VW Instrument Cluster LED Upgrade

[@superbrightleds]

I thought those bulbs looked familiar! Great tutorial! The end result is 🔥🔥

[@OlisGarage]

Thank you!! They are nice bulbs; not too bright but definitely not super dim anymore. I’m in the process of making a tutorial to get the rest of the interior lights switched to LED; bulbs supplied by you all!

[@json8172]

Just bought a set from you all for mine. :) If its Oli approved, likely good stuff.

[@json8172]

I just learned about solder mask, but for cluster PCB repair work is your best friend. Great for doing trace repair. figured id pass the info on.

[@OlisGarage]

Heck yes, thank you. I always wondered how one could keep the solder from connecting to other pins on the pcbs. Thanks json!

[@json8172]

figured you would find that helpful. welcome buddy. @@OlisGarage

[@birchbellehumeur6185]

In the future, could you do a video about diagnosing and fixing a broken fuel gauge?

[@OlisGarage]

I absolutely can, but it’ll be a while. I have a video on fixing a broken water temp gauge. If the gauge is broken, it’s a similar repair. Have you checked your fuel level sensor yet? That thing might be broken and rusty.

[@DellaSaylors]

Please... Where to purchase T5 smaller blubs and base.? Thank you

[@davidap6224]

Hello, fantastic tutorial. Thanks a lot. I need to know where buy the led bulbs for my golf cabrio mk1 1986? regards.

[@OlisGarage]

I posted the link where I bought them from in the description

[@WoodlandSaunasInc.]

Hey Ollie, you make great videos man. I’ve been watching them non stop and about to do tons of work on my ‘89 cabriolet. Have you replaced the air intake + exhaust manifold gaskets. If you end up doing it a video demo would be great. Cheers

[@OlisGarage]

Thank you! Those are on the list to film. I won’t promise a time when they’ll be done by, but I have the parts and they need to be replaced!!

[@WoodlandSaunasInc.]

@@OlisGarage right on, My parts are on the way I’ll be doing it pretty soon here. Just wondering if you know this, I can’t seem to find the EGR anywhere on my ‘89 Cabrio. Do you know if models in that year didn’t have them?

[@OlisGarage]

@@WoodlandSaunasInc. no egr on these cars! Shoot me an email and I’ll give you a few tips on replacing those gaskets. Exhaust is difficult due to rusty bolts. What makes you need to replace the exhaust gasket?

[@WoodlandSaunasInc.]

@@OlisGarage thanks for the reply! I sent you an email, let me know if you didn’t get it

[@OlisGarage]

@@WoodlandSaunasInc. received! 😀I’ll give you a good reply tomorrow. Just didn’t quite get to it tonight.

[@mikesvirtualgarage9917]

Do the Mk1/Mk2 cars have a dimmer for the cluster lights? If so, any issue with dimming with the LED's? Nice upgrade!

[@OlisGarage]

Good question! Short answer, no issue. Long answer, the lights don’t get quite as dim as with the incandescent bulbs. But I’ve never had an issue, especially with the green lights. If I would’ve used white lights, I’d probably dim them a bit sometimes.

[@mikesvirtualgarage9917]

@@OlisGarage cool, thank you! Audi's of the same vintage have a bit different set up for cluster illumination, but LED's have always been on the docket to try. Love the videos!

[@DellaSaylors]

Yes

[@walterbutscher8438]

You make it look easy. When I rebuilt my cluster it took 2 days and I broke 2 needles and the speedo cable. Can't warn people enough. THAT PLASTIC IS FRAGILE. Great video however

[@OlisGarage]

Needle removal is especially difficult. These clusters are very fragile. I hate removing mine or taking it apart. I usually try to time multiple repairs to avoid removing the cluster just because of how fragile it is.

[@mrmechano1884]

hey olli only issue i found is for some reason the positive on my clock bulb was at the top like the others vs the inverse you say in your video.. not sure if some models or years are different??

[@allanlange2263]

Is the process the same for mk2

[@alfonsoalonso5364]

Hi I admire your work and I need and advice I have a 1980 rabbit that no start I find gasoline on the spark plugs and on the oil what will be the problem

[@stelisev]

Hey. I did the same but now i have problems with the oil indicater . Constantly it goes to alam modus. What could be the reason ?

[@sinistarmr2]

Thank you for this detailed video. I noticed you used green LEDs. I want to do this upgrade and retain the green illumination, but if I leave the factory green diffuser in place, do you think I should still use green LEDs, or would white + the green diffuser make more sense? Wonder if green LEDs + the green diffuser is too much green. :)

[@OlisGarage]

Warm white LED + green diffuser would look more stock, a pale green. I left the green diffuser in with green LED. It’s a darker green than stock, but looks really good in my opinion. I don’t think the green diffuser is making the green LEDs look much different. LEDs generally just emit one wavelength anyways, so either it’s blocked or not. Really depends what look you’re after. I wanted to keep it pretty stock. I love the green LEDs.

[@rrodriguez2709j]

Anyone know where I can one of these clusters rebuilt . Thanks

[@OlisGarage]

@@rrodriguez2709j what’s wrong with it?

[@sand0077]

Very helpful, thank you for posting this procedure! 👍

[@profesinue9670]

Gracias saludos desde la Ciudad de México

[@totte1015]

So just to confirm its the B8.3D one right?

[@OlisGarage]

Correct!

[@toasterguy22]

Ah man. I upgraded my cabby's cluster to LED (and fixed it cause the circuitry was fucked and it didn't work) like a week ago and had to figure this out on my own. Funny timing

[@OlisGarage]

Well I’m glad you got it worked out! Where did you purchase LEDs from? I’m always interested in finding where people source parts from.

[@toasterguy22]

@@OlisGarage I got the LEDs from Amazon. They sent the wrong size but I didn't want to wait for new ones so I improvised by cutting up some guitar picks and gluing them on lol

[@VictorSeneriz]

Greetings: where can I buy the ligth bulbs??

[@OlisGarage]

Link is in the description!

[@jkbkratky]

Original bulb should be 431919040 with 1.2W or 431919040A with 2W but what is the socket/base to get proper fitting LED substitution?

[@OlisGarage]

B8.3D is what the website I linked lists. But I’m not sure if that translates into anything outside of their site. You can also look for bulbs for VW vanagons. They had the same instrument cluster and there are tons of aftermarket parts available for the vanagons.

[@jkbkratky]

@@OlisGarage Yep, B8.3D worked in my case. Some modest cuts of some plastic body of the bulp was needed to force it to the hole in the cluster.

[@martinweizenacker7129]

Yes, B8.3D is correct, also known as BAX10s. I recommend you take the original incandescent lamps and remove the guts so that you are left with the empty plastic sockets (use a very small flat blade screw driver to push in the metal tabs at the sides). Then you do the same with your LED replacements and put the LED guts into the original lamp holders. The incandescent lamp holders just have a better fit and better build quality.

[@MilSik80]

Are these dimmable?

[@OlisGarage]

@@MilSik80 yes

[@calebshunmugam8920]

Really helpful video. Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it

[@OlisGarage]

You’re very welcome! I can’t always promise as quick of a turn around for requests, but this worked out well.

[@stephenhargreaves381]

Would love to do this upgrade , but I'm not brave enough.

[@OlisGarage]

If you want to mail it to me, I can do it for you. I’m in the process of photographing all of the different led colors and making a website. But I’m not quite at that stage yet.

[@stephenhargreaves381]

@@OlisGarage Thank you for the kind offer, will seriously consider that !