So when I got my 92 about a month ago, half the the gauges wouldn't light up at night. So this past weekend I finally got around to trying to fix it. Tried to get replacement bulbs, but mine said "Replace Entire assembly" on them which means I needed the plastic twist on thingies too. This of course means the auto parts store doesn't have them. So I made some homemade LED bulbs

Picture actually makes it look worse that in it is. But at least everything lights up now!

 

I don't see why you couldn't just put a 194 bulb in there.....?

But LEDs last longer, and if it works...

 

The best LED bulbs that I've found are the WLED 5-LED Wide Angle LED bulb. They run $2.99 from superbrightleds.com

My dash is completely lit up with them. Pictures:

 

Basically, the bulbs won't pull out of the plastic tabs that twist in behind the gauges because there permanently attached. Marked on them they say "Replace Entire Assembly". It like they soldered a 194 bulb into the socket. I have no idea why GM put these in there instead of a standard socket where you could just pull the bulb out and put a new on in. There seems to be no advantage.

The superbrightled look like a great idea but I still have the same problem of getting the sockets that twist into the gauge pod.

 

To make money, no doubt. I'd probably manage to find a way to break the light out and make a new one fit. Just to spite GM...and their torx head screws....

 

superbrightleds.com sells bulbs for the guages with the socket already attached to them. i think they were $1.79 each and they probly work a lot better than your rigging you have set up now cuz in that pic i could see have of you guage surface including numbers in some spots. they make them in white and colors, it just seems worth it to do it right for 30 something dollars shipped.

 

Yeah, they have them already with the socket, but they don't distribute the light as effectivly, and look spotty. I do know there are places online that sell the sockets alone for cheap, Ill have to find the link for you. I forgot for a Camaro, how many sockets would you need?

 

I was able to get just the sockets at NAPA a couple years ago. I found out later that the assembly part number is PC194. Maybe go in and ask for the socket portion of the PC194?

 

go to a junkyard and find Gm car/truck in the 80s and use the bulbs from them. The older style ones had the separate socket and bulb. I have a whole pile of them from different clusters.

 

did anyone know where to get the replacement twist in sockets?
mine are also soldered in with replace entire assembly on them. junk yard option no good to me as i'm in the uk.

 

Hey there sweeneyuk,

Just a thought, you could break off the bulb and solder the LED's to the electrode. I am goin to try LED's in mine, but I am going to paint the inside of the cluster silver and ise Blue LED's. I will post pics when I het it done. Good luck in the UK.

 

I would try going to a GM dealer. I would think that they would sell the sockets at a reasonable price.

As for soldering the LED's in, that is what I did. I will say that it wasn't to easy to solder because the solder did not want to stick to the electrodes on the socket.

 

Thats pretty sick man nice job I wonder if blue will look that good, maybe i should go with red to since my interior and exterior is red :/

 

Sooooo, do all the 90 - 92 "half moon" gauge bulbs require the whole assembly to replaced??? I got one bulb out between the fuel and oil pressure gauges, its driving me nuts, 'cause everything else lights up fine.

I've just about replaced about 50% of the bulbs in my car- both front side markers, cargo light, shift console light, both licsence plate lights, 4 out of 5 in the high-mount stoplight- All burnt out over the years- but they were simple pop in -pop out jobs. . . But not the guages huh? How freakin' genius of GM!!! Grrrrrrr. . .

 

Just do what i did.....

Half of my lights were out so I pulled out the dash cluster, unscrewed the little plastic housings, broke the factory solder and removed the old bulb. Then install bulb #194, i think which are $1.99 or so. Bend the ends to touch the contacts and re-solder if necessary. Work for me, should work for you. The dealership quoted me at $10.00 a pop for each unit. Lets count, 8 bulbs, $10 a bulb, thats $80.00 in bulbs, i think not...


I hope this helps!

 

I bought twist in sockets that you can put any "194" type bulb in it, from Salvo Auto Parts. They were in the same section as the other replacement sockets.

 

should have read this before i attempted what i did....bout 194 leds to put in my 90 camaro....and of course they say replace entire assembly and i got some need nose pliers and pulled the 2 metal sides off removed the lights stuck the metal pieces back in on the sides and put the leds back in and of course it didnt work so i am looking for some replacement twist things my bud has a older cluster so im hoping he has some leftovers =( ill let you know and when i get them fixed pics will be post im putting RED leds in my cluster with my red interior and white car

 

Those look exactly like the sockets in my 87 GTA dash, but the bulbs are easily replaceable & are actually all clear bulbs, but have red rubber boots on them, to light up red.

I have some black sockets whose bulbs won't slide out, but all the gray socket bulbs (like in the pic above) will easily come out.

 

i am going to take the Twist Lock Sockets from my buds old 87 cluster and put my leds in them and do it that way cuz his are made to be able to replace them

 

I can get PC194 bulbs / sockets

cost is 2.50 each how many do you guys want

 

Yesterday 05:43 PMSlick89RSI can get PC194 bulbs / sockets

cost is 2.50 each how many do you guys want
sure lets some pictures

 

is what everybody was talking about:
http://superbrightleds.com/specs/T10_sockets.html



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does any one have photos of their flasher and which led flasher would be best

 

These are also available from most local auto parts stores. I think I paid $2.99 for a pack of 2 at Pep Boys.

 

They are both $1.19 each at http://superbrightleds.com/mini-wedge.html
Does any one have photos of their stock flasher unit and which led flasher would be best?

 

If you want wedge sockets go to pinball places like pinball life.com i do pinball and get them buy the bag load. .10 apiece.

 

Hey Cooltc2004, can you post up your pics again?

 

dont mean to steal the thread or anything.. but does anyone have red or white LED's in there gauge cluster? because im ordering some LED's but cant decide on color! and id like to get an idea of what it would look like/brightness and all that.

 

Go to superbrightleds.com i bought and replaced all the bulbs in my gauge cluster with the new clips for 48 bucks. I bought the blue leds that have 5 leds in each bulb so now at night instead of yellow background they are blue. I'll try and get a picture later for you

 

Do those bulbs light up good? and ya man a picture of it would be awesome

 

Yeah it looks real good. I need to wait until tonight to take a pic but I will get one to show you. You have to make sure you put them in the right way though. That was a pain. I still have a couple I need to turn around but its just for like the parking brake and the check engine light. Yeah if you buy from that site they have 194's that have either 5 leds pointing up or i think they have another that has four pointing up and 2 pointing to the side. They have them in different colors.

 

i put the WLED-x4 LED bulb in the the gauges
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR

 

 

I can show you what one of these did to my motorcycle gauge, This is normally white

 

Ya i dont know if the LED's pointing straight up would be as bright as the wide band ones. with the x5 bulbs its 4 around the side then one pointing straight up so i figure that one would light up the best one to go with? black gauges dont light up that great with color bulbs probably only blue and white eh?

 

Nice!! thats with the x4 LED bulb??

 

yeah the black isnt going to change. The yellow letters will. I'm not sure what red leds will do but the blue worked out good. I'm sure the white leds would work even better. I have the leds that have 5 or 6 leds pointing up and they did perfect. the ones that are out the side will illuminate a little better though

 

no that one had 5 leds, but yeah i love it. my bike is viper blue so this went great

 

Man that gauge looks awesome! red is kind of a dark color so im not sure it would light up as bright on black guages as blue or white would. might do blue now it looks pretty custom haha. not really excited about putting everything back together though had enough trouble getting it out. that rpm clip at the back had me confused for awhile!

 

I have a 1983 Pontiac Trans Am Daytona 500 Edition (KITT), It came from the factory with red dash lights and black gauges and red looks awesome on KITT.

rscamaro92, how many LEDs did you use for your LED dash light conversion? The blue LEDs on your gauges look massive Dude

 

 

i just took these with my cell phone but they look brighter in person.

 

I have this same set up in my 89 rs. As you can see in red. Look great, & can see good with them at night. oh ya the three gauge cluster that I added did not have the same type of bulb so I had to use three coats of red Sharpie to get them red too. Matches very good.

 

can these leds dim like the stock bulbs? which bulb did you choose rs camaro

 

i used the bulbs on the left. My dimmer never really worked but the site says that they do. i would read the info on the bulbs to make sure.

 

Guess I should also add that the picture was taken in the garage, with the lights on. looks a lot better in the dark.

 

but which model LEDs did you use?

 

Just saw this thread again. Yeah I'll post up my pictures again, if I don't have them on my computer or imageshack (which I don't think I do) I'll take some new ones for ya.

 

I used these: T13 X 6 Wedge base led bulb.Heres a pic

 

thanks again dude

so you used the T13-B6
http://superbrightleds.com/specs/T13_specs.htm

 

No problem let me know how it turns out. If you have problems let me know.