So I've been looking around on different forums for any advise or pictures from people who have upgraded their lights in their Tacomas. It's really easy to take out the instrument cluster and the lights just pop right out of the back of it. The trick is finding out which bulbs to replace them with to get the desired effect. Here is a quick rundown on some basics:
- LED Lights - They are super bright but they cannot be dimmed at all. I really like to turn down the lights when driving all night long so this isn't an option for me. Plus you will need frosted LED bulbs or you might want to frost them yourself. This will diffuse the light so that it doesn't direct the light beam right out towards you and cause a really weird looking light pattern in your display.
- Regular Bulbs - The only ones I could find in town were regular replacements that were clear or probably slightly yellow. I want mine ice white. I did see some blue ones that "simulated" a light blue but there was only 1 pair available and I need 3 pairs. They were only $2.25 which is cheap.
So for my application I will be going the regular bulb style. LED's are pretty expensive as well. I just can't see spending $70 on a few tiny lights.
Here is my instrument cluster. Every model of Tacoma uses a different amount of bulbs for different features like ABS, Electronic Traction Control and other options. So that's why you might notice a couple of bulb sockets missing. Different years will probably have different layouts as well.
