Ignition Key LED Mod

This is a pretty simple mod that replaces the existing ring light around the ignition slot with a shiny new LED. Here’s what the final result looks like:

Final result, no key Final result, with key

  1. Remove your center dashboard piece. There are 2 screws under the ashtray that you need to remove, the rest is all clips. You may have to remove the plastic from near the shifter in order to get the center dash piece out. There are wires attached for the emergency flashers and cigarette lighter, which you can unplug for more room but you might be able to just move them to the side.
  2. Remove light ring from around ignition, it should slide right off. It may be stuck on the dash piece you just moved out of the way, just slide it out.
  3. Unplug the light ring from the car. Self explanatory, should be a gray plug.
  4. Take out the stock bulb from the ring. Turn the bulb 90 degrees and it will pull out.
  5. Cut the 2 wires, both green and white, close to the old bulb. Strip the wires. You can cut down the sleeve over the wires, or you can just remove it entirely.
  6. Solder the resistor to the WHITE, or positive wire.
  7. Solder the positive leg of the LED to the resistor as shown in the picture.
  8. Solder the negative lead of the LED to the GREEN, or negative wire.
  9. Use electrical tape to wrap each wire individually to avoid shorting.
  10. Put the LED in the hole that the original bulb was in, and use something to hold it in place. Hot glue seems to work best. There is also a non-used hole on the side of the ring which seems to distribute the light much better that the hole the old bulb was in. You can use either.
  11. For 2 LEDS: Insert one led in the hole the original bulb was and hot glue it there. Next insert the other LED to the second unused hole and hot glue into place.

And your done! Just re-assemble. Don’t forget to plug the wire back in to the car for the power!

Now for the diagram. Here they are for one LED, and for 2 LED’s.

One LED circuit diagram Two LED circuit diagram

These resistors are for a 5mm LED with the current specs: 3.3volt 20mA