odometer stopped at 300k

[shogun]

Read the whole thread! Then you will know that the problem clusters are the ones built up to 02/89, and they have a grey backplate.

[uscharalph]

So what does it mean if my '90 just hit 310,000 miles? Do I have later guages?

It means your BMW was manufactured after 02/89.

[nirvana19]

i want to try this on the white-backed cluster i have (need to add about 100km), but you could try resetting to zero on yours... i've got a couple years to go tho before i need to worry...

from the site i linked previously...
"Reset the plug yourself: I haven't checked it yet, but I was told by someone you can clock in a speed signal of 100 kHz. This equals a very high speed (about 60 000 km/h). The plug should then store the mileage in it's RAM. As it can't write settings over 300K in into the ROM area 300K you will have to wait until it's been around 1 000 000 km. It should then write 000 000 back into the odometer. This costs about 0 Euro. Highly recommended. If you have tried this and it works I LOVE to hear from you!!! "

not sure what kind of a device you would need to do this but it's guaranteed to be way cool!

AHHH. nooo. When I left my car was at 296k km and its an 8/88 build. Now I' wishing my gauges were in mph.. my odometer is going to stop at 186k :-( My cars only going to be driven about 5 miles a week for most of the year so I have a little time but I really hope someone finds a resolution.

[uscharalph]

I've successfully swapped my car's instruments and coding plug with a 1990 535im. The main trick is to make sure that the donor car is from the same market (US, ECE etc), has the same engine, transmission and fuel tank.

The early cars do have a coding plug, its just that it is very different to the later ones. The early one is a black thing that is embedded in the brown connector in the wiring harness for the cluster.

When you swapped clusters, did you swap same color back cluster for same color back cluster? Mine has a grey back.

Were you able to change the mieage to what your car actually has or does the new cluster, just continue from the mileage it was at when you installed it?

[myles]

When you swapped clusters, did you swap same color back cluster for same color back cluster? Mine has a grey back.

Were you able to change the mieage to what your car actually has or does the new cluster, just continue from the mileage it was at when you installed it?

When I swapped I went from the grey back cluster to a white back cluster. The donor car had less miles on the clock than mine did, but mine had been sitting at 300000 since I had bought the car and for some time with the previous owner(s). I'll never know what the true number should be, but I would guess that it would be over 400000. The new cluster reads 190k-ish. I'm not bothered by the number on the cluster, more interested in how many miles I put on the car over a year. I don't have any intention of selling the car so I don't think that I've got any reason to worry about the incorrect number.

[ArnZ!]

oh gay, so another thing to fix later on for me.

im at 297xxxkm so better start looking for a cluster and have it ready to change out.

[uscharalph]

When I swapped I went from the grey back cluster to a white back cluster. The donor car had less miles on the clock than mine did, but mine had been sitting at 300000 since I had bought the car and for some time with the previous owner(s). I'll never know what the true number should be, but I would guess that it would be over 400000. The new cluster reads 190k-ish. I'm not bothered by the number on the cluster, more interested in how many miles I put on the car over a year. I don't have any intention of selling the car so I don't think that I've got any reason to worry about the incorrect number.

So as long as the donor car is american, had a M20 525i engine, automatic transmission and how do I tell the gas tank? the white back cluster will plug into my BMW?

[tim eh?]

So as long as the donor car is american, had a M20 525i engine, automatic transmission and how do I tell the gas tank? the white back cluster will plug into my BMW?

(i think) the white back cluster will plug in anyway but display faulty values if any of those things are different to your old car.

the one i used came out of a '90 525 auto so i think that's still an m20 (i have an m20)... works fine except the fuel and temp guages are dead (i think they're really dead and it's not a compatibility issue but i don't know for sure) and of course the car is suddenly 100,000 km younger.

to check gas tank... maybe www.realoem.com? i thought they were all the same... good luck ralph, hope you can get it done!

[myles]

So as long as the donor car is american, had a M20 525i engine, automatic transmission and how do I tell the gas tank? the white back cluster will plug into my BMW?

Thats right. The fuel tank side of things is not so hard to match up, just that some E34s had plastic tanks and some had metal tanks and therefore had a different sender unit. There was also the option on some E34s to have 90L tank rather than the standard 80L tank. I've seen a cluster from an E32 735ia used in an E34 535ia and everything worked correctly except for the fuel gauge as the E32 had a 100L tank.

You might also want to check that the donor car has the same type of auto transmission. The electronic and non-electronic options on the trans might make make a difference.

Make sure that when you get the new cluster that it does come with the code plug otherwise you won't achieve anything.

If you get the right match everything will work exactly as it should. Remember to do the cluster self test to check on the fuctionality of the unit and all of its gauges.

Good luck with your hunt for a donor car.