Hi,
My friend has a 2000 Protege, and she wanted to change the illumination color of the cluster from Green to Purple.

I did some searching and I thought that in that year, the bulbs just had a little green rubber that made the cluster lit up green. So I got some purple bulbs, and replaced the green rubbered lights. But when I turned the cluster on, it still lit up with a whitish/greenish color. And was not as bright. It wasn't as green as before, but you could tell there was some green there.

So I took the plastic cover off the cluster, and the black trim ring and looked under the gauge faces themselves, and there was a bright purple light back there. So the gauges themselves I'm guessing has something on it that doesn't allow the purple light to go through? I couldn't see any type of green film on the back of the gauge, but I really couldn't lift it up to far. I didn't want to take a needle off, because I read tht they break easily.

Somewhere ( I thought this forum) someone was able to change the color of their cluster to blue? Does anyone know how they did this?

The bulbs I replaced were the 2 194's and the 2 94's.

I was so disappointed when I was done, so I had to put the other bulbs back in.

 

I wanted blue about two years ago so I bought blue bulbs. I was surprised to when I saw green, just a different shade of green. I realized the gauge face has a strong green tint to it so being the genius that I am I went out and bought yellow bulbs (actually bulb covers) thinking yellow plus green would equal blue.............NOT I gave up after that and got lucky when they came out with the reverse gauges:

 

Those look pretty nice.

What color are they during the day?
How much did they cost?

Ya, it sure didn't make me too happy to see Green. why did they have to make them that way

 

grayish color by day
procarparts.com around $40 or so

 

I changed mine to blue, changed the shade a couple of times, but I should probably take some pics of the final setup...

 

How did you do it?

I can't get anything but a shade of green to appear, there is something on the gauges themselves that make them light up green.

Let me know what you did, and yes please post some pictures.

Thanks
Chris.

 

The latest idea seems to involve sanding the back of the gauge faces to remove the tinted film.

Of course, this would probably have to be done with the gauge faces still in place.

The other option - which should work - is to cut a small slit in the center of each gauge face, that way they can be lifted off without removing the needles.

Done carefully, the cut shouldn't be very noticeable. I know that several people who bought early renditions of indiglo gauges used this technique to install them; a small slit in the center, and slip it over the needle.

Good luck.

~HH

 

If it was my car, I might try the sanding off thing. But this is a friends car, and she would kill me if I messed it up

I just wish Mazda would have chose to just used colored lights to light up the dash, instead of masking the gauges with that film.

ERRR!!

 

Actually, I believe the film serves a purpose - the lighting is much more evenly dispersed, I think. The gauges have a nice even glow to them.

Also, over time colored bulbs tend to lose their color - the heat of the lamp eventually fades the color away. The tint on the gauges would prevent this from being noticeable.

I know it sucks - but hey, they don't build a car thinking we'll want to change everything .

~HH