Vadim540i

I had a problem, my LCD on climate control wasn't lit up at night. Only 2 bulbs worked, so it looked ugly. I bought some bulbs from radio shack (pic below) and replaced them. Since I love amber lighting I took off all the blue condoms from all the bulbs. Now it has nice amber lighting everywhere on center console and I like it .

Also, I put red led on the headliner and connected it to the sunroof, so it turns on whenever the ignition is on. It makes nice red accents on the shifter and the area around it. Over all I like the outcome. Check it out.

Before:


Some work:




The outcome:


Opinions please

UPDATE: how to add led on the headliner so it will light up shifter area (like in bmws or other lux cars)

I used THIS led light from radioshack, it worked fine.

1) Remove reading lights, which are located near mirror. Carefully pry the clear part that covers the bulbs with screwdriver, then remove screws, disconnect all connectors, and remove the whole thing from headliner.

2) Drill a small hole as shown in picture (the hole will be in the headliner).


3) Put the bulb into the hole.

4) Peel the wires that go to sunroof connector and connect bulb wires as shown in picture below.


5) Now every time you turn your ignition on, the LED will light up. Enjoy.

P.S. sorry for grammar on pics, I was in hurry.

Luxor

iTrader: (15)

Looks good, are these 272-1154 bulbs the same brightness as the OEM bulbs? Reason why I ask is because I installed 272-1092 bulbs in my climate control and they are only half as bright as the OEM bulbs.

Klaus

iTrader: (1)

The shifter illumination is REALLY nice- my mom has a z4 and I love that feature- just has a certain comfort about it while driving at night.

meangreen1

iTrader: (13)

Looks good!!! How much time did you spend on it

Vadim540i

Only half as bright, that's why they make deep orange color. I thought they would be too dim but as you can see, it doesn't look bad at all.

Vadim540i

I agree, I got the idea from BMWs that I had. It always created that warm luxurious feel at night

eliteskill

iTrader: (8)

Not bad for DIY. I always loved how you did your iphone setup =)

Vadim540i

One day. That included trial and error with bulbs, driving to store like 3 times, assembling/disassembling dash, taking apart units and soldering. If I would do it second time; it would take no more than 2 hours or less.

Vadim540i

Thanks! This setup is very useful vs burning CDs all the time. Plus you get the Pandora radio etc

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

How many bulbs were required for the climate control and stereo? I've always wanted to change out my climate control for a brighter white to match the rest of my interior.

Vadim540i

Climate control: 3 for LCD, and 3 for buttons. Radio: 2 LCD, and not sure how many buttons. More like 10.

vietunit

iTrader: (5)

Looks good, another thing to add to my list of "to do's"

kyddo112

Definitely have to do this as my climate control lights have a few burnt out bulbs. I was wondering what kind of bulbs are used for the fan button and the open/closed vent buttons.

aka paco

iTrader: (15)

Looks good, except me personally i like the color of the lighting of the 97+ climate and radio.. now they look like the ones in the older sc's.


nice job though

Vadim540i

I used same radio shack bulb. See my first post. I simply took out the old bulb from its base and put new one in.