I just bought an 09 Corolla S MT (Very nice car btw). I can't say that I care for the orangle color of the gauges at night though. Does anyone know of any aftermarket gauge faces available or any other mods to change the lighting color?

I have the exact same feelings about my 'rolla S! I would love a white face and blue back-light. I was hoping for a blue so that it will match an after market radio. Looks to me that it may just be a bulb change fro orange to blue.

Well, I pulled out the instrument cluster (fairly easy to do) and took it apart (not as easy). All of the back lighting is provided by surface mount PLCC LED's. I did find a place that sells these online at: http://www.oznium.com/plcc-2. It looks like it's just a matter of removing the orange ones and soldering in the color of your choice. I'll try to post some pictures of the disassembled cluster later on.

***EDIT***

Here are some pictures:

(IMG:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/2737708547_735054904f.jpg)
(IMG:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/2737708981_f3c25e2fdd.jpg)
(IMG:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3073/2737712825_6e28e6eb81.jpg)

Dr

Thanks for the link and the images! Can you let me/us know where the screws are and what type to get the . As well as how to get the board out. Are the LEDs soldered in place?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Peake

There are only two screws you have to remove and they are easy to get to.
Here are the steps (roughly) to removal:

1) Pull the gauge cluster bezel off. It's held in place by clips. On the right side, the bezel has a tab that is tucked under part of the molding for the radio. This can be tricky to get out but you can also pull out the radio molding piece.

2) remove two philips-head screws on the top of the gauge cluster.

3) Tilt the top of the cluster forward then pull it out.

4) Disconnect single wire harness from back of the cluster

Now comes the tricky part: Everything on the cluster is held together by plastic tabs which you can either pull apart or work open with a flathead screwdriver

5) Pull the front clear plastic cover off of the gauges.

6) Pull the needles off of the gauges. The needles are just friction fit onto the gauge face. Be careful removing them as it is easy to bend the thin platic at the base of the needle. I used two flathead screwdrivers on each side to work the needle loose. A putty knife might work good too.

7) Carefully remove the gauge faces.. its a thin plastic sheet.

8) Pull the white plastic back-cover off of the cluster (lots of tabs). The back of the circuit board should now be exposed

9) Now the circuit board is only being held in place by the two LCD's on the cluster and few more tabs. Try to gradually work tghe board off of the tabs and *very* carefully separate the pins of the LCDs from the circuit board. These pins can be bent very easily.

10) You should how have the circuit board completely issolated. The LEDs are very tiny and are soldered to the surface of the board. If you look at the third picture I posted above, they are located in the white circles drawn on the board. I ended up plugging the board back into the car and turning the headlights on. This caused teh LEDs to light up and I was better able to see which ones where orange and would have to be replaced if I switched colors.

Hope that helps.

To Dr. Schlock,

Please provide information on how you successfully pulled your instrument panel in your 2009 Corolla. Where do you pry and what tools? I cant find any screws to remove.

Thanks,

MarvinMan