Instrument Cluster

[nate96]

I found an instrument cluster on Ebay for sale at a decent price. Its in metric and I imported my car from the States. I looked on realoem.com and there seems to be a lot of different clusters. Does anyone know if it matters which one I get? I can not seem to crossreference the part number from ebay to realooem. Thanks

[Hawkeye]

I do not know for sure but as long as all of the warning lights are accounted for it should not matter. The Tach and Speedo are pretty universal, it is the warnings lights and info screen I would be most worried about.

[Reach]

Does the cluster contain our mileage? If you have to get your car inspected and there is a mileage differential, you could be slapped with a "not actual mileage" stamp on your title. This may or may not concern you, but its a big red flag for resale. Just something to think about.

[BlackSapphireZ]

you can just replace the gauge face. only difference would be like "BRAKE" sign and something else... but rest should be same

[nate96]

^^just by taking it apart and changing the guage face.

[takedown8]

I imported mine too, and I like having both kilometres & miles on the speedometer. Useful for when I drive to the US. Really not worth what the dealer will charge you for installation & reprogramming, IMHO, but chac'un son gout!

[nate96]

I dont't go to the states very often, so doesn't really matter. They have a climate control unit in metric from the same seller. Thats what I am really after. The speedo I was curious about, cause I might change it out.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Reach

Does the cluster contain our mileage?

Yes. Mileage is stored in 3 places, the cluster, the headlight control unit, and the ECU. Change any of the three and if the mileage doesn't match, a warning flag goes up and the cluster displays a very small, discrete dot that indicates possible tampering.

[speedygirl]

I imported my car as well, and simply had the dealer reprogram to Canadian settings. My odometer, temperature, fuel consumption, etc. now all read in metric. Cost around $200. I too plan to leave the original speedo in as it shows miles and kilometers, but this is just personal preference obviously.

[takedown8]

Originally Posted by speedygirl

I imported my car as well, and simply had the dealer reprogram to Canadian settings. My odometer, temperature, fuel consumption, etc. now all read in metric. Cost around $200. I too plan to leave the original speedo in as it shows miles and kilometers, but this is just personal preference obviously.

Had my local dealer change my display to metric too, but $200! Man they are really goughing those who import now aren't they? My dealer charged me for the minimum one hour labour ($115 I believe), and that annoyed me already.

Oh yeah, for the climate control, it's not that complicated:

18 20 22 24 26 (degrees celsius)


Not that difficult to remember!

[ATX750i]

Originally Posted by The HACK

Yes. Mileage is stored in 3 places, the cluster, the headlight control unit, and the ECU. Change any of the three and if the mileage doesn't match, a warning flag goes up and the cluster displays a very small, discrete dot that indicates possible tampering.

not entirely correct, our mileage is stored in 3 locations, true. It is stored in the guage cluster, the main computer/ECU (not sure how many computers our cars have in them) and in the keys. My SA told me this because i asked him why he needed my key, he said that he was getting the mileage off my car and never even got up from his desk. This prompted me to ask where the mileage was stored and he told me the three locations.

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by JHastings0826

not entirely correct, our mileage is stored in 3 locations, true. It is stored in the guage cluster, the main computer/ECU (not sure how many computers our cars have in them) and in the keys. My SA told me this because i asked him why he needed my key, he said that he was getting the mileage off my car and never even got up from his desk. This prompted me to ask where the mileage was stored and he told me the three locations.

Yeah all the info for your car is stored on your keys... including VIN #, your name, where you bought it and stuff like that.

[nate96]

I had the dealer change everything to metric on the cluster. Cost was an hour labour ($115). The metric climate control that I found was reasonable and the same guy had a metric cluster that he would ship at no extra cost. Looks like the climate controls are from an older Z4, the knobs look bulky compared to the newer ones. So I decided against it. Thanks for the info guys.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by JHastings0826

not entirely correct, our mileage is stored in 3 locations, true. It is stored in the guage cluster, the main computer/ECU (not sure how many computers our cars have in them) and in the keys. My SA told me this because i asked him why he needed my key, he said that he was getting the mileage off my car and never even got up from his desk. This prompted me to ask where the mileage was stored and he told me the three locations.

Are you sure your SA knows what he's talking about? The mileage information is copied off of the ECU into the key every time you insert the key, but if you have multiple keys the actual information read off of each key will be different. It doesn't make sense that the mileage information required to keep mileage fraud compliance would be in the key. I was told by a mechanic that the three places where the mileage compliance is stored are ECU, cluster, and headlight control unit.

All that the key store is what was on the cluster reading as of the last time it was used, and the VIN information.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Yeah all the info for your car is stored on your keys... including VIN #, your name, where you bought it and stuff like that.

It's not nearly as complicated as you think it is. All the key will do is store VIN and the mileage the last time it was used (and seat/radio/mirror memory if you have premium). With the VIN they can them pull up your name, where you bought it, and stuff like that.