Hey everyone... I was thinking of changing the color of my gauge panel to blue to match my radio. Anyone know a good site for that. I have an '02 Diamante.

hey man, if you do a search on LED's and dash lights theres a few how tos here i think. as far i know its a matter of swapping the bulbs for the colour you want. Hey it says your international..........NewZealand??? Im in Tauranga, Bay of plenty. nice looking Diamante. nice mags.

'EDIT' just noticed ya sig, your in USA!!! sorry.

Thanks Robssei.... I wish I was from around Australia... Looks like a great place and seems like theres more Diamante enthusiasts than here. All people care about here are gay little VW and Honda Civics lol.

Thanks Robssei.... I wish I was from around Australia... Looks like a great place and seems like theres more Diamante enthusiasts than here. All people care about here are gay little VW and Honda Civics lol.

ha ha dont worry, thats about what most people modify in NZ and Aussie too lol (oh and commodores). welcome to the forum, lots of technical info here, you cant go wrong. The Diamante's/magna's are nice cars, and i love mine. at this point i cant find anything for the same price with comparable features and power. not sure how much they fetch over your neck of the woods. i think we would all love to see some other American models to compare, interior shots etc.

For the North American cars, some (most/all from the 2002) would have got the 'Hi Contrast' dash. This is a black tinted panel with backlit instruments. As far as I am aware, it is not possible to change the colours. (mine does not have any bulbs or access to them on the back)

So firstly, if your instruments are lit up at all times, then you have Hi Contrast guages. If not, then to change them is as easy as pulling the instuments out and replacing the bulbs.
(There is a tech manual available to download with instructions on how to do this)

Other than that, Welcome to AMC.

Want to post up a pic of your dash cluster so I can then tell you whcih one you have and if you can do what you are wanting to do

For the North American cars, some (most/all from the 2002) would have got the 'Hi Contrast' dash. This is a black tinted panel with backlit instruments. As far as I am aware, it is not possible to change the colours. (mine does not have any bulbs or access to them on the back)

So firstly, if your instruments are lit up at all times, then you have Hi Contrast guages. If not, then to change them is as easy as pulling the instuments out and replacing the bulbs.
(There is a tech manual available to download with instructions on how to do this)

Other than that, Welcome to AMC.


De-solder the surface mount LED's and solder in different color ones :)

I will post up a pic of my panel within the next couple days for you guys to get an idea. Thanks for the replies.

Matter of fact here's a picture.....

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h53/rodriguespat88/diamante_dash600.jpg

That cluster looks like it will be esay to change the bulb colour.

On the back of the cluster there should be visible a number of round plastic "things" with a ridge running cross ways (maybe black, or dark green, maybe pale blue), - these are bulb holders which simply twist about a quarter-turn (counter-clockwise to remove, I think). In most cases, the bulb is a wedge=base type which you can pull out of the plastic base. OEM will have incandescent bulbs fited, probably with silicone rubber "condoms" over the bulb to influence illumination colour.

There will likely be a few variations of size...... for example, behind the gear-selector panel, there should be a vertical row of quite small ones - these have a long thin bulbholder with the bulb integrated (not possible to detach the bulb), and these ones do not have a silicone sleeve, the indicator light colour is due to a coloured filter in the dash panel.

Grab the larger sized ones which provide dash illumination - I'm sure you'll work out which is which. You can substitute different colour silicone rubber bulb covers (condoms), or go for coloured LED bulbs. BEWARE: you will need LEDs whihc give an even spread of light, not bright narrow pinpoints.

Disregarding all of the above..... IF your dash cluster is a smooth white cover at the back, with no obvious bulb holders visible, then you have illumination and indicator bulbs provided bhy soldered-on LEDs. Its a much more involved and potentially destructive process to alter these and I wouldn't recommend you try it. For example, my 2002 Magna Sports has the sealed-cluster type of dash cluster panel. (White dials backlit red, but otherwise a simliar frontal appearance to the pic you posted).

That cluster looks like it will be esay to change the bulb colour.

On the back of the cluster there should be visible a number of round plastic "things" with a ridge running cross ways (maybe black, or dark green, maybe pale blue), - these are bulb holders which simply twist about a quarter-turn (counter-clockwise to remove, I think). In most cases, the bulb is a wedge=base type which you can pull out of the plastic base. OEM will have incandescent bulbs fited, probably with silicone rubber "condoms" over the bulb to influence illumination colour.

There will likely be a few variations of size...... for example, behind the gear-selector panel, there should be a vertical row of quite small ones - these have a long thin bulbholder with the bulb integrated (not possible to detach the bulb), and these ones do not have a silicone sleeve, the indicator light colour is due to a coloured filter in the dash panel.

Grab the larger sized ones which provide dash illumination - I'm sure you'll work out which is which. You can substitute different colour silicone rubber bulb covers (condoms), or go for coloured LED bulbs. BEWARE: you will need LEDs whihc give an even spread of light, not bright narrow pinpoints.

Disregarding all of the above..... IF your dash cluster is a smooth white cover at the back, with no obvious bulb holders visible, then you have illumination and indicator bulbs provided bhy soldered-on LEDs. Its a much more involved and potentially destructive process to alter these and I wouldn't recommend you try it. For example, my 2002 Magna Sports has the sealed-cluster type of dash cluster panel. (White dials backlit red, but otherwise a simliar frontal appearance to the pic you posted).

Thanks for the detailed explanation.... I have the next few days off from work so I think I will take a look at what I can do. Hopefully I can change the colors easily. I'd love red but I'd have to get blue to match my monitor.