spannerrash

Hi all
2002 Audi S8 d2
To cut a long story short my instrument cluster has multiple faults. It has been repaired multiple times and has now developed an earth leak which is draining the battery. I think the last repair was a poor repair.

I relise there is lots of information on the Internet about hacking these clusters with various readers etc but nothing that seems to be 100% proven and simple enough.

I am wanting to explore the idea of simply swapping the chips. I believe the two chips in the picture below store the millage and immo information, can anyone confirm this for me please.



Thanks in advance.

Justin Bennett

Do this. I did and haven't looked back!

https://forums.quattroworld.com/a8/msgs/111910.phtml

spannerrash

Thanks for the reply Justin.
An immo defeat is my fall back option if the chip swap goes wrong. I'm obsessed with trying to keep the car as original and correct as possible really.

I have found out after more research that there are 3 chips that would need transferring across. Picture of third chip bellow.

Any body who is following this thread, please do not take this as being correct at this point. I will feed back on how it goes, successfull or not.

Cheers Frank




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jfrahm

Maybe get a cluster and ECU from a part-out? You can get the Immo code out of the cluster with inexpensive tools or also get keyfobs from the part-out, you do not need the key blades if the seller wants to keep those with the car. The chip swap would probably cost at least a monkey so getting parts that work together might be cheaper.

Otherwise I suggest not letting the shop that damaged the cluster you have now try to do this chip swap.

BrianC72gt

I've always wondered about doing brain surgery with a chain saw. Now in fairness, I'd pull the slack out of the chain, recently sharpened and only light on the oil.

You need an OBD2 cable, a not cooked cluster and,, well, that's about it. Car-part.com. $50 on a bad day. If they throw in the paired key, then all you have to do is pair the ECU with VAG COM. Does UK have anCar-part equivalent? It's a network of wreckers yards nationwide searchable online.

It is also very easy to bend pins on reinstall (straighten with tweasers), which could create your weird circuit draining power and even IMMO malfunctions. Since you have it apart, clean up all the internal ribbon cable connections and that often resolves problems. Surface corrosion over time...

Your idea seems a bit mad, unlesss of course that's your thing, or you're English, or both.

spannerrash

Just to bring this thread to a close incase it's useful to anybody.

The chip swap was done by a local electronics company for £48. The work was so good it's difficult to tell anything has been swapped. The work was completed and the cluster was fit back into the car around the end of March.

I have been running the car for approx 3 months now and every thing is working fine. The millage is as before, the soft coding is as before, the vin and immo serial numbers are both as original. Even the original keys still work, no need to Re-code, they just worked as before.

Essentially and predictably a clone of the original but without the battery drain.

As I have had pointed out to me in quite a sarcastic manner by a previous reply, there are other ways of achieving a cluster swap. This post now simply gives everyone another option should they wish to use it.

jfrahm

Wow that's a better price than I expected and it's great to know that you can migrate to a good used cluster if need be. Thanks for the follow-up.

BrianC72gt

I was the sarcastic one. I just meant that there are easier ways to skin this particular cat. So did they actually swap the circuitry or just pair another cluster and program an IMMO delete?

I suppose given the age of these cars it is inevitable that electronics surgery will be required as used spares suffer the same leaking capacitors and the like.

Well done.

spannerrash

No problem bud.

The 3 chips were removed from my cluster and fit to a second hand fully working unit. Everyone is working as before, even the immo is still fully functioning.

The biggest challenge anyone considering this repair is gonna have is actually finding a good second hand cluster. Audi no longer supply these new and it took me 3 attempts to get a good fully working unit.

Luckily I built myself a simple bench test rig and a 12v power supply so I could test the clusters before wasting too much time and money on them. I had to return the first 2.

What (rather nievely) I was surprised about, is that both of the damaged clusters I got from ebay were purposely damaged by previous owners. One had damage to the ABS led and the other damage to the engine management light.

It's a bit of a lottery unless you have the means to test them.

nikfer

[QUOTE=spannerrash;25339105]Sorun değil tomurcuk.

3 çip kümemden çıkarıldı ve ikinci el tam çalışan bir birime sığdı. Herkes eskisi gibi çalışıyor, immo bile hala tam olarak çalışıyor.

Bu onarımı düşünen birinin karşılaşacağı en büyük zorluk, aslında iyi bir ikinci el küme bulmaktır. Audi artık bu yenileri tedarik etmiyor ve tam olarak çalışan bir ünite elde etmek için 3 denemem gerekti.

Şans eseri, kümeleri çok fazla zaman ve para harcamadan önce test edebilmek için kendime basit bir test cihazı ve 12v güç kaynağı yaptım. İlk 2'yi iade etmek zorunda kaldım.

Şaşırdığım şey (oldukça ciddi bir şekilde), ebay'den aldığım hasarlı kümelerin her ikisinin de önceki sahipleri tarafından kasıtlı olarak hasar görmüş olmasıdır. Birinde ABS ledinde ve diğerinde motor yönetim lambasında hasar vardı.

Bunları test etmek araçlara sahip olmadıkça bir piyango biraz bu. [/ QUOTE]