Seriously kicking myself tonight. I broke my instrument cluster, which has left my car dead in the garage. Long story... don't want to rehash what happened.

Looking forward, I have a used cluster coming (same year, same part number). The service manual says when installing a new cluster it must be configured. I assume that once I install the replacement, that the car will still not start or run until it's configured by SDD?

Is odometer mileage stored in the cluster or in another module on the car?

Looks like I will be having it towed to the dealer

 

I'm really sorry to hear about this. No fun.

I don't know what's involved in configuring the IC, but I do believe the mileage memory is stored in the IC and there is a mechanism for the dealer to reprogram the correct mileage into the replacement IC. I can't recall the details, but it seems possible that you may be albe to program it with SDD.

Please keep us informed.

Don

 

A few steps closer to having the car working again.

I bought a used cluster off eBay with the same part no, lower mileage. Plugged it in and it lights up, chimes, etc, so that's a huge relief.

The dealer (nor an indy shop) will NOT change the mileage on an instrument cluster. The best they can do with a used cluster is to put an odometer change sticker on the car and leave it with the mileage of the replacement unit. Don't want to do this.

I am shipping the used unit off to a specialist along with the old broken one. It's possible they can extract all the data off the ROM chip (EEPROM or Flash, whatever it uses) and then upload it to the new unit, effectively making it identical to my old cluster. This would be great and would save towing the car to the dealer to have them code it to my keys.

If they can't, they will set the mileage to my car based on a certification statement from me showing the correct miles, and then the dealer will program the vehicle keys to it.

So we will see what happens with this.

 

Had my cluster replaced last year had to get my Indy to do it as it needed coding to my car
The mileage will stay that of where the cluster came from I only gained a few hundred k,s more when switching over so not stressed about that

 

To close out this thread, I was able to get my cluster reinstalled late last week and everything back to normal.

I sent the dead original cluster and the (used) replacement unit to a gauge specialist, they were able to extract all the information stored in the original EEPROM and write it to the replacement. So my odometer, VIN, key codes, everything was transferred to the working unit. Plugged it into my car and as far as the car knew it was the original unit.

Much more economical than towing to the dealer or indy to have it reprogrammed, and of course my odometer is where it should be. An expensive mistake on my behalf, but far less expensive than it could have been (out the door for ~$250). And on the up side, the tachometer doesn't tick anymore.

 

Well done.

 

Great! Post the place you sent it as someone else will need them...

 

After calling a few places, I went with D&D Instruments in Minneapolis, MN. They had it turned around in one day after receiving both units. Very responsive and helpful.

 

Wow, great service.