Golf MK2 interior controls - what is supposed to light up?

I noticed that my heater controls in my Golf MK2 16v didn't light up at night even though the clocks in the dash were lit ok. I also thought that the rest of the controls all looked very dark too - but it's been 10+ years since I've been in a MK2 Golf so I can't remember what's actually supposed to light up and what's not. Ah, my electric window switches light up too.
I've got my dash and interior loom in pieces at the moment (removing an old Clifford alarm) so now seems a good time to sort out this kind of stuff.

Does anyone know which controls should be lit up when the headlights are on?

 

The bulb in the heater panel has probably blown. If you are handy with a solder iron you can easily replace it. Dash switches do tend to be dim on the mk2's. There are some LED kits on ebay if you want to replace the lot (including the clocks).

 

Can the bulbs in the switches and the heater module be replaced? I've seen plenty of threads about LED replacements, but I don't want it to look non-standard. Can you still get hold of the filament bulbs, or has anyone replaced them with LEDs that still have the factory green look?

 

The switches have green filters in them and LEDs will make the switches brighter.

 

Took the foglight switch apart last night to take a look. There's not much room in there for an LED and a resistor! I'd replace the bulb with one of the same sort if I could source them, but 4mm wire-ended bulbs seem near-impossible to find.

 

And did you use "normal" LEDs or Super-Bright ones? I'm trying to keep the OEM look so not sure which type to use, and whether to go with white or green bulbs.

 

May try a normal strength green LED then. I've seen them with internal 12v resistors so that might help keep things neat in the switch. I'll see how it fits and how it looks.

 

I put a normal brightness LED in mine and it isn't very bright. I thought it had blown but you only notice it when you look hard or if really dark. Might be worth trying both in the car before fully clipping it all back together if they are only pence, but I prefer that than over bright.

My electric window switch lights just needed re-soldering and worked fine since.

 

I bought a few green 12v LEDs from Maplin yesterday as a trial, one 3mm superbright green, one 3mm standard and a 5mm standard. 5mm is a little too big to fit without hacking the switch about. The two 3mm LEDs appear absolutely identical brightness so I'm not sure if the kid in Maplin made a picking error. None of them are really visible from the front of the switch no matter where I position them. I'll try grinding the front of them to diffuse the light slightly but I'm not sure they're bright enough to begin with. I've also just bought a bunch of 4mm filament bulbs from eBay via China (seemingly impossible to source in Europe) so I'll resort to those if I can't get the LEDs looking right.

 

That re-minds me I need to check out my heater panel. I swapped it out with a spare and it still doesn't light up...what are the chances that both panels had blown bulbs?

 

Pretty good it seems, by the number of threads going around asking how to fix them.. ALL of my switches apart from the windows have blown bulbs in them.

 

If you do an ebay search for "12v grain of wheat bulb [colour]" there are various options at low prices. I'm not sure about how bright they are going to be though, as they don't all mention their ampage. I might get one to replace the heater panel light, but the equivalent brightness in a switch may be too much, if it's to match the other, fairly dim ones. Maybe the switches incorporate a resistor already, or the green diffuser also acts as a dimmer...