Definitive led thread for 80s

[SilentForever]

Been playing with dash colors/bulbs after one of the original yazakis finally died. The old green caps were fused/brittle, so put new bulbs in clear. Didn’t mind the off-white, but they were a little “milky” without the diffuser-effect of caps. Ordered green caps, and also white LEDs to give them a shot. New green isn’t bad, but very green - originals are a little softer & have more yellow. Then tried the LEDs, which I chose because reviews said “I wish they were brighter.” I’m not a fan of bright instrument lights, and they are within my range - brighter, but not crazy. Yeah, dimmer knob, I know.. but I need to address stereo whine first, which it interferes with if not maxed.

The white is nice (link). We’ll see how they last.

Put an LED in the shifter, but too bright for me. Really like them in the map & dome lights, and changed the glove box too.

Probably going to try them in the AC buttons & shift indicator to match, and then adjust my scangauge color too side effect - I’ve become a pro at pulling this stuff apart, not that it’s hard.

View attachment 3117811

Hey bro, is the brake lights etc white bulbs or red? Because I saw two different threads where one is red and one is white.

 

[jbstrong01]

Been playing with dash colors/bulbs after one of the original yazakis finally died. The old green caps were fused/brittle, so put new bulbs in clear. Didn’t mind the off-white, but they were a little “milky” without the diffuser-effect of caps. Ordered green caps, and also white LEDs to give them a shot. New green isn’t bad, but very green - originals are a little softer & have more yellow. Then tried the LEDs, which I chose because reviews said “I wish they were brighter.” I’m not a fan of bright instrument lights, and they are within my range - brighter, but not crazy. Yeah, dimmer knob, I know.. but I need to address stereo whine first, which it interferes with if not maxed.

The white is nice (link). We’ll see how they last.

Put an LED in the shifter, but too bright for me. Really like them in the map & dome lights, and changed the glove box too.

Probably going to try them in the AC buttons & shift indicator to match, and then adjust my scangauge color too side effect - I’ve become a pro at pulling this stuff apart, not that it’s hard.

View attachment 3117811

Looks great! Any chance you have done the HVAC panel? I can't seem to find the 3mm "long wire" LEDs to solder that are mentioned in page 1 of this thread. Amazon??

 

[SpenserAK]

I haven’t done those, just the mini wedge bulbs in there. I didn’t search to the point of finding what I’d order, but found a variety of results just searching “3mm led,” and adding “through hole”

 

[Shoulderleen]

I replaced the LED in my driver window switch. For some reason it is always on, even when the car is turned off, until I open the door to exit the vehicle. Then it says off.

Also, does not dim when the headlights turn on or when I control the instrument dimming knob.

Is this in line with what others have experienced? Or might I have a bad/insufficient resistor on the small board where this led sits. Thanks

 

[jbstrong01]

I haven’t done those, just the mini wedge bulbs in there. I didn’t search to the point of finding what I’d order, but found a variety of results just searching “3mm led,” and adding “through hole”

I just ordered all the button from my Toy dealer, $47 for all of them. I found the LED's on Amazon for $9. I am going to invest in a soldering tool on Amazon for $40. Play around and learn how to do it and THEN do the HVAC panel. I am a couple months out on this project, first the engine completion, then lift, then tires, then move to inside cabin for full restore. Preping all parts and an exhaustive part number list in a spreadsheet.

 

[Fj moneypit]

Looking for the 3 heater control bulbs. Anyone have a part number? Says type b bulb but not sure what that is or size? Found a type b bulb from another source but it’s to small. Help if you can. Thanks.

The 3 in the back of heater control

The green bulb type b shown on bottom pic

 

[SpenserAK]

Looking for the 3 heater control bulbs. Anyone have a part number? Says type b bulb but not sure what that is or size? Found a type b bulb from another source but it’s to small. Help if you can. Thanks.

The 3 in the back of heater control

View attachment 3171317
The green bulb type b shown on bottom pic
View attachment 3171318

I think it's a T4 neowedge

 

[jbstrong01]

I think it's a T4 neowedge

I think that in those three twist-in bulbs, the bulb plugs in to the twist-in plastic portion, it's not the whole piece. I could be 100% wrong but I could swear I saw a YT video on that,

 

[SpenserAK]

In my experience the T4 neos come as a unit, whereas 194s (dash gauges, etc) and 74s (shifter, glove box etc) are bulb only. I've done OEM T4s in 4Runners, but aftermarket from autolumination in my 80, all came with the base attached

 

[jbstrong01]

In my experience the T4s come as a unit, whereas 194s (dash gauges, etc) and 74s (shifter, glove box etc) are bulb only. I've done OEM T4s in 4Runners, but aftermarket from autolumination in my 80, all came with the base attached

That site scares me! I know ppl use it but just the design makes me thing they have a credit card skimmer in the back room lol

Again, I am no pro at all but this link shows what I was talking about, Amazon and in comments ppl mention they plug them in to the OEM housing. I have not gotten in to the HVAC unit yet to see if the bulbs come out but will be soon.

 

[SpenserAK]

Hah I get that, but it's safe. It's just an oldschool site because it works, although not always as easy to navigate. There are a variety of sites to choose from, though.

That link is for T5/74 bulbs, which you do replace bulb-only. T4 neowedge ("type b") is a different bulb, and comes with the base.

For an 80 series, T5/74 go in the shifter, glove box, ash tray, key ring, and the small cluster lights (ABS, check engine, lockers, seat belt, and other warning lights).

T4 neowedge is used for the backlight to heater control buttons, like in your initial post

 

[SpenserAK]

Not totally sure on OEM part numbers, but they come with the green caps installed over a clear bulb. If you use aftermarket bulbs, they are typically clear, in which case you would want to swap over the caps… unfortunately after 25+ years, you can't always remove them without ruining them. There are also colored bulbs available - I've done both as needed

FWIW, I was replacing the same bulbs when I first got my truck, and remember being a little confused at first when checking this thread. I didn't get good results just searching for "type B," but I noticed he lists it as a "neowedge item," so I searched "type b neowedge," and that's how I learned the common name is T4 neowedge.

 

[fwaptrout]

Thank you all in this thread for this information. Checked off another refurb project on the list for my 1996 by replacing the burnt out bulbs in various ccenter console switches and HVAC controller. I ordered the various neowedge type LED replacements from superbrightleds.com and very happy with the results.

Now have to replace that D bulb in the shift indicator light set in the main console.

 

[reklund5]

Anyone mess with the illumination LEDs in a factory radio? Several of mine are inop. Kinda silly to mess with a 30 year old radio I know, but if I can fix it cheap I’d like to.

 

[TomH]

Anyone mess with the illumination LEDs in a factory radio? Several of mine are inop. Kinda silly to mess with a 30 year old radio I know, but if I can fix it cheap I’d like to.

Some info here:

Radio Bulb Roadmap

I have one bulb burned out in my 1997 radio and after some searching was unable to find good pictures of the insides of an OEM radio. So I bought a spare one and took it apart to find out what is going on in there. Call me crazy but I like my stock radio. Plus I figure this should be easier than...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[reklund5]

Thank you, @TomH

 

[Box Rocket]

Anyone mess with the illumination LEDs in a factory radio? Several of mine are inop. Kinda silly to mess with a 30 year old radio I know, but if I can fix it cheap I’d like to.

Who is this dood in the 80 section? Welcome Ryan

 

[reklund5]

Who is this dood in the 80 section? Welcome Ryan

Just some mini truck guy who stumbled across a neglected old 80 series...

 

[Z28Rodeo]

All of us that have swapped out the incandescent low fuel light bulb for an LED have a situation where the low fuel light LED is always lit. This is because there's always enough current flowing across the LED to keep it lit. I'm trying to work out a way to illuminate the LED on a low fuel condition only. I was hoping that there's a simple fix like a parallel resistor of the correct value, but you may be correct that it requires a small piece of active electronics that measures the values coming from the sender and then activates the LED on the low fuel condition.

Just use an LED with a lower forward voltage. That’s what I did and it’s worked perfectly.

 

[Overlanderson]

after reading through the entire thread I'm super confused now.. does the OPs original list of LEDs work? do incandescent bulbs work better in some spots? what's the census everyone have come to on this project? in all honesty id like to really only swap the light in the HVAC and a few in the cluster but ill do them all if i have them open.