Wipeout

Hi guys!

It's been a while...but here I am, back again. I recently went through a bunch of research to figure out what LEDs were needed to swap out in a late 944 cluster...my S2 has suffered from a burnt out signal indicator and I figured while I was in there..... I couldn't find a post that told me everything that I wanted (what lightbulbs were which from behind, what color they were, etc)...so much like the H4 Lighting Roundup post from years ago...I wrote it up myself. Let's get a few things out of the way...

• Car is a 1989 944 S2. Your mileage may vary
• I sourced all the bulbs from superbrightleds.com (no affiliation, just a happy customer)
• My goal was to get the bulbs the same color as their warning symbol (more on that later)
• The bulbs do dim, no PWM dimmer required, though that would probably allow them to dim further...
• Low light photos are tricky; I do NOT feel these are too bright (I run my dash lights as dim as possible). I wanted the /!\ light, turn indicator, and high beams to be bright, but everything else feels "stock" to my eyes...
• ...but can't you just replace them all with white bulbs? Sure. I'm just...well...that guy.
• EDIT: No, I did not re-reflector the gauge illumination. It was in surprisingly good shape.
• EDIT: I did not replace the low/high bulbs for temp, fuel, oil pressure, or voltage. They are actually behind their individual gauges (you have to remove the gauge face to get there and they're slightly different bulbs.)

Onward!

My (perfectly fine) stock-lit dash:


It isn't bad, but it's not this...


Parts list (all drop-in replacements from superbrightleds.com):
Note - I've had old links to their site break, so hopefully by including quantity and part number, they'll be locatable even if their site undergoes another backend change.
- Dash illumination: 3 194 LED Bulb - 5 LED Wide Angle, Natural White (P/N: WLED-NW5)
- Warning lights: 9 B8.5D LED Bulb, Red; 1 B8.5D LED Bulb, Amber; 3 B8.5D LED Bulb, Green (P/Ns: B8.5D-R; B8.5D-A; B8.5D-G) NOTE: If you didn't want to add bulbs to the "Check Engine" or "Trailer Connection" sockets, you need 2 less red bulbs and 1 less green bulbs.
- (!) light: 1 B8.5D LED Bulb, High Power, Red (P/N: B8.5D-RHP)
- Turn signal indicator: 1 B8.5D LED Bulb, High Power, Green (P/N: B8.5D-GHP)
- High Beam indicator: 1 B8.5D LED Bulb, High Power, Blue (P/N: B8.5D-BHP)

Follow your usual steps to remove the cluster. See Clark's Garage.
This post gives you the polarities of the back of the cluster. Because LEDs are polarized, you can't just plug and play...grab a 9v battery and some leads, test the LED, and mark the positive side...it'll make your life easier.

Here's the back, with captions as to what bulbs are which.

Back


Left
(I did not replace the airbag bulb...I have a non-airbag wheel and I'd just as soon not mess with that circuit. It is a red indicator, in case you were curious. That "empty" slot truly is nothing; I shined a flashlight through the back and nothing lit up. You probably could skip replacing the "Check Engine" bulbs as well and reduce the count of red bulbs by 2. I had spares, so I put them in.)


Center


Right
(yes, the parking lights are white in this photo. Guess which bulb I didn't buy enough of? The Trailer Connection light I learned about in this thread over in the 928 forum...you can skip this bulb as well if you want.)

Yeah, they dim.

Dim


Bright

Aivar88

Did i get this correct you will need 18 leds total for an S2 cluster ?

mazdaverx7

Awesome writeup!!! I think it looks great!!!

Wipeout

At a minimum, you could skip the "Check Engine" and "Trailer Connection" bulbs and be at 15 - 12 for the various warnings and 3 for the gauges.

fejjj

Thank you for the great write up !

pdxfj

Fantastic write up!

You should contact Clark's Garage and see if he will add it to his site.

FRporscheman

Great write up, I'm definitely going to use this!

And great idea on making the [ ! ] light super bright. I also run my lighting at minimum, but during the day that light should grab my attention even if I'm looking in my rear-view.

Wipeout

Yo!

It will be a bit brighter than stock on dim for sure (got to drive it for a bit tonight), but still not overly bright.

Remember2

Fantastic tutorial - thank you!

I have just ordered the 3 main lights based on your recommendation ...how can I be sure I get the polarities correct when installing?

Wipeout

I did two things with the bulbs... 1) test them with a 9v battery to see which way they light up, 2) test the contacts on the back of the gauges with the lights installed to make sure they light up.

Also, don't screw everything down until you're sure it all works.

EDIT: The gauge illumination bulbs aren't polarity specific. The tips above are for the other lights.

Remember2

Perfect, thanks - I'll leave feedback here once installed

GrantM

I also used all Superbright LEDs to do this replacement several years ago. Now the master warning light faintly flashes continuously. Have you noticed this at all? The other LEDs work fine.

Wipeout

Cant say I've seen that, nope.

GrantM

Ok, thanks.

Aivar88

Does anyone know wich leds are needed to replace instrument lights? Ac control etc. lights i mean.