The Final Answer to your Dim Gauge Cluster

UPDATE: In the interest of being responsible and not leading someone down the wrong path, I must say this COULD prove NOT to be an ideal solution. Further down in the thread, a couple of potential issues were brought up. I am currently road testing this solution in my daily driver to make sure it's safe. I believe it will be or I wouldn't do it - however, until I report back that I've had no trouble for a reasonable amount of time, I suggest you either wait about this mod, or understand the possible risks going into it.




We've all experienced it. The bewilderment and frustration when we realize, yeah, that's as bright as it gets. The hope when we discover there's another bulb, W5W, that fits our cluster and is rumored to be brighter! The disillusionment when we see that the 5-watt W5W bulb is indeed brighter than the 4.7 watt 194 bulb, but it's not enough. And eventually, the acceptance that your gauge cluster is now kinda bright enough to read, you guess.

Well that last part no longer has to be true. May I introduce to you, the 922 bulb:



You may have noticed these bulbs before, seen that they have the same base at the 194/W5W, and maybe even bought and tried them only to discover they don't fit!


Well, they do fit! Just not the way you'd expect. First of all, you only need three of them. Keep the rest as W5W or 194, since those are just indicator lights. For gauge illumination you need only replace the ones I'm going to show you. They do not fit in the holes when you take the socket out, but install them from the front and they're the perfect size! To do this you need to take the speedometer and the warning light/fuel gauge face off. It's not a big deal:



Now the new ones...



These things are 12.5 watts! Almost three times as bright as stock! (If you want to go even brighter you can get the 17 watt 921 bulb, but I have not tested those and the 922's are perfect in my opinion. At some point you can overdo it, heat may play a factor, etc...

I did blow the original fuse with these, and you probably will too. I have four additional aftermarket gauges lit off that circuit so that played a role too I'm sure, but yes I had to put in a bigger fuse. I went with a 15 amp, you might not need that much. I didn't want to share this until I was sure it would be safe, so I've bit my lip for a week while I've driven around daily with these bulbs installed. Nothing's burned out, melted or anything like that, the traces on the cluster look fine, so does the plastic.

Best of all my factory instrument cluster is as bright at night as my aftermarket gauges, as well-lit as any other car's cluster, and is no longer an annoyance.

 

Good info!! Thanks.

 

Good work Drew! Very nice, maybe move it into a Tech article?

 

Cool good up-grade, but I like color!!

 

What's the wire size (gauge) that feeds the circuit?

 

That is a bulb commonly used in 3rd brake lights in Ford products. During my time working at the dealership, I saw MANY of those lamp bodies melted to the point where they were junk or the bulb socket was welded into the housing. That was in an application that was supposedly designed for that bulb. Be careful, those things generate alot of heat.

 

Not sure offhand. Stock.

I was concerned about that. I felt them after a few minutes of run time and they didn't seem too bad. But that's a valid point. I have an extra cluster, so I guess I'll be the guinea pig. I'll pull it after some time and check for damage, will report anything I find here.

 

I asked about the wire size, since the new bulbs draw more power, and just replacing to a higher rating of fuse might not be a good idea, the fuse protects the wire from overheating....I'll go out to the garage later and have a look at the wire size.
4.7W @ 12.8V =.367Amps
12.5W @12.8V=.976Amps

 

This got me thinking about the cluster and those who cannot even get their lights to work like me. What if you buy a light bulb that fits into the back of the cluster like three or so and then run a ground wire and solder it onto the grounded side of the bulb and then solder the postive side of the bulb and run the power wire to the fuse box for the lights so that way when you pull the headlight dimmer switch it comes on with the rest of the lights. Would this be possible? I have all my after market gauges setup where they come on when I put the lights on, just curious if this would work?

 

my fix for dim gauge lights was a new headlight switch fwiw

 

Been there, did that... It helped, but it has continued to bug me that the factory cluster is so dim compared to every other car I've driven and even the other gauges in the Mav. If this solution proves to be a bust my next step is the LED equivalent of the 922 or 921 bulb. They should run cooler, pull less current and produce a similar amount of light. The LED 194 bulbs were a joke.

 

I've added a preface to the original post.

 

I figured id throw it out there as it may haelp someone having a voltage drop across the rehostat like mine did. the differance was like the differance between a incadesent bulb and a halogen it is nbow as bright as my aftermarket gauges.

 

That's interesting. I've seen the headlight switch suggested several times, but this is the first I've heard of it actually fixing the problem.

 

The switch is not always the fix.. In the past I replaced my switch and it was still dim. I would say if the switch is new(ish) then try some bulbs.. Could still be a circuitry or other problem but new bulbs is cheap..