Since I happened to be in changing the color of the sterring wheel radio controls I figured I would do the window switch at the same time. So here is another step by step on how to change out the color of the backlight on your window switch controls.
DISCLAIMER: If you screw up your switch assembly doing this it is not my fault.
For this you have to remove the one screw in the pull handle of your door.
With the screw removed you can just pull up nad the handle and switches will come out.
Once out turn the assembly over to see the harness connection clearly.
On the side of the harness there is one tab that you need to push in.
Once pushed in the case around the harness will slide back and then the harness can be pulled out of the switch assembly.
Again, once you have everything disconnected take the switch assembly to a more convinient work space and remove the three phillips screws holding the switched to the rest of the panel.
There are the three more smaller phillips screws holding the back cover to the front.
Here you can see the three screw holes more clearly witht he screws removed.
Before you try to take the assembly apart you will need to turn it over and pull the power disconnect switch for the windows off. Just grab it and pull, it'll come right off.
Once it is off you can seperate the front and back from each other.
Here are both pieces seperated from each other.
Since the LED in the board is of the solder through type and not surface mount you will need to pry the back panel and the circuit board apart from each other. Just do it evenly at both ends and you won't have any problem. You can see the long metal connectors that hold the two parts together in this shot. Keep pulling until they are sepreated from each other.
Now you should have the back panel and the circuit board apart from each other.
Here is a shot of the actual LED on the circuit board. as you can see it is much larger than the surface mount ones used in the gauge cluster and sterring wheel radio controls.
Another shot from the end of the bopard so you can get a good profile view.
Here we have a shot of the backside of the circuit board and the two solder points where the LED is attached to the board. They are the two right in front of my thumb in this picture. At this point all you need to do is gentley pull the LED from the front side of the board while heating the solder points on the back side of the board.
If someone can identifythe actual part # for the LED that would be great. In my case I had a spare one from doing my AC controls so I just de-soldered it from the resistors and assembly and soldered some longer lines to it so that it would work. Here is the LED I used, I recommend trying to find one that fits better.
New LED soldered to the board.
A shot with the key off.
And the finished result, blue back lighting for the window switch when the key is on.
