Is this possible? My backlighting was at one point a nice green, of course long before I ever had the car, now it's a faded yellowish-greenish-white that is uneven. The speedometer actually has a section of yellow backlighting, the tachometer I would suppose is closer to the original color. If I did change the color, I would probably want to go to either blue, red, or green, but leaning towards blue. Now: I'd rather use LED's if possible whichever color I go with because even heat resistant paint fades over time, LED's however do not, nor do they ever burn out (unless put on too much power of course). I have to have the dash taken apart to fix my gas gauge sometime soon so I figure if I want this done I'd better have it done while everything is taken apart.
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Cullen Wassell / Newmarket NH - '90 764ti / 250,000m

One problem I had when doing this on my now former '86 740, is that the color of the bulbs are not the only determining factor in the color of the backlighting....the clear plastic which does the backlighting is color green itself....which means that you have to choose a lightbulb that would "mix" with the green of the backlighting and create the color you want - if you want the best results.

In the aircraft industry, we use nail polish to paint the instrument panel bulbs red. GE stopped making red 330 and 327 bulbs several years ago and actually told everybody to do this. This is on older airplanes that had red lighting everywhere to preserve the pilot's night vision. Before anybody tries this, it would be wise to paint one and run it on the bench for a few hours. The aircraft bulbs do not run that hot but I don't know about the auto bulbs.(Note: I am an aircraft mechanic)

Of course it is possible. I changed all the cluster lights and assorted other dash lights(headlight switch, defroster switch, sunroof switch, heated seat switch, lighter, seat belt) to match the red lighting on my Valentine One and Sony Xplod CD player. It all goes together really well and looks like the lighting on a new Audi or beemer. I also did it on my mom's 745ti. I went for the blue look at first but the little blue bulbs fade really quick. If you can find a way to use LED's I'd say got for it, but if not stick with red. Details might be different for the 760 because it has a different dash than the 740 but it can be done. Good Luck
-Eric Reid
'88 744 m47
'80 242gt
'90 745ti

Eric, from where did you get red bulbs? Do you have a brand and part#? Or did you use colored caps or paint the bulbs? Thanks in advance.

The bigger bulbs that go in the instrument cluster, HVAC, and overhead lights were purchsed from Advance Auto Parts. I have to go there today to get some detailing stuff so I'll check the brand and part number. The smaller bulbs that go in all the switches I colored over with a red Sharpie marker. I have also used model paint on them but the marker way is easier and works pretty good.
-E. Reid
'88 744

The part number for the red bulbs is 194R and the company who makes them is Victor. The blue bulbs are 194B.

I'm not tremendously familiar with the older 700 series clusters, but I assume they have somewhat standard bulbs as do the later ones.

I was working on some Toyota products and noticed that they have a lot of bulbs with actual covers that provide shading to the lights. They're slip on hats for the bulbs--very slick. I don't know where to get the covers, though, since I assume that the bulbs come bare and you are supposed to change off the covers.

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chris herbst, five volvos.

The stock TD-6141 740 radio uses those little covers for it's lights. Therefore if you still have the stock radio and want it to match the rest of your lights you will have to take it apart, remove those covers and color the bulbs.

You would have to disassemble the cluster to replace the plastic color filters, or use colored bulbs. The bulbs are unique and I don't know if anyone makes colors.

I'm pretty sure that if you got some nice 12v LED's and hooked 'em up properly that you could get it to work nicely. I think that you might be able to sand the base of them down slightly to get them to fit, but I'd stick with a direct "slip-in" fit that some commercially made bulbs would provide.
Does anyone have pix of what it looks like behind there? (The bulbs and their sockets?)

You can get coloured LED 194 replacement bulbs from a retailer who carries JamStrait products (www.jamstrait.com) and they have pictures of what their bulbs look like and the colours they are offered... there are also some other ones that are offered... might check on ebay...

Cliff Scott
89 740 16v