2001 Protege ES - don't like the dash lighting - Mazda Forum

CarlF · #1 10-03-2009, 09:41 AM

Hi all,

I just picked up a 2001 Protege ES with 110k miles. It's really clean and drives great, but I was disappointed the first time I put the headlights on. Even with the gauge lighting turned all the way up I can barely read the gauges. They look incredibly dim compared to every other car I've ever had. And maybe it's my aging eyes, but I find the red-on-black really hard to read. Are there ways to change out the red lighting for white? Or else maybe remove the backlighting and front-light the gauges with white light so they look the same as in the daytime?

Thanks!
Carl

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darkstar4100 · #2 10-04-2009, 05:58 AM

you can't you have to change the gauge faceplate out of the gauge cluster you can try going to an auto parts store and finding new lights and seeing if they are brighter but thats really about it

CarlF · #3 10-05-2009, 12:04 AM

Thanks for the reply. This might be a long shot, but are there other Protege models, or other Mazdas, that have a gauge cluster that drops right in but doesn't use that kind of lighting?

robinfeel · #4 10-21-2009, 05:17 PM

Hi, I have a 2000 protege and its guage cluster (instrument panel) colour is light green..its quite bright and visual..i dont know if it will fit in 2001 protege but if it does you should try see if you like it.

CarlF · #5 Today, 12:12 AM

An update so far: I picked up a set of SpeedHut electro-luminescent gauges (http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/part...e_Replica/6508) because I could get them in white on black. Unfortunately they didn't seem to fit, but while I had the cluster out I noticed that some of the bulbs that illuminate the cluster had orange "condoms" on them- I guess to get all the dash color the same. Anyway, I removed them and now the numbers are light orange instead of dark orange/red and much easier to read.

I'd still like to replace the faces entirely if I could. Has anyone managed to get them off? The gauge pointers have to come off to do it, but when I pried gently on the pointer hubs they didn't seem to want to go, and I didn't want to break them.