Hi Folks,
Have had an intermittent problem for a month with my dashboard instrument cluster going switching on and off and then off for the rest of the journey.
Through some research I have learnt that the problem lies with the motherboard inside the cluster, apparently the minute soldering connections break after a few years and cause this well known issue. I have come to the conclusion that I have 2 options:
a) buy a used instrument cluster relatively cheaply on e-bay or salvage yards, or
b) remove said cluster (fairly straightforward operation - if you have looked at the You Tube video about 56 times!!) and dispatch it to a repair company.
My original choice would be to go for option a, but after another search today I read that by choosing option b I would not have to then figure our how to change the mileage to show true mileage of the vehicle and electronic ignition codes etc would still be valid for the car to start and operate.
Can anyone here verify if this is true.
I really don't wish to spend 120-160 Pounds Sterling on a job which I can pretty much carry out myself with the correct part.

Cheers Rob.

 

Repairing yours is the way to go, I've concluded.
A few people have reported success soldering their own. There's a large IC which plugs into a socket. The socket has the bad solder joints to the motherboard, I've read.
One fellow advised to file an iron's tip to as sharp a point as you can then tin it before beginning.
I've never seen one myself.

I've also read there are numbers on the back of our clusters which need to match for a replacement to work.
A few have reported "plug 'n play" success from the moment they fire up the junkyard unit. The mileage, of course, is incorrect.
A few claim to own 4 or 5 junkyard units which never worked. (I would've halted buying junkyard stuff after my second failure)
I've read a replacement DIM can work but it'll foil any attempt at hooking up a diagnostic tool.
The reasons given are that mismatched CANBUS numbers and mileage tallies (measured against those stored in the TCM) stop the flow of data.

So, in conclusion, try it and risk frying it-but won't you feel KING if you succeed......or just ship it off and "be fixed".
​​​​​​​And remember, having it fixed doesn't neuter you.
Xemodex has offices in Colorado and Canada. BSR repairs them in Europe. Cluster-Fix is another repair shop. Ask on other boards for other repairers.

Best of and let us know how it goes , G&K

 

Have the DIM repaired by a good shop - there are three that specialize - I used Euro electronics: https://europeanelectric.net/

super reasonable - everything works now...

HIGHLY recommended - easy to take out the DIm and send in...

 

Well here we are, 3 months later and I haven't yet updated you on what happened to my instrument cluster.
Initiallly the cluster would work sporadically, and I began to think it was a condensation/moisture related but in the end in was going off so randomly that I discarded that theory. Then it just simply......died.
I had researched several instrument repair shops in the country and all of them came to around the same figure pricewise. All of them preferred if I were to couriered the part and waited 3 (or 4, or 5 or 10) days and they would fix and return. Money up front.
Except one called CARTRONIX, near Portsmouth would remove the cluster, repair it, switch off the annoying "Airbag Error" message and refit. All in the space of an hour, barely enough time for me to wander down to the nearest greasy spoon and enjoy a sumptious fully cooked breakfast
Cost: £180.00
Thoroughly recommend.