + shipping, maybe i'll just look around pepboys or sears hardware and see what they got.

Try this link. This mod will brighten the cluster without swapping bulbs.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=107995

JamesC

Here's a couple other places that sell the specialty bulbs and seem to have a good price:

http://www.competitiveautoparts.com/echeap/index.php

http://www.optauto.com/


Regarding the 194 bulbs themselves, yeah, Kragen has them cheap for the plain-jane Sylvanias. I believe (??) the 194 bulbs are like 3 Watts, whereas the 168 bulb is 5 Watts, same size, same socket. Should be brighter. There is also a 5 Watt Krypton wedgie bulb called a 3652 by Sylvania at Kragens that looks to be the identical size as a 194. I've been using the Sylvania Krypton 3496 bulb in my turn signals and brake lights in lieu of the 2057, it's brighter. The Krypton 3497 bulb would work for brighter backup lights. All available at Kragen, Autozone, etc...but beware, the Kryptons cost like 3x the price of a regular bulb.

If you want the boutique PIAA, Polarg, Raybirg, etc bulbs, the ....er...ehh..."Rycer"... accessory shops usually carry them.

Thanks for the info on needing 11 bulbs in the cluster, now I know how many to buy.

i picked up some sylvannia 2855(or something) blinker bulbs and put them in my dash. they are 5 watts and brighter then the stock ones. i also left out the orange condoms so the dash lights up bright white instead of orange, i like this look a lot better and its a LOT easier to read everything at night. might change over to blue sometime in the future though.