Celica Forums General Discussion Interior Climate control light replacement? easy way?

So I wasted $80.00 on ebay for a controller, and wasted $120 to the Toyota Dealer to do the labor to replace it because I couldn't figure out how to get to the plugs and no-one wanted to help me with steps to loosen them. One of my green LEDs are out on my 2001 Toyota Celica GT-S and I still have the old controller. Is there a way to take off the plastic without messing up the AC and rear defrost button? Do I need to take off the controller? If so, how? I don't want to waste $200+ for a brand new part when I can just replace the LED myself.

Are you any good at soldering?



Some people do this:
https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...-custom-lighting-using-colored-film.html

Another (ghetto, but totally works!) idea is this:
https://celicahobby.com/gallery/index.php/category/inst-climate-controller-led

not really. Don't you just twist the bulbs off and put the new ones on?

They are not bulbs. They're LEDs soldered to the board.

that sucks. the guy on ebay shipped me another controller. how do i get to to the 2 plugs on the controller?

Correction. Actually, according to a post on newcelica.org, they are bulbs, not LEDs. However, they are soldered to the board.

Correction to the correction!
The soldered LEDs are for AC and rear defrost buttons.
After taking mine apart, I found the bulbs are in a socket that locks into the board from the back. You can replace these with LEDs by removing the bulb and inserting the LED's leads thru the socket holes where the bulb wires went.