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DIFFICULTY LEVEL: 
(1 devil = easy (up to) 5 devils = pros or the adventurous only)
Hello I just got done Modifying my Gauge Cluster to change the color from a dull red only, to a Blue and White color. Here is my How-to On how to get it done.
By the way this was done on my 2006 Pontiac G6 V6 Sedan.
First order your LEDS from the internet, doesn't matter where they come from as long as your are satisfied with them. If your cruising ebay search for 1206 LEDS. The correct size will come up. Yes I understand that the ones on ebay are a hair smaller than the ones we will be replacing but wait there are some parts where their size comes in handy.
Second get your Soldering Iron, your electro static discharge safe mat, solder, flux, desoldering tool if you want, and your ground strap. You can find it all at FRY's.
But Im sure alot of other stores carry this stuff.
Now time to get to work. Remember No Energy Drinks they make your hands unsteady.
Remove the Bezel around the instrument panel by undoing the two screws holding the bezel in which are located at the top of the bezel.
T15 Hex tip required.
Remove the the bottom plastic protector on the steering column by undoing the three screws. 9/32 tip required.
Pull out the bezel and top half of the steering column cover.
Removed the Four screws holding the Instrument Panel In place. 9/32 tip required.
Manuever the Instrument panel out a bit, then unclip the wire harness that is attached to the Instrument Panel.
The latch is under the harness so just slide your thumb underneath and pop it out.
Manuever the Instrument panel the rest of the way out and feel free to bring the panel into your house and into a well lit area.
Be mindful of the location you have chosen to do your work, ESD is a killer and if you dont know the Mileage counter picks up on it extremeley well.
Choose a place away from carpets and where the kids arent going to get into should you get up. And ground yourself out before your start.
Begin taking apart the Instrument panel. First take off the Plastic covering so you can reach the face plate. Its just cliped in place so removing it should be easy.
Next you need to remove the needles before your can take the face plate off. Use two spoons on opposite sides of each other and pry straight up.
By using two spoons you minimize damage to the face plate, and lower the risk of hurting your needles sprockets.
Now here is an easy way to check if you broke the sproket. With the needle off try to rotate the clear tube that holds up the needle. If it moves freely then you broke it. If it has alot of resistance behind it then your good.
If your broke your needle sprocket dont worry! I got a fix for that too.
Now that you have to face plate and needles off turn your attention to the back of the instrument panel. There are four metal clips, those clips hold back the metal housing for the milage counter. The metal cage doubles as a clamp for milage counter,
and as a faraday cage to protect the milage counter from electromagnetic Interference. Yeah that Mileage counter is sensitive. Undo those metal clips
After the cage is free, the plastic clips holding the white gauge cover on should come right off. Make sure you leave the mileage counter its protective cage and the white cover all together and out of sight, you dont have any work to do on those things.
Now its time to starting warming up the Soldering Iron. Infront of you should only be the Base Board, with exposed Leds, and circuits.
Time for a quick lesson. Leds are marked on the side that the Cathode is on. You can think of the cathode as a negative, and the
other side is the anode which is like positive. The stock Leds, look like they have a piece chiped off on the corner of them. So
whatever side you find the chip on, that is the cathode. Make sure you align your new LED to meet up with that cathode.
And write down the position of each LED you take off (unless you have a great memory) and try doing them one by one, meaning
One comes off one goes on. So you don't get confused because once your lose the position of the cathode it becomes a pain to
try to figure it out again. Have fun Soldering.
Here is a quick Reference to what leds do what.
Ok so your almost done soldering and your wondering how those needles are going to get fixed. Well here we go.
The white boxes are the needles housings, that control where the needles are. If you work it right you can use a
pocket knife to crack into the side of them from about half way. When you lift up the housing two little plastic rivets
become undone, but you can use wire cutters to cut the tips of them off. Now find your little bar, and place it back
into the groove, use a small piece of tape to hold it in place, and close the housing back up, Try twisting the sprocket
if you can not move it freely then you did everything right. Here is a picture for that. And no position of the needle
does not matter, the vehicle will adjust itself if you set the needle to an untrue value.
Alright, wondering how i changed the needle lights, Well i took the gauge housings completely off. And you can do it too.
To remove the gauge housings turn to the back of the board, there should be little white bumps. There are three little bumbs
to one gauge. Two of the little bumps have a tube surrounded by 4 prongs, use a paper clip or small nail to push the tube in.
on both bumps and the housing should come right out. Under the housing you will find the small led that lights the gauges.
Now you see when i said get 1206 leds, because if you got the same leds as stock they would not fit under the needles.
Also Look closley to at the led your taking off because it is very hard to see the cathode marking with your naked eye.
To place the housing back on just put it back into place, and push the tube back down into the prongs from the cicuit board
side using your paper clip or small nail.
Remember you do not have to put everything back together to check your work, you can hook everything up to the harness
whenever you feel like it to double check your work, the needles do not need to be on, niether does the milage counter.
Just make sure that all Leds are in place, and the housings are not off, because you need those items to complete the circuit.
If an Led is on backwards the only thing that will happen is that one LED will not light up.
Once you are done soldering. And your work checks good, put everything back together the opposite way you took everything off.
The only thing that should give you trouble is the getting the milage counters cage back in place. but with the right paper clip you
can slide it back in place. And if you feel that something is missing from this how to feel free to add it in. Got some pictures from
when you did yours add it in. I know I don't have a lot of pictures. Have any questions please ask. Time to complete took me about
6 hours.
Here are pics of mine completed.
(1 devil = easy (up to) 5 devils = pros or the adventurous only)
Hello I just got done Modifying my Gauge Cluster to change the color from a dull red only, to a Blue and White color. Here is my How-to On how to get it done.
By the way this was done on my 2006 Pontiac G6 V6 Sedan.
First order your LEDS from the internet, doesn't matter where they come from as long as your are satisfied with them. If your cruising ebay search for 1206 LEDS. The correct size will come up. Yes I understand that the ones on ebay are a hair smaller than the ones we will be replacing but wait there are some parts where their size comes in handy.
Second get your Soldering Iron, your electro static discharge safe mat, solder, flux, desoldering tool if you want, and your ground strap. You can find it all at FRY's.
But Im sure alot of other stores carry this stuff.
Now time to get to work. Remember No Energy Drinks they make your hands unsteady.
Remove the Bezel around the instrument panel by undoing the two screws holding the bezel in which are located at the top of the bezel.
T15 Hex tip required.
Remove the the bottom plastic protector on the steering column by undoing the three screws. 9/32 tip required.
Pull out the bezel and top half of the steering column cover.
Removed the Four screws holding the Instrument Panel In place. 9/32 tip required.
Manuever the Instrument panel out a bit, then unclip the wire harness that is attached to the Instrument Panel.
The latch is under the harness so just slide your thumb underneath and pop it out.
Manuever the Instrument panel the rest of the way out and feel free to bring the panel into your house and into a well lit area.
Be mindful of the location you have chosen to do your work, ESD is a killer and if you dont know the Mileage counter picks up on it extremeley well.
Choose a place away from carpets and where the kids arent going to get into should you get up. And ground yourself out before your start.
Begin taking apart the Instrument panel. First take off the Plastic covering so you can reach the face plate. Its just cliped in place so removing it should be easy.
Next you need to remove the needles before your can take the face plate off. Use two spoons on opposite sides of each other and pry straight up.
By using two spoons you minimize damage to the face plate, and lower the risk of hurting your needles sprockets.
Now here is an easy way to check if you broke the sproket. With the needle off try to rotate the clear tube that holds up the needle. If it moves freely then you broke it. If it has alot of resistance behind it then your good.
If your broke your needle sprocket dont worry! I got a fix for that too.
Now that you have to face plate and needles off turn your attention to the back of the instrument panel. There are four metal clips, those clips hold back the metal housing for the milage counter. The metal cage doubles as a clamp for milage counter,
and as a faraday cage to protect the milage counter from electromagnetic Interference. Yeah that Mileage counter is sensitive. Undo those metal clips
After the cage is free, the plastic clips holding the white gauge cover on should come right off. Make sure you leave the mileage counter its protective cage and the white cover all together and out of sight, you dont have any work to do on those things.
Now its time to starting warming up the Soldering Iron. Infront of you should only be the Base Board, with exposed Leds, and circuits.
Time for a quick lesson. Leds are marked on the side that the Cathode is on. You can think of the cathode as a negative, and the
other side is the anode which is like positive. The stock Leds, look like they have a piece chiped off on the corner of them. So
whatever side you find the chip on, that is the cathode. Make sure you align your new LED to meet up with that cathode.
And write down the position of each LED you take off (unless you have a great memory) and try doing them one by one, meaning
One comes off one goes on. So you don't get confused because once your lose the position of the cathode it becomes a pain to
try to figure it out again. Have fun Soldering.
Here is a quick Reference to what leds do what.
Ok so your almost done soldering and your wondering how those needles are going to get fixed. Well here we go.
The white boxes are the needles housings, that control where the needles are. If you work it right you can use a
pocket knife to crack into the side of them from about half way. When you lift up the housing two little plastic rivets
become undone, but you can use wire cutters to cut the tips of them off. Now find your little bar, and place it back
into the groove, use a small piece of tape to hold it in place, and close the housing back up, Try twisting the sprocket
if you can not move it freely then you did everything right. Here is a picture for that. And no position of the needle
does not matter, the vehicle will adjust itself if you set the needle to an untrue value.
Alright, wondering how i changed the needle lights, Well i took the gauge housings completely off. And you can do it too.
To remove the gauge housings turn to the back of the board, there should be little white bumps. There are three little bumbs
to one gauge. Two of the little bumps have a tube surrounded by 4 prongs, use a paper clip or small nail to push the tube in.
on both bumps and the housing should come right out. Under the housing you will find the small led that lights the gauges.
Now you see when i said get 1206 leds, because if you got the same leds as stock they would not fit under the needles.
Also Look closley to at the led your taking off because it is very hard to see the cathode marking with your naked eye.
To place the housing back on just put it back into place, and push the tube back down into the prongs from the cicuit board
side using your paper clip or small nail.
Remember you do not have to put everything back together to check your work, you can hook everything up to the harness
whenever you feel like it to double check your work, the needles do not need to be on, niether does the milage counter.
Just make sure that all Leds are in place, and the housings are not off, because you need those items to complete the circuit.
If an Led is on backwards the only thing that will happen is that one LED will not light up.
Once you are done soldering. And your work checks good, put everything back together the opposite way you took everything off.
The only thing that should give you trouble is the getting the milage counters cage back in place. but with the right paper clip you
can slide it back in place. And if you feel that something is missing from this how to feel free to add it in. Got some pictures from
when you did yours add it in. I know I don't have a lot of pictures. Have any questions please ask. Time to complete took me about
6 hours.
Here are pics of mine completed.
WOW! that came out really good! I would prefer to keep the needles Red and the rest white but to each their own. Great Job!
. But you did a really good job. Looks awesome dude.
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