I've been searching the forum for anything about this but can't find anything. I was doing some troubleshooting today while installing 2013 hvac control unit into a 2008. I had the stereo unit and display unplugged and only had the hvac controls plugged in. When I turned the car on, the tach came online with blue/grey colored lights instead of the standard orange. This is the color I want!! Has anyone seen this before? I assumed the orange back lighting was the only possible way this could light up without swapping physical LED colors but I can assure you the entire display was grey/blue with out the stereo/display plugged in.

What happened here?

 

I just learned what causes this. The blue/grey means that the orange backlighting isn't energized. This can be caused (in my case), by not having the speedometer/instrument panel cable plugged in. I attempted to drive my mini at night and realized that there is 0 backlighting and so I can't keep this setup like this. So the orange comes from LED's and these have to be changed out to get an actual backlight color other than orange.