| To remove the Climate Control and Clock to perform the LED conversion, first lower your steering wheel to the lowest position. Carefully remove the top cover on the steering column. There are 2 lock tabs near the back of the cover on both sides. Use a flathead screwdriver to pop them loose. Once the cover is removed, there are two screws that need to be removed.
Then remove the screws from the top of the panel.
Use the flathead screwdriver or an upholstery fastener remover to slide underneath the top part of the panel just enough to grab it with your fingers. It will take some time and work to remove the trim piece. Just use caution and take your time.
Maneuver the loose panel enough to get your fingers behind it and find the wiring harnesses behind the panel. Push locking tabs on the harness connectors and pull them out to remove them. There are 2 attached to the climate control unit, 1 to the clock, 1 to the reset/select buttons and 1 to the hazard button. On the other side of the panel there are 3 more connectors. One for each button (sunroof TCS/Cruise and Fog light)
Once all connectors are removed, remove the panel. It will take some time and work to remove the trim piece. Just use caution and take your time.
With the whole panel removed, you can turn it over and remove the climate control unit and the clock. To remove the climate control from the panel, remove the 4 screws shown in the picture by blue arrows. To remove the clock from the panel, remove the 2 screws shown in the picture by red arrows. If you purchased the button kits this is a perfect time to remove the buttons for installation. Take all these items inside to complete the install.
Pull the knobs off the front of the climate control and remove the filters that are in the knob itself
The next 3 steps are optional, but will make the clock light up brighter. Remove the back of the casing of the clock by unclipping the 4 tabs
Remove the two screws shown in the picture.
Remove the circuit board from the plastic housing. Don’t worry if the LCD falls off (just don’t drop it) as it is just seated there. Remove the blue filter.
Remove all the bulbs from the climate control and the one from the clock. This is done my rotating the bulb counter clockwise about 1/4 of a turn and lifting it out of the unit.
Now we need to take all of our bulbs and convert them. Remove the stock bulb from the base by unwinding the two contact leads. You might need a used staple or something to pick the leads up from the grooves.
Now pull the bulb out of the plastic holder and insert the LED through the holes.
The following step is only for the clock LED: To make the clock light up a little brighter, leave a small space between the plastic bulb holder and the bottom of the LED. (The blue arrows are pointing to the space that was left.) You might want to leave a bit more room than shown in the picture.)
Note which side is the anode and which side is the cathode. Unlike regular bulbs, LED's are polarized and will not work if you plug them in the wrong way. The anode is the + lead and is longer than the other.
Bend the negative (-) lead so it goes into the groove. Bend the positive (+) lead 90° from the other groove and cut both leads so that they do not stick out past the bulb holder. It will help if you can bend the positive (+) lead slightly toward the end. (See right picture.)
 
Solder one end of the wire (included with your kit) to the the negative (-) lead and wrap the wire around the bulb holder in the groove. The wire will go where the contact leads on the stock bulb were before you removed the bulb. Cut off any extra wire an put the end of the wire in the groove.
  
Take another piece of wire (included with your kit) and bend it in a "U" shape an put it on the bulb holder as shown in the left picture. Cut one of the ends short enough so it will fit down in the groove, and bend the wire into the groove. Next cut the other end of the wire and fold it into the same groove. It is OK if it overlaps the other end of the wire as seen in the picture on the right.
  
The left pictures shows what it should look like. Place a resistor (included in your kit) between the LED lead and the wire you just wrapped around the bulb holder and solder both sides of the resistor.
 
Here is a diagram that shows the layout of an LED correctly installed.
The following step is only for the clock LED: Figure out which way the LED is to be installed. Put the LED assembly (the LED and base) in the button and see if it lights up. If it does not light up, take it out and rotate it 180 degrees. Once you know which way it goes in, then bend the LED toward the front of the button and reinstall it. You may want to play with the angle that you bend the LED to get the clock to light up as bright as possible.
*Important!* - While soldering, do not hold the soldering iron to the LED lead, resistor or the solder joint for more than 3 or 4 seconds. If the solder does not make a good contact, wait until it cools before heating it up again. If you hold the soldering iron on the solder joint too long, the resistor and/or the LED will become useless. The resistor will go out before the LED will, we have included extra resistors in case you need them.
A trick to help you solder the tiny resistors on the bulb holder is to use your pliers to hold the bulb holder. Put a rubber band around the handle so it holds the bulb holder and use your tweezers to hold the resistor into place with one hand while you solder it with the other hand.
| Plugging
The LED's Back In |
These pictures
show which side is + so you know where the anode (the
lead with the resistor) of the LED should go.
|
