So, one thing that really bugged me is that GM for some reason made the odometer display red.



It's really annoying to see it out of the corner of your eye because red generally implies a warning light. So, I decided to re-color it.

The display itself is a transparent LCD. It is backlit with a standard clear bulb. The red color comes from a piece of plastic behind it.


In order to get to it you obviously need to pull the cluster. There are a bunch of videos on how to do that, but some of them really overcomplicate the process. You need a 7mm socket and an extension.

• Pull out the small plastic cover at the base of the turn signal stalk. It just pulls out forward, towards the dash.
• Take out the two 7mm screws at the top of the bezel
• Pull on the bottom of the bezel. There are four spring clips - two next to the column, two in the lower corners. They will unclip.
• Wiggle the bezel out. You will need the steering wheel tilted as low as it will go. Tilt the bezel forward and pull out bottom first. You will need to bend it a little bit, don't overdo it.
• Take out the four 7mm screws holding the cluster. The bottom ones are in a king of a hole, but not impossible to reach.
• Pull the cluster straight toward you - it will unplug.
• Take out the cluster. Similar to the bezel, it works better if you rotate it top in, bottom out. It will catch on the tilt lever and ignition lock, but only a little.

With the cluster out you should see the black plastic tabs that hold the lens on. They are easy to press just with your finger, and the lens will come off.

Don't lose the odometer reset stick. It is not attached and will just fall out.

The black overlay is glued to the plexiglas under it. If you look at the edge about where the tachometer is, you will see it. You should take out the whole thing, not peel the overlay. You can start prying under the plexiglas there and go all the way around a couple of times. Use a plastic tool if you are going to use a tool. I used my finger.

What you are actually doing is pulling the motors for the gauges out of the sockets on the circuit board. If you do it in a circle and a little bit at a time you should be pretty safe from breaking anything.

Once you pop off the gauges the odometer display will be left in the white shell. You can unplug it, or not. If you do unplug it, do it at the display end.

This is where I once again forgot to take a picture.

The LCD is held to the board with a metal shell. The shell has four tabs that are bent. Straighten the tabs, and the shell will come off with the LCD. Note that one of the rubber strips has stripes on it. Those are the contacts that match the ones on the circuit board.

The red filter is on the back of the LCD. Do not mess with the front. Carefully peel the red backing.

If you just remove it the display will become clear. Too clear. You will be able to see the bulb, and that is annoying.

Since I wanted green, I got green gel sheet, the kind they use for stage and photo lighting. It's like $7 on Amazon. The gel is also transparent, and you will also see the bulb. What you need is a diffuser. There is also diffuser film that is also a photo/lighting thing. It is matte white. Both gels and diffuser come in fairly large sheets, which seems a bit wasteful, but there is no other way.



Using the original red diffuser as the template I cut two pieces of green gel and four pieces of matte diffuser. This gave me roughly the same opacity as the original. If you do this you may need to experiment with the exact composition of the filter. I taped the gels and diffusers together at the edges and reassembled.

I also swapped the plain bulb for a green LED.

This is the final result:




The sunlight messes it up a little, but it is as readable as original. But green.