Well, tried messing with polarity and that didn't seem to work. I'm almost wondering if these bulbs just don't sit in the holders correctly because upon taking the cluster out the left one seemed to stop working. I tried jiggling them every which way though and that didn't work either. That said, I installed fresh incandescents as suggested and it appears that did work. A little bit hard to see because it's daylight out but all the needles seem to light up. I did like the look of LEDs but as long as she can see the gauges that's the important thing, so if this lights up at night as I suspect it will then problem solved in my book. For anyone reading this thread in the future if you're having the same issue I'd say just immediately go get some incandescent 194s.
Unfortunately I was not as skilled with my pry tools this time around, had to go through the vent and some of the trim got jankied up a little bit. Not that my fiance cares or we're ever planning on selling. It's going to make my teeth itch every time I drive the car though.
