"hey guys, i have a 97 a4 1.8Tq, and i've been wanting to change the center console's lighting, right now, the lights are red, and i've been thinkin of changing the lights to a blue color, anyone know what size bulbs u need and a vague procedure on taking off the face of the center console? i know that this will be a pain to do, but im up for the challenge."


mostly just askin for the size of the bulbs, and how to remove the center console to get at the led's, thanks

 

To get all the info you need on the bulbs and stuff. you'll most likely need to buy a Bentley manual

 

??? por que ???

 

The official Audi repair manual with pictures and stuff.

 

got'cha

 

the reason being... the backlighting on the center counsel and dash is not created by separate bulbs that can just be un-plugged and simply replaced. The LED's are permanently soldered into the switches and therefore not considered replaceable. Sure, you can buy a replacement switch, but you can't buy the individual components that make up the switch.

If you want to replace the lights, first you'll have to gut all the switches (if that's even possible without destroying them), and if you get that far, you'll need to de-solder the LED's and figure out what size they are. Then you'll need to determine the parameters of the LED's... which usually isn't something that is printed on the bulb... such as the brightness factor, the resistance, and the current rating. Once you get all that info, you'd need to find an electronics supplier that sells blue LED's with the same specs.

I could be wrong, but I'm HIGHLY doubtful the Bentley manual will have that info because if a backlit switch burned out, it wouldn't instruct you to replace the LED... it would tell you to just replace the entire switch. And considering nobody here has ever done it that we know of, you're probably on your own.

Good luck if you decide to try. Your best bet might be to try and find an online junk parts distributor like Dad's Auto, and see if you can buy the center counsel switches, HVAC controls, stock radio, and HVAC display from them cheap... that way you can experiment on those parts to see if they can be disassembled. Some of those parts might be sonically welded which means there are no re-useable fasteners holding them together. You might have to break them apart in order to open them up. Obviously that's not a good thing.

 

Why..................?

 

the part#s. If a light of a switch should fail, u would have to replace the switch. I guess it might be easier to use bulb "condoms" for ur project, I think Radio Shack carries them. I guess u can also borrow some parts from VW Passat / Jetta.