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I buy 10 packs of 194 bulbs from behind the counter at autoparts for less than the name brand 2 packs out front with all the bulbs. I’ve never used LED’s in this location. My experience is very poor with 194 LED’s and I’ve spent a damned fortune trying to find some that last for my cab lights, etc. Even the ‘cheap’ incandescent 194’s last for years.
I always change all the illumination bulbs in the cluster anytime I take the bezel off a customer’s truck for any reason. These bulbs tend to get dim over time and often a few are burned out. I rarely tell people I do this, but like cleaning glass - sometimes it’s the little things people don’t realize that makes them happy to spend their $$ with me.
I swapped in LED bulbs for all of the cluster bulbs. The small ones (forget the number, but they are tiny) for the indicator/warning lights and the bigger ones (194) for the tach, speedo, etc... All of the incandescent were removed and replaced with LED of the appropriate size. I ended up removing all of the LED's except for the cruise control light. They were too bright when on and the bigger ones for the gauges had bleed over. Although, I know that others have done similar or the same modifications to the lights and really like it.
I might still have them in a toolbox out in the garage if you wanted to give them a shot. Let me know here or via text if so.
I buy 10 packs of 194 bulbs from behind the counter at autoparts for less than the name brand 2 packs out front with all the bulbs. I’ve never used LED’s in this location. My experience is very poor with 194 LED’s and I’ve spent a damned fortune trying to find some that last for my cab lights, etc. Even the ‘cheap’ incandescent 194’s last for years.
I always change all the illumination bulbs in the cluster anytime I take the bezel off a customer’s truck for any reason. These bulbs tend to get dim over time and often a few are burned out. I rarely tell people I do this, but like cleaning glass - sometimes it’s the little things people don’t realize that makes them happy to spend their $$ with me.
Is 194 the only bulbs that are in the cluster? Do you know how many bulbs there are? Was thinking of ordering the Sylvania Long Life 10 pack on Amazon. Cheap and one day shipping. Wondered if that covered all lights or if I needed more or different bulbs as well?
Is 194 the only bulbs that are in the cluster? Do you know how many bulbs there are? Was thinking of ordering the Sylvania Long Life 10 pack on Amazon. Cheap and one day shipping. Wondered if that covered all lights or if I needed more or different bulbs as well?
No, there are very small bulbs too for the warning and indicator positions. Maybe PC74 bulbs? That is going off memory from years ago.
Again, going off memory. I bought a pack of ten for each and that was enough for the cluster.
Thanks for the link (you went with white?). I just went and pulled out the cluster. Turns out there are 6 larger and 6 smaller bulbs. To the life of me I can't make out what is written on either bulb, even with a magnifying glass.
I was having a hard time getting that shifter connection undone from the cluster (having never messed with it). I kind of accidentally unhooked the one side, but the other side got hung up to the point I was worried about breaking it. Will have to study that connection a little closer to figure out the easy way to remove and install.
Those smallest bulbs are kind of a PIA to get out of their sockets. At least hard to get a solid grip on them.
Don't mean to get this thread off topic, but I was watching some gauge cluster videos, and my light sockets seem to be a little different. At least the sockets listed as 194 in the below video seem a lot larger than the sockets that are on my cluster. Mine seem closer in size to the 74 (or 37 sockets). Sorry, my camera phone sucks. Did they change bulbs in years?
Shoot, I forgot the '02-'03 cluster is different from the '99-'01. I think Living on Wheels in that video had a 2000 truck he was working on.
Definitely not the 194's. I've posted a picture of my two bulbs (large and small) next to a 194 still in the package (look closely at the package). Sous found a number TC4 94LF, but I'm not finding a lot of options there. No lettering on my bulbs. Anybody have an idea on my larger bulbs? They are bigger than the 74's but smaller than 194's.
Perhaps the 94's were for the 2002 Mercury Sable we had for a while. None of the other bulbs I have in my storage have a number on them. I will look through my receipts on my laptop tomorrow to see if I can find the size of the larger bulbs.
Perhaps the 94's were for the 2002 Mercury Sable we had for a while. None of the other bulbs I have in my storage have a number on them. I will look through my receipts on my laptop tomorrow to see if I can find the size of the larger bulbs.
I went to the auto parts store to try and match my "larger" bulbs (which are smaller than 194's). Everything that is listed for these clusters says 194, but they are way too large to fit in my 2002 cluster. I could not find an exact match for my current bulbs (whether aftermarket or oem I have no clue). Anyways, I did find that Sylvania #24 bulbs will fit the sockets and will fit the holes in the cluster. They have a slightly larger diameter head than my current bulbs, but they fit. They are also 3.4 watts vs 3.8 watts on the 194's. So close in output as well. So for any oddball cluster owners out there like me you can go with #24's..... In the end I went with 74's for the smaller warning lights and 24's for the larger, main bulbs.
I bought 10x 921 bulbs in early 2016 according to my receipts. Perhaps check those against the #24 bulbs too. I am not sure what application they were bought for though.
For those of you that wired in a backup camera to your reverse lights, does the radio automatically switch to the camera when you put in reverse or do you still have to select the backup camera option on the radio first?
Which wire is the reverse wire and did you tap in under the dash or at your taillight?
For those of you that wired in a backup camera to your reverse lights, does the radio automatically switch to the camera when you put in reverse or do you still have to select the backup camera option on the radio first?
Which wire is the reverse wire and did you tap in under the dash or at your taillight?
post #595 in this thread. Might help you thought process.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1633149-atoto-android-head-unit-project-40.html#post20318246
