Noticed the other night that my heater controls were not lit up and very hard to see. Do I have a burnt out bulb or are they not lighted.
there was a thread or two about that. The consensus was that a lot of the trucks didn't have back lit controls.
lighting Greg, Is it possible to light it up? I haven't pulled out my a/c controls and was wondering if I'm just looking at pictures or light can pass through the controls? Thanks
I was just thinking about this too. It's been a while since I had mine apart to see if it looks possible. One of those LED license plate strageticly placed might do the trick.
I knew that this would come back up again. Mine is 100% lit up, across the whole control face, just like any import would be. Had it apart before, and it's a single beanie bulb inserted into a back cover (just like a park light) so that the entire face is lit up. All factory.
lucky you... I just had my truck installed with power locks and alarm... When the took out the instrument panel and a/c controls all we saw was epoxy and there was no way to put bulbs or any type of lighting behind there. I guess coz my truck's been converted to LHD. Oh well. Thanks Spaner. Maybe if we have more time to tinker...
kind of feeling like a dumb ars. Removed the six screws holding the dash trim on. Disconnected the heat ducts and I'll be darned if I could get that thing outa there. So it looked like it would not go over the steering column cover. So I removed the two screws holding it on and I can't get that thing out. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. I put the dash back together except for the knobs on the controls, because I never give up after the first attempt. Couldn't see any kind of light or socket, but then again I couldn't get the dash completely out of the way. So what am I doing wrong? Took some pics of the heater controls. Maybe someone will recognize it an a lighted or not.
You heater controls look the same mine (not lighted).I removed 2 bolts from steering shaft, 2 are slotted and lowered wheel on to seat to gain clearance to remove dash. The plastic around slide controls was solid so no light could past through. I used a small red led to light outside of panel. Doug
I just ordered a couple led license plate bolts. I'll post up how the work when I get them installed.
I "think" the oem lighting system can be retrofitted to a truck that does not have it. I remember seeing the plug for the light in trucks that didnt actually have the light. So i think the light shroud will simply clip to the back of the heater controls and the light should plug right into the open harness. But yes, a very large portion of the trucks simply did not have that option.
neat trick Doug, Are you saying that you illuminated your controls from the outside? If so, I'll do the same. Thank you for the idea.
wowww, factory radio.. RAN, drop the 4 bolts on the stering, behind the cover plate. Be carfull with those plastic retainer plugs for the cover, or you'll be looking for some specialty fasteners. Dash comes apart real easy after that. Looks just like mine, should be a bulb in there.
Here is the aforementioned thread: http://www.minitrucktalk.com/showthread.php?t=9340 I put pics on there showing the backside of the instrument panel and the wires, bulb, and the hole where they fit. This thread says how to remove the dash: http://www.minitrucktalk.com/showthread.php?t=11559
I did mine last night. I used a LED kit from Walmart. Peel & stick LED's that plug into the cig lighter. Ditch the plug, Drill a couple holes to run the wires and tap into the switched power from the radio. Not great but not too bad. The glare in the pics isn't accurate, It's just the pics.
I will be installing some external LEDs today. I got some tiny LEDs from superbrightled.com and I am using some legos laying around to tilt the LEDs toward the face of the heater controls. The flat wire will alleviate the need to drill. Should be a fun day.
