Installing Reverse Indiglo Gauges for your Santa Fe

Note from Sac D:

I went on eBay and picked up some reverse indiglo gauges from ProCarParts. The following is a guide to the installation (in English hehehe) of these gauges, in order to show how easy it is and to remove some of the fear factor related to tearing your car apart to perform the installation.

The text is basically edited and updated from the outstanding narrative provided in the Santa Fe Forum by GM Typhoon on July 13, 2002. Most of his step by step process is intact, I've added a few details in order to tie the description of the process to the photos that I have included.

Okay! Let's get right into it! I'll update and refine this web page later.

WARNING: These are JUST directions! We are NOT liable if you mess up your car. Use common sense when attempting this or ANY mod. Always use caution when it comes tools that use electricity or working on electrical components in your car.

 

1. Set the height of the steering column to the lowest it can go.

 

2. Remove the instrument cluster facia panel by removing the 2 screws holding it in the top of the dash; it's the plastic cover underneath that overhang.

Make sure you use a GOOD screwdriver, because these screws are in there tight!

 

 

 

 

You need to flex the fascia a bit to get it to pop out… there's a couple of plungers on the bottom connecting it.

 

 

3. Remove the 4 screws holding in the Instrument cluster and then remove the instrument cluster by rolling it out to the left.

These four screws are also in there pretty tight… so don't rush, be careful, and use plenty of controlled torque to remove them.

 

 

Once you have it out far enough start unplugging the 4 wiring harnesses.

This step is actually pretty easy.

They pop off and on quite easily by pressing the little tabs on the connectors.

 

 

Here they are, from left to right… temp gauge, tachometer, speedometer, and fuel gauge.

Don't worry about getting them mixed up, they will lay still right where you left them when you pull the instrument cluster free.

 

 

 

 

There! The instrument cluster is out of the car and ready to be taken indoors to your work area.

 

 

4. Now take the dash cluster to a place where is WELL LIT, and comfortable.

Yeah, that's what I meant to say in the previous panel.

Here it is on my kitchen counter.

 

5. There are two outer trim pieces that need to be removed. First, remove the plastic front housing. All of the plastic trim is held in via clips, just push down and remove the trim piece.

There are three tabs on the top, and three tabs on the bottom. This is easy, so don't force it and risk cracking or scratching the plastic. This is also a good time to gently clean this part with a damp soft cloth.

 

 

 

6. Next, remove the black plastic overlay in the same manner.

Same process… pop the little plastic tabs to free the whole piece from the instrument cluster.

 

 

 

There, now we are finally getting down to it! At this point in the process I was kinda tempted to paint the black plastic panel a new contrasting color, but I chickened out. One mod at a time, right?

I may paint it in the future though.

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is, ready to be operated on.

 

 

7. Remove the screws around from the tachometer and speedometer gauges, 4 total with a #1 or #0 Philips head screwdriver. DO NOT USE A LARGE SCREWDRIVER. You do not WANT TO SCRATCH the screws.

As you can see, I did just what he said to do here. No problem.

8. After removing the screws, slide the indiglo gauges over and replace the screws. Removal of the needle is NOT needed. With the speedometer you need to put the gauge over the trip reset shaft first. If the gauge face is hard to push over the top of the needle, it's ok, don't worry, just gently but FIRMLY press the gauge down the needle until the face pops over the needle. This might be a bit scary, but trust me, it's ok... just don't try to thrust the gauge face over the needle. Also you will have to move the needles away from the stops to get the right angle. Just do everything gently and don't bend the needles up and you will do fine.

 

9. Now do the temp and fuel gauges. I cut out the old fuel and temp gauges because I had heard of other people having problems with the needles sticking on these two gauges. Secure with double sided tape or a little superglue gel.

I didn't have any problem with the old gauges, so I left them in place, dabbing a little rubber cement to help hold in place until I got the black panel back on (two steps later).

10. The wires will fit fine between the black trim and the instrument cluster. You might want to use a little file or xacto knife to cut a little grove for them if you are concerned. One thing is to trim the shrink-wrap enough so that it doesn't get in the way of the black trim bezel when you're putting it back on.

As you can see, I used a sharp X-acto knife to cut grooves for all the wires. I also completely removed the insulation wrap where the wires connect, otherwise the black trim piece wouldn't fit cleanly.

 

 

11. Reassemble the two trim pieces and you have your full gauge assembly back ready for installation.

Again, take your time and make sure everything snaps back together evenly and completely.

You'll see that the black panel holds the gauges in place around all the edges.

 

 

 

Before we run outside to install the cluster, here's what the rest of the kit looks like… four EZ-connectors for each gauge's power, the transformer, the dimmer rheostat, the blue/green toggle switch, and the power and ground leads.

12. Now you're ready to get everything hooked up. The easiest place I found to put the starter (control) module so it is out of the way and to be able to hook up the power and ground leads was behind the dash light rheostat panel.

(You'll see that location in the next picture). I taped mine to the bracket above and left of the dash light rheostat. I've already got two other mini-transformers for my neon lights taped in place there, it's a handy spot that's out of the way and they stay put.

 

13. To remove the rheostat panel put your fingers in the opening and push down slightly while pulling toward you and it will pop out into your hands. The wiring may be a little short for you to work on so unclip the connector from the back of the rheostat.

Everyone's had this whole panel off by now, right? This is where I terminated my neon lights and as you can see, I added some pushbutton switches to control them.

14. First reach down from the upper left side of the hole where the instrument cluster goes and feed the wire to the indiglo gauges up to the gauge area.

15. Now we have to hook up the power/ground to the starter (control) module. The BLACK wire, that's the ground. Using the wire stripper, strip about 1/4 inch of the insulation off and twist into a firm lead and attach a grounding lug connector. (This can be found at any Radio shack or electrical supply store) There is a copper colored bolt behind this panel on one of the supports. Attached the ground lug here with a nut or drill a small hole in the metal supports found here and attach using a sheet metal screw.

I forgot to get pictures of these last steps, but by now you should be able to proceed with finishing up without needing the pictorial guide.

16. We want the indiglos to come on ONLY when the lights are turned on. So, we're going to tap into the rheostat switch. According to the wiring diagram for my Santa Fe the wire you want to use is green with an orange stripe... Which is the positive lead to the rheostat. To tap into this wire I used a Telephone Wire Tap Connector (This can be found at any Radio shack or electrical supply store). The wire is a hair larger than telephone wire so you have to nudge it into place in the channel with a little flat bladed object. The red wire goes into the opening and should not be striped. Use pliers or a similar tool to press down the connector cap.

 

A view of the finished product!

 

17. Connect up the wires to the gauges and test the system.

18. You will need to find a place to mount the indiglo rheostat and the color select switch. And mount this. I went a more complicated route and cut a piece of gray plastic to fit the area to the right of the original dash light rheostat and mounted the indiglo switch and rheostat there. If you do this you will have to unsolder the color selector switch to be able to unmount it off of the original bracket and mount it elsewhere.

 

I did not mount the color selector switch anywhere during this installation. It's currently hanging down behind the fuse door where it's out of the way, yet I can still reach it in case I just have to change the blue to green or vice versa. I think I prefer blue so I doubt I will ever change the setting, and by leaving it concealed behind the kick panel I avoid drilling or cutting yet another hole in my Santa Fe.

Word of advice: Make sure you put a couple laps of electrical tape around the contacts on that selector switch! You'll see what I mean the first time you grab it while it's live.

19. Installation of all the dangling components is the reverse of removal. Use a little RTV (silicone) to keep the starter (control) module from moving around where you wedged it between the dash and the support bracket. RTV is easy to unmount if you ever need to do so.

20. Turn on the car. Adjust the instrument backlights and the indiglo light intensity. Select your indiglo color of green or blue. Rev it up. Does the RPM needle move? Does the Fuel register? Temp? Go for a little spin to see if the all the needles work correctly and nothing sticks or rattles. Now Enjoy. That wasn't so hard.


Final appearance of the revised control panel. The round knob is the indiglo gauges dimmer, and red pushbuttons are each for a pair of neon lights.

 

Okay, I know this is a crappy looking web page, but I was in a hurry and if you are eager to do this mod you probably aren't too concerned about the aesthetics of it.

Hehhehee. I'll do more with this later on.

-=Sac D=-