How to Replace the Climate Control Backlighting
1990-1994 Lexus LS400
This tutorial will show you how to replace burned out bulbs in the climate control unit with either the stock bulbs or LED bulbs.
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Tools Needed:
Parts/Supplies Needed:
- 7 bulbs (Part #83119-24490) or LEDs
1) Remove the unit from the dash. (Steps 1-8)
2) Remove the two screws on each side and remove the climate control unit from the metal brackets.
3) Remove one screw on each side.
4) Rotate a thin flat head screwdriver under this tab while pulling on the face of the unit. You need to keep pulling on the face while you switch to do the other tab, otherwise the tab will pop back on. Once you get tabs off gently pull the face of the unit out so both top and bottom tabs have been released.
5) Flip the unit over on a cloth. Pull the face down so it looks like the picture. There are 7 bulbs that provide backlighting to the climate control unit. The 4 in the front row are green, and the 3 in the back are blue (even though they light up green). Use a screwdriver and turn counter clockwise to release the bulbs.
You have two options for bulb replacement: Stock bulb or LED bulb. Pictured here are the stock bulbs: Part # 83119-24490, pick these up at your local Lexus dealer. The green ones run around 12V and have a gray base. The blue ones run around 8V and have a black base.
Pictured here are LED bulbs. I bought 7 blue T1.5 instrument cluster LED bulbs from Superbrightleds.com. I superglued the 3 blue covers from the stock bulbs on 3 LED's to reduce the spotlight effect (3 very bright areas) on the LCD screen. DO NOT contact me about buying LED's, if you can't find them keep looking!!!
6) Replace bulbs. If using LED's make sure they go in as indicated in this pic. This picture will save you a lot of testing time! The LED's only work if the current flow is correct, that's why they have red dots.
7) Put everything back together and check out the new lights. The LCD backlighting LED's worked out great, but the button backlighting LED's are dim. Also, as you can see in the pic the indicator lights are still green. That's because these are already LED's and are soldered to a circuit board inside the face. Changing these would be quite a bit of work.
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