BMW E46 Cluster repair Durban

[Vicious_tuning]

Hi guys,

I need some advice. I have a bmw e46 with a dead instrument cluster. Fuses and wires to the cluster has been tested. Points to a dead cluster. I will like it repaired. Does anybody know of anybody in the durban area that will be able to repair my cluster. Also, does anybody have a bosch cluster for an automatic petrol engine. If you do, please let me know price.

Thank you

 

[SHABSFS]

Call Masood in overport
067 195 4343

 

[Tinuva]

Most of the time, it will be cheaper to just replace the cluster with a working one. The one thing that I guess people charge a lot for, is to fix the mileage on the new (well secondhand) cluster to match your car. Essentially to do this, you need to backup the program of the cluster. Wipe the configs on the backup. Then replace the chip on the cluster with a blank. Write back the config with the mileage, vin etc removed. Then initialise the cluster from the LCM. If it sounds difficult, thats what you pay for a lot from someone.

 

[Vicious_tuning]

Most of the time, it will be cheaper to just replace the cluster with a working one. The one thing that I guess people charge a lot for, is to fix the mileage on the new (well secondhand) cluster to match your car. Essentially to do this, you need to backup the program of the cluster. Wipe the configs on the backup. Then replace the chip on the cluster with a blank. Write back the config with the mileage, vin etc removed. Then initialise the cluster from the LCM. If it sounds difficult, thats what you pay for a lot from someone.

Yes. I've looked but can only find motormeter. I need bosch

 

[Tinuva]

Yes. I've looked but can only find motormeter. I need bosch

Why do you need a bosch? I know it's the preferred newer one, but both can work

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[zabbo]

When I needed to fix my cluster on my e46 it was also specific to what I had in my car - if its just to replace certain components on your original cluster which I went for (in my case I needed a Motometer).

 

[Vicious_tuning]

Why do you need a bosch? I know it's the preferred newer one, but both can work

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From what I understand, motormeter will work but backlight illumination might not work. Dash lights errors will be thrown for things that are working. Well im no expert but from research, Its best to get it repaired or if sourcing a used one, it has to match the one thats being replaced.

 

[Vicious_tuning]

did anybody experience any issues with vehicle not starting due to dead instrument cluster? I have seen alot of videos on youtube and posts on other forums that a dead cluster can cause car to crank and not start. And they mention that once the cluster was replaced or repaired, the car cranked fine - yet when i asked this question on a E46 group on facebook, everybody says that a cluster wont cause car to crank and not start. Can anybody clarify or if somebody has had experiences before?

 

[Tinuva]

did anybody experience any issues with vehicle not starting due to dead instrument cluster? I have seen alot of videos on youtube and posts on other forums that a dead cluster can cause car to crank and not start. And they mention that once the cluster was replaced or repaired, the car cranked fine - yet when i asked this question on a E46 group on facebook, everybody says that a cluster wont cause car to crank and not start. Can anybody clarify or if somebody has had experiences before?

Honestly, it depends how the cluster fail.

If the cluster die in a way that some things still function, it could potentially spam the k-bus and thus block signals between the EWS(anti-theft unit) and the ECU. When the ECU can not get a verification signal from the EWS, car won't start.

If the cluster die in a way where it doesn't do anything on the k-bus, car can start without cluster.

So theoretically, the temporary solution for your hypothetical situation, would be to unplug the cluster and test starting the car. Car will start as long as the EWS and ECU both function fine and can communicate with each other.

Another way, is to test an ECU that was flashed to ignore the EWS, but you still need communication from the steering wheel to the ECU for the start signal.

 

[Tinuva]

From what I understand, motormeter will work but backlight illumination might not work. Dash lights errors will be thrown for things that are working. Well im no expert but from research, Its best to get it repaired or if sourcing a used one, it has to match the one thats being replaced.

Fair enough. There are quite a few changes and you need an E46 expert or someone willing to spend some time figure out how to fix all the issues from using a different cluster in the car.

For example, I changed the LCM in my pre-LCI car to a newer one. Technically it should be incompatible, but I reverse engineered the old way of coding on my cluster and rebuilt the config string from scratch into the LCM to fix all the issues and make it show up happy on the BMW software. I have sourced myself a newer bosch cluster, so that I can eventually replace the moto one in my car with the bosch one. This time, I should be able to just copy the config string I already reverse engineered from the LCM to the cluster. This will then also allow me to turn on some of the newer features not available in the older cluster I have.

There is a lot more to it, because I need to desolder the memory chip from the bosch cluster after making a backup, wipe out the mileage and vin from the backup before flashing to a brand new chip that I will solder on to the cluster. Doing all of this so I can get the newer features plus keep the engines original mileage on the replacement cluster.

 

[Vicious_tuning]

Fair enough. There are quite a few changes and you need an E46 expert or someone willing to spend some time figure out how to fix all the issues from using a different cluster in the car.

For example, I changed the LCM in my pre-LCI car to a newer one. Technically it should be incompatible, but I reverse engineered the old way of coding on my cluster and rebuilt the config string from scratch into the LCM to fix all the issues and make it show up happy on the BMW software. I have sourced myself a newer bosch cluster, so that I can eventually replace the moto one in my car with the bosch one. This time, I should be able to just copy the config string I already reverse engineered from the LCM to the cluster. This will then also allow me to turn on some of the newer features not available in the older cluster I have.

There is a lot more to it, because I need to desolder the memory chip from the bosch cluster after making a backup, wipe out the mileage and vin from the backup before flashing to a brand new chip that I will solder on to the cluster. Doing all of this so I can get the newer features plus keep the engines original mileage on the replacement cluster.

lol. you seem like the guy i have been looking for. Are you in Durban?

 

[Vicious_tuning]

Honestly, it depends how the cluster fail.

If the cluster die in a way that some things still function, it could potentially spam the k-bus and thus block signals between the EWS(anti-theft unit) and the ECU. When the ECU can not get a verification signal from the EWS, car won't start.

If the cluster die in a way where it doesn't do anything on the k-bus, car can start without cluster.

So theoretically, the temporary solution for your hypothetical situation, would be to unplug the cluster and test starting the car. Car will start as long as the EWS and ECU both function fine and can communicate with each other.

Another way, is to test an ECU that was flashed to ignore the EWS, but you still need communication from the steering wheel to the ECU for the start signal.

This makes alot of sense. Thank you for that information

 

[Tinuva]

lol. you seem like the guy i have been looking for. Are you in Durban?

Cape Town

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[rodga]

Fair enough. There are quite a few changes and you need an E46 expert or someone willing to spend some time figure out how to fix all the issues from using a different cluster in the car.

For example, I changed the LCM in my pre-LCI car to a newer one. Technically it should be incompatible, but I reverse engineered the old way of coding on my cluster and rebuilt the config string from scratch into the LCM to fix all the issues and make it show up happy on the BMW software. I have sourced myself a newer bosch cluster, so that I can eventually replace the moto one in my car with the bosch one. This time, I should be able to just copy the config string I already reverse engineered from the LCM to the cluster. This will then also allow me to turn on some of the newer features not available in the older cluster I have.

There is a lot more to it, because I need to desolder the memory chip from the bosch cluster after making a backup, wipe out the mileage and vin from the backup before flashing to a brand new chip that I will solder on to the cluster. Doing all of this so I can get the newer features plus keep the engines original mileage on the replacement cluster.

What are the newer features?

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[Tinuva]

What are the newer features?

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I don't know all of them offhand, but the one I want, is called something along the lines of brake force display. What it does is, depending on how hard you break, it can flash additional red lights at the back when braking very hard. Up to 3 different levels of how hard you brake. For this, you need the newer cluster and lcm. Cluster for the info to send it to the lcm. The lcm then define how it is displayed.

I think newer cars automatically turn on the hazards, but the e46 can only do this on the additional red lights you have. So for the face lift, top red is brake, so this feature uses he additional ones on the bottom row.

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[rodga]

Ah cool that's does sound like a very useful feature.

How would you know if your car had this feature or cluster already?

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[Tinuva]

Saying this under correction, but I think most face-lift cars should have it. But definitely from 2003 onward.

To know for sure, you need to read the config with ncsexpert. There should be lines for brakeforcedisplay.

Just, very few to no cars had it enabled for some reason.

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[Mytfine]

Fair enough. There are quite a few changes and you need an E46 expert or someone willing to spend some time figure out how to fix all the issues from using a different cluster in the car.

For example, I changed the LCM in my pre-LCI car to a newer one. Technically it should be incompatible, but I reverse engineered the old way of coding on my cluster and rebuilt the config string from scratch into the LCM to fix all the issues and make it show up happy on the BMW software. I have sourced myself a newer bosch cluster, so that I can eventually replace the moto one in my car with the bosch one. This time, I should be able to just copy the config string I already reverse engineered from the LCM to the cluster. This will then also allow me to turn on some of the newer features not available in the older cluster I have.

There is a lot more to it, because I need to desolder the memory chip from the bosch cluster after making a backup, wipe out the mileage and vin from the backup before flashing to a brand new chip that I will solder on to the cluster. Doing all of this so I can get the newer features plus keep the engines original mileage on the replacement cluster.

Holy Jesus.

Im a DIY guy but this will have me running for the hills.

 

[Tinuva]

@Vicious_tuning how is your progress on this going?
Have you tested that the car can start with the cluster unplugged? If that works, we can maybe work something out to get your cluster repaired.

 

[Vicious_tuning]

@Vicious_tuning how is your progress on this going?
Have you tested that the car can start with the cluster unplugged? If that works, we can maybe work something out to get your cluster repaired.

Hi,
Unfortunately no, I haven't had the chance to test that but i will this weekend, Will definitely keep you posted