P.S. The orange color is from my re-coloring of all dash/radio illumination. Just wanted to brag a bit - it's very cool. If you're interested, I've posted a Red Interior Lights Instruction Page.
The really bright blue high-beam indicator light manufacturers stick in every car made today really drive me nuts. If I'm driving in a place dark/desolate enough to use my high-beams, the last thing I want is a bright blue light staring back at me! The procedure below describes how to make your high-beam indicator much less bothersome by cutting its brightness in half. Special thanks to Neil Slavin for such a simple idea: just wire a resistor in series on the indicator circuit.
Note: I performed this procedure on my '99 Touring Package Miata. If your Miata has ABS, cruise control, or whatever else, you probably have more wires connected to your instrument panel. Don't say I didn't warn ya.
| I'd recommend disconnecting the battery. I didn't actually do this, but probably should have. | (Click on any image for a larger version.) |
| Now remove the plastic top cover from the steering column. Gently pull straight up, and the top half will come right off. | |
| Next remove the instrument panel cover. While sitting in the driver seat, simply pull it straight toward you. I found it easiest to do one side at a time. Pull firmly but gently, and the clips will eventually let go. This may seem a little scary the first time, but it will come off without a problem. | |
| Once you've removed the cover, you'll have access to the four black screws that hold the cluster in place. The red arrows in the picture at right indicate their position. Remove all four screws. |
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| The cluster will move freely once the screws are out. Unclip the three wiring harnesses from the back of the cluster. | |
| The wire we're interested in is easy to find: It's the red one in the center of the driver's-side-most harness. The picture at right shows the red wire and its termination in the harness. |
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| Check out the back of the instrument cluster for confirmation that you're looking at the correct wire - you can easily follow the conductor from the harness to the light on the back of the instrument cluster. If you want to be really, really sure you have the correct wire, take out the small light bulb closest to the harness plug and look through the hole - you'll see the high-beam icon through the panel. |
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| If necessary, trim the extra wire from both ends of the resistor. I trimmed quite a bit of the wire that was originally attached to the resistor so it would fit better. |
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| After you've double-checked that you have the correct wire, cut it and splice the resistor into it. I'd highly recommend soldering the resistor in place. Wrap the wire and solder with electrical tape to make sure there's no exposed conductors. The picture at right has one end of the splice already taped; the other shows off my ameteur soldering skills. |
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| That's basically it! Re-assemble everything in reverse order. Note that
you can hardly see the indicator during the day - look really closely
at the picture on the right - it's on!
P.S. The orange color is from my re-coloring of all dash/radio illumination. Just wanted to brag a bit - it's very cool. If you're interested, I've posted a Red Interior Lights Instruction Page. |
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| The finished product. Nice, huh? No more blinding idiot light, just a friendly reminder. The picture at right was taken with the instrument cluster as bright as it would go; as you turn down the brightness of the instrument cluster, the high-beam indicator will become brighter in relation to the rest of the lights. With the lights all the way down, the high-beam indicator still seems just a little bright. Oh, yea - you can see the (newly) red interior pretty well in this shot. |
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Comments? Questions? Feel free to e-mail me.