Hello,
My previous car was a Golf MK5 and a thing that i like about the car was its blue dashboard lighting. My touareg has the color MFD with white illumination. But i wanted a blue illumination so i made my own cluster illumination. Maybe other people want to change also to the blue volkswagen dashboard lights so i'll write down what i did to change the color. I've made a lot of pictures so my bad english is understandable :wink:
First the instrument cluster must be removed to access the original white CCFL tube. Yes indeed CCFL, i thought it was LED lighting so the color change could not be difficult but surprisingly it's been realized with CCFL tubes.
You have to pop the side panel off te release the left wood trim plate.
![Image]()
The trim plates can easily popped out. Then the 2 torx bolts hidden by the trim plates can be removed.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Next the plastic cover on top of the instrument cluster must be removed. With a little screwdriver, you can wipe out carefully the cover.
![Image]()
Then the 2 torx bolts can be removed so the top cover can slide out of the dashboard. (towards you)
![Image]()
Then remove the 5 bolts and lift the plastic frame up.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Now the instrument cluster can be taken out of the car after you disconnect the 2 connectors on the back of the cluster. This is not easy because there's no room to flip the cluster to see what you're doing. If you go outside the car, you can watch through the windscreen how the connector must be removed. There's a little security pin which you must push in and then release the purple security clip. The purple clip flips 90 degrees and the connector pops out.
![Image]()
Next comes the dismantling of the cluster. This must be done very carefully because of the tiny parts that breaks easily.
Remove the 6 torx t10 screws and lift the 8 clips carefully.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Now the front cover and the back cover can be removed. The back cover holds the speaker with a connector so it takes a little force to click it out.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Now comes a dangerous part. The tacho needles must be removed. Turn all the needles all the way clockwise. Then pull and turn clockwise very carefully till the needles release.
![Image]()
Now you can remove the indicator sheet. It's popped together around the centers of the tacho and speedometer.
![Image]()
Next the circuit board can removed by removing the 3 little torx screws. Then the connectors on the board must disconnected. 6 plastic clips hold the circuit board so just pop them out.
![Image]()
Now we can finally remove the CCFL tube. It's hold in place by 4 plastic clips.
![Image]()
![Image]()
So now we can replace the CCFL tube by a LED strip. It must be 40cm long to cover the whole length.
![Image]()
I hold the strip in place with a thin piece of insulation material, which you can cut very easy to the correct form.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Now you can put the whole cluster together in reverse order. Here is the final result:
![Image]()
The only thing that must be done is to connect the le strips to the interior light system. As the CCFL tube uses high voltages, the original power source cannot used to feed the led strip.
So i used the voltage from the left air duct switch. My led strip uses only a current of 0.06A, that shouldn't be a problem.
![Image]()
I put also an extra fuse of 125mA and a resistor in series with the led strip for safety.
The maximum voltage of the led may not exceed 12V and because the onboard voltage can be 14.7V in winter conditions, i put an extra resistor of 15 Ohms in series to prevent overcurrent.
![Image]()
Now everything is ready to build in. I haven't made pictures of the result in the car but i'll do that soon.
I hope that it's a useful tutorial to modify your instrument cluster illumination. If you have any questions, go ahead.
KR, Bart
My previous car was a Golf MK5 and a thing that i like about the car was its blue dashboard lighting. My touareg has the color MFD with white illumination. But i wanted a blue illumination so i made my own cluster illumination. Maybe other people want to change also to the blue volkswagen dashboard lights so i'll write down what i did to change the color. I've made a lot of pictures so my bad english is understandable :wink:
First the instrument cluster must be removed to access the original white CCFL tube. Yes indeed CCFL, i thought it was LED lighting so the color change could not be difficult but surprisingly it's been realized with CCFL tubes.
You have to pop the side panel off te release the left wood trim plate.
The trim plates can easily popped out. Then the 2 torx bolts hidden by the trim plates can be removed.
Next the plastic cover on top of the instrument cluster must be removed. With a little screwdriver, you can wipe out carefully the cover.
Then the 2 torx bolts can be removed so the top cover can slide out of the dashboard. (towards you)
Then remove the 5 bolts and lift the plastic frame up.
Now the instrument cluster can be taken out of the car after you disconnect the 2 connectors on the back of the cluster. This is not easy because there's no room to flip the cluster to see what you're doing. If you go outside the car, you can watch through the windscreen how the connector must be removed. There's a little security pin which you must push in and then release the purple security clip. The purple clip flips 90 degrees and the connector pops out.
Next comes the dismantling of the cluster. This must be done very carefully because of the tiny parts that breaks easily.
Remove the 6 torx t10 screws and lift the 8 clips carefully.
Now the front cover and the back cover can be removed. The back cover holds the speaker with a connector so it takes a little force to click it out.
Now comes a dangerous part. The tacho needles must be removed. Turn all the needles all the way clockwise. Then pull and turn clockwise very carefully till the needles release.
Now you can remove the indicator sheet. It's popped together around the centers of the tacho and speedometer.
Next the circuit board can removed by removing the 3 little torx screws. Then the connectors on the board must disconnected. 6 plastic clips hold the circuit board so just pop them out.
Now we can finally remove the CCFL tube. It's hold in place by 4 plastic clips.
So now we can replace the CCFL tube by a LED strip. It must be 40cm long to cover the whole length.
I hold the strip in place with a thin piece of insulation material, which you can cut very easy to the correct form.
Now you can put the whole cluster together in reverse order. Here is the final result:
The only thing that must be done is to connect the le strips to the interior light system. As the CCFL tube uses high voltages, the original power source cannot used to feed the led strip.
So i used the voltage from the left air duct switch. My led strip uses only a current of 0.06A, that shouldn't be a problem.
I put also an extra fuse of 125mA and a resistor in series with the led strip for safety.
The maximum voltage of the led may not exceed 12V and because the onboard voltage can be 14.7V in winter conditions, i put an extra resistor of 15 Ohms in series to prevent overcurrent.
Now everything is ready to build in. I haven't made pictures of the result in the car but i'll do that soon.
I hope that it's a useful tutorial to modify your instrument cluster illumination. If you have any questions, go ahead.
KR, Bart
