How to change the colour of the clock / oil temperature gauge backlight (MG TF)

With the MOT coming up, I set about to fix a short in one of the number plate lights on my 2003 MG TF 135, and of course ended up doing something completely different & unnecessary...

Here is how to change the colour of the clock and oil temperature backlight, from the original orange, quickly and without soldering new LEDs .

Materials:

• A sheet of coloured PVC photo filter gel (I used blue)
• Scissors
• Hole punch / hot needle / clean soldering iron

Method:
Remove the clock and oil temperature gauge from the back of the centre panel. You'll need trim tools / a flat-head screwdriver and a phillips-head screwdriver to do so.

Gently and carefully pry away the crimped round black metal thing that holds together the front and back of the clock / oil gauge. You can use a small flat-head screwdriver for this.

Use small fingers or needle nose pliers to disconnect the the circuit board from the rest of the instrument:


Cut a few approximate circles or hexagons from the coloured photo filter gel that are large enough to cover the back aperture of the dial. You can use a (2p) coin to guide you.


Poke two small 5mm apart and 5mm inside the bottom end of each circle. You can use a hole punch, a hot needle or a clean slim-tipped soldering iron:


Nudge the filter gel onto the back of the dial as follows, and, holding the dial against a light with the filter gel facing you, poke a slightly larger hole that aligns with the shaft that will go through the dial to hold the instrument hand(s):


You can stack the filter gel to intensify the colour change effect. I used two circles. To test the effect, shine your phone torch through the gel while looking at the front of the dial, and imagine it a little less bright.

I used clear double-sided sticky dots cut in half to secure the filter gel onto the back of the dial, but you don't have to.

Reassemble everything in reverse order.

Enjoy!

I bottled it on mine and got a mate to solder in the blue LED's, I considered doing what you have done as I already had blue filter that I used in the main cluster to replace the orange one but wasn't sure it would work. Any chance of some night pictures to see the effect? certainly a much simpler process.

When I was levering the bezels off I put a Jubilee clip round the gauge body which stiffened it and gave me something to gently lever against.

Quick note if you do change the LEDS in the units, they are 3v not 12v as in the switches for the window etc. LED's are also polarised and you have to get the anode and cathode the right way around. This can be determined by looking at the LED and inside one filament stalk is bigger than the other, this is the cathode and is -ve as opposed to the smaller anode which is +ve. The orientation of the LEDs on the clock and the oil gauge are different to one another.

Sundance