2010 GU Series VII - Instrument Panel LED Replacement - Learning from Mistakes

As most of you will know, there are a gazillion threads out there about how to replace your dull lifeless instrument panel lights with Uber snazzy colour of choice LED's.

Wanting to be part of the cool group, I ordered both the cool white LED's for the heater / fan / AC and the Auto trans light. I ordered a set of red LED's to replace the instrument panel on the basis that a number of threads said that it was better on your eyes at night than bright white, blue or green, purple etc.

So I got both for about $24 or so from Fleabay and figuring I would leave the worst till last, did the heater / fan / AC and auto trans first. Pretty straight forward and it came up well.

Now for the dash...

The thing that worried me the most was the idea of removing the steering wheel given the airbag etc. Most posts said it was ok, some said no and other said it's easier and doable without having to remove it.

I opted for the 'don't remove' method.

Normally about now I would do a "How to" with images and all sorts of useful steps beyond a few lines of text that seems to be the norm for this mod.

BUT....

After getting through the 'seat-of-your-pants-please-don't-bust-the-delicate-plastic-bits-with-your-sausage-fingers' phase, I ended up with this on my workbench:

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...l/IMG_0028.jpg

Take a close look..... see any LED's to replace? Nope, neither did I....

So lesson one: The 2010 GU Patrol Series VII does not have replaceable LED's in the instrument panel.... (check closely and you will see the LED's are part of the circuit board and immovable). Don't waste your time and money getting LED's for them.

As you can imagine, I was really disappointed.

Lesson two: Remove the instrument needles at your peril. Stupid me thought that like most instrument gauges, knobs and dials, there will be a "only one way to put on" with a little lug or similar to guide where to refit.... not so....

Not knowing this, I put it all together (so far I am half a day down as I was so going by the seat of my backside I was taking it very slowly), put the ignition in click to ACC and the needles for the speedo and RPM's jump up (both equally suggesting a similar issue for both) - they moved up to 40km/h mark.

@#$% I thought.... what the @#$% have I done?? And more to the point, how the @#$% will I fix it..

Not only that but the fuel gauge and sub-tank were out of whack but so was the temp gauge. I have to say panic nearly set in about now... you know that "Oh, #$% this is going to cost me a bomb to fix-what will my wife say-I knew I should have left it" feeling...

And it was about this time my wife came by to see how it was going.... "good thanks darling..." (you know, in that calm 'duck on the pond' way - calm on the surface 100 mph under the water). Thankfully Lin headed out to do some shopping leaving me to wallow in my pity without an audience.

How I fixed it

Seven bottles of scotch later (single malt of course)... only kidding...

I spent the next 30 minutes stripping it all back again to the point of having the panel sitting in the dash with the plastic front (the curved clear plastic front) removed.

I clicked forward the the key to ACC again and with it in that position the needles moved forward equally to the 40 km/h spot once more. I gently removed them and set them to zero (car not started by now).

I grabbed a couple of GPS' (Tom Tom apps, Hema Maps etc) and through them in the car and started her up. With the GPS speed as a bit of a measure, I took off around the block and into a few different speed zones. All good. the speedo was spot on and the RPM's are all good.

By now the engine had warmed up and I could tell how far out of whack the temp gauge was. I headed to the servo and filled up my main and sub-tanks while I was at it.

So knowing the tanks were both full and that the temp was right, I returned home to adjust those needles as well.

I know that sounds pretty straight forward, but it felt like a lifetime to get it resolved.

All fixed now but will have to live with classic Patrol dull instrument panel lights.

Bummer hey! Especially about those needles, that would be a nightmare and like yourself, I would have crapped myself

I know that sinking feeling.
Spent most of Sunday rewiring my driving light loom (created a new 'Super' heavy duty version) and at the end of it I turned on high beam and no driving lights. The thought of why I had wasted a day to ruin my driving lights came flashing across my mind. Very heavy feeling. Bang Head

Then I realised I had not reconnected the earth to the battery. DOH! All good after that. :oops:

That is the funniest thing I have read all day!! What a pissa! Glad you got it sorted mate. I would have bet my balls on there being LEDs in the dash you could replace. Clearly you didn't make that bet or your be talking in a high pitched voice about now.

Classic!

Ps. If you want pics of taking an airbag off I have a heap. Very very easy on the GUiV.

Cheers Mate, will give you a shout if I need to. Appreciate the offer.


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Now that just brightened up me day, thanks for the larff mate

Very welcome mate :)

glad u posted that. I had my eyes on doing the cluster after doing the cabin lights.

thanks for the laugh.

LOLs (you know, in that calm 'duck on the pond' way - calm on the surface 100 mph under the water)

Very welcome [emoji3]


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Hi LaughingBeagles,

Thanks for the info above. I have just found this after trying the same thing with my Patrol. My dad and I only attempted the dash cluster in mine though. There are five bulbs you can remove, but they don't fit the T5 Screw in lights that someone spoke about on the forum post where I also saw the link to this post.

Does anyone know what type those 5 bulbs might be that are at the top of the cluster and whether I could even get white versions of the same thing? I am not a fan of the yellow ones. Also, what LED bulb type did you use for the heater/fan/AC controls? I want to do mine too.

Thanks again. That was a very entertaining read, especially after having done my Dad's Series II Patrol successfully, and then failing on my Patrol.