It is difficult to read the gauges at night on my 2005 Montero, so I pulled the instrument cluster. Several of the bulbs seem to be specific to certain warning lights, but the ones with a blue base (I think they are Type 74 bulbs) also have a rubberized blue diffuser (condom) over the bulbs. I assume this is to give a muted backlight to the cluster. I peeled off one of the diffusers and wondered if I removed all of the blue diffusers whether or not the lighting would be too bright. Unfortunately, I broke the bulb and am waiting for Autozone to get the replacements. Has anybody tried removing all the blue diffusers?

Thanks

 

The blue condom like things are there to make the bulb emit white light. if you remove them the bulbs will emit amber. You can try them and see what you prefer...if you ask me,amber lit guages looks really dated. Have you tried adjusting the brightness?

 

I adjusted it to the brightness setting and it is very darkish. It made sense to me that removing the blue condoms should make everything brighter. Guess I'll find out tonight when after I replace the bulbs with new ones and leave the condoms off.