Hello,

So heres my story, I bought a '99 Volvo s80 through a car auction(my first car). everything seemed fine when i ran it; all cars in the auction had to pass smog to be put on there so i thought everything would be ok. However, this year i had to take it to a test only place and i didn't pass smog because the check engine light is on but not showing up in the dash board nor is the light that comes on when the check engine light isn't working ....

I took it to a repair shop. apparently the previous owner broke off the lights from the circuit board so they wouldn't show up. The repair place works on other volvos and they said they tried 2 used instrument clusters but they would not work. I was told i would have to buy a new one and that'd be around $1,000..

Would any of you happen to know used clusters cannot be used and if new ones do cost that much? i just really don't want to get scammed again

 

You might check with Tech first...and also check this place for a good used one..can't see why a used one wouldn't work as long as it's for the same Model car...

http://www.car-part.com/

 

they said something about them having to be programed for that specific car. also thanks for the link.

 

Some clusters store the vin and mileage in the cluster. If the car sees the Vin from the cluster not match with the Vin from the PCM them it will not work and may cause a tamper light if they have one. Tech would know more but on BMW this is what the story is and many other euro cars are the same.

 

Sweet !!! Anything to make you ave to take it to the dealer..

 

They must have really messed it up. The bulb goes into a socket. Then the socket locks into the cluster.

 

We are very impressed. If the car sees the Vin from the cluster not match with the Vin from the PCM them it will not work and may cause a tamper light if they have one.