X6 Cluster installed in 4.8i (oil temp!)

[Cyrix2k]

I hate not having a temperature display so I set out to find a good cluster candidate to retrofit. It turns out the E71 50i has the same 7k RPM redline as the 4.8i, includes an oil temp display, and is cheap; my cluster was $87 shipped. As an additional bonus, the X6 has different/bolder beauty rings as well.

I believe there are two ways to do the swap. 1) Swap the X6 cluster itself in. This requires overwriting the VIN to match yours, installing the cluster, and coding it with NCS expert. Realistically, the cluster needs to come apart - including pulling the needles - to accomplish this. Furthermore, if the donor cluster from the X6 has higher mileage than your vehicle, you either need a new mileage chip or a way to overwrite the mileage. 2) Swap the X6 gauge panel onto your existing gauges and code the cluster with something like perfekt toolbox.

I chose option #1 and learned a few things along the way. First of all, aligning the needles after the fact is a royal pain. The only way around this is to use an in-circuit programmer to modify the VIN using test points on the back of the circuit board. Second, the circuit board is retained in the back housing by clips on the plug that attaches to the vehicles wiring harness. They're a pain to release. Third, the TL866 MiniPro Universal Programmer works fine to read and write the mileage chip provided the chip is desoldered from the board. A different programmer is needed for in-circuit programming (R270+). I only have the TL866 so I used a hot air rework station to desolder the chip & solder it back on. It's SMD so you will want to have some experience before attempting this. If you try to use the TL866 in-circuit, you will get an error to the effect the chip is shorted. Fourth, while the cluster was functional after being installed in my X5, it set a code for an active steering fault. This is clearly an option the donor X6 had that my X5 did not. I coded the cluster with NCS expert (read VO from CAS/FRM, write Kombi) and it went away. Then the error came back after I restarted the X5. I coded it with NCS expert once again, then cleared the error memory on the Kombi using INPA. As far as I can tell, all is well now.

Checking cluster for function:

The original mileage on the cluster (donor). Odd that it didn't set a tamper light.

The chip:

Final product (the warning is for the time not being set & a bulb out):