Hi all. I need to replace some of the bulbs in the ac/heater control and the start button. Does anyone know of aftermarket options? Or even their specs?

 

I went down the rabbit hole of LED replacement bulbs recently. The effect will be uneven and have hot spots because the beam angle of LEDs is different from that of the OEM incandescent bulbs. It took a lot of effort to even out the brightness.

 

Thank you for the response. I was considering LEDs but now that you mentioned the unevenness, I'll stick to incandescent bulbs.

OEM bulbs are about $5 piece, are there cheaper comparable options?

 

What'd you do to even it out?

 

I bought my LEDs from autolumination. It looks like they have incandescent bulbs too but I have not tried them besides the 'tall neowedge incandescent' for the a/c temp control knob because no LEDs were the right size.
Neowedge Instrument Panel Gauge Colored Led Bulbs Lights Lamps | Autolumination

I don't know about the color or brightness of their incandescents ... you will be on your own if you get non-OEM bulbs. I can try to provide a general idea of what bulbs you will need. Also, the OEM bulbs are delicate and the filament inside can break if dropped or shaken. You may need extras.

3 things:
1) I used a paint marker on bulb tip. Actual paint - a 'permanent' marker is not opaque enough to block light.



2) I also put silicone bulb covers over some LEDs. Some I reused from the OEM bulbs, and I bought some more off eBay from a guy who rebuilds gauge clusters. The title of the auction was "12 qty RED 3mm light bulb Color Caps Covers, climate radio switch auto car."

The bulb covers will dim the light and spread it out more evenly, even if they are the same color as the LED.



3) On the a/c controls, I tried bulbs of different heights. The holes for the lights are deeper on this side so shorter lights will be dimmer.

Even with all that I ended up using a clear incandescent bulb for the a/c temp control bulb and taping in a piece of red translucent plastic. The bulb illuminates the a/c temp control knob and the bottom right of the a/c direction knob. When I used a red LED, the blue part of the temp indicator would not light up (duh, physics). The bulb also had to be exactly the right height because the knobs surrounds are lit using clear light pipes, and the LEDs did not have the right beam pattern or brightness.