*RESOLVED*Cluster interchangeable?
 

My dad's 2000 E53 is starting to have some electrical gremlins. He took it to the dealership, they had it for about 3 weeks ($600 diagnostic fee), and came back saying that the gauge cluster is drawing some current and killing the battery and causing some of the gauges to not work correctly. They recommended replacing the cluster with a brand new one. After labor and coding it comes out to approx $3,000. I'm trying to save him a buck and possibly but a used cluster and having it coded (if possible).

They also recommend replacing the OEM navigation unit because it seems to have some issues as well. I was thinking about going with an aftermarket double din and get rid of the factory nav altogether. My dad said somewhere around $6k for the whole repair..

Does anyone have experience swapping clusters? Is it possible to buy used and code to the vehicle? Or is brand new the only option? I might do some shopping around to see if I can get a better price online if new is the only option. Anyone have experience bringing in a new cluster to the dealer to code? Any help would be appreciated

Currently around 90k miles. Recently dropped big money on a rebuilt engine with zero miles. Recent battery and alternator replacement. Definitely planning on keeping this vehicle for a long time

Get used to spending more money then it would cost to lease a Japanese suv every year it's the price of membership for e53.

That's only true if you're not willing to do your research and find creative solutions to problems.


With regards to the gauge cluster: what are the symtoms? I would highly recommend getting a second opinion regardless. A second hand replacement is almost always the most cost effective option.

New batteries would be drained within a couple days. Gas gauge would bounce around while driving, sometimes wouldn't work at all. Speed gauge will not work intermittently.

Navigation screen would cycle turning off and on while driving.

Dealership reports they had their "electrical expert" working on the vehicle, took them 3 weeks to give us any info about possible causes. Don't know if it be cost effective to have other shops do more diagnostics if the dealership had the vehicle for so long trying to determine the cause

I would take it to a well recommended Indy shop that specializes in BMWs. It doesn't take three weeks to figure out a parasitic drain on the battery. The majority of the time a drain can be found by removing one fuse at a time and checking for reduction in load on the battery.

Depending on the problem you can send off the cluster for repair or purchase a rebuilt one. Attached will be helpful as it is very easy to DIY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xXxgiXmHhg An Indy that specializes in BMWs can do the cluster coding.

Depending on the problem with the Nav unit and that the intention is to keep the vehicle for a long time you may want to consider an aftermarket unit such as Dyavin.

If you just pull a cluster from another E38/E39/E53, you'll trigger the mileage tampering dot since the ECU and IC are married.

I contacted "repairitdontreplace" on ebay and gave them my symptoms that i was experiencing. they reported they can rebuild the cluster for $380, no coding will be required.

BMW x5 Series E53 Complete Instrument Cluster Speedometer Repair Service | eBay

Will be shipping off the cluster this weekend. Ill post up my experience with them, they seem to have good reviews working on various makes / models of vehicles.

I would imagine that the dealership aka the stealership is trying to convince your father to get out of the X5. A used cluster is the the way to go if this truly the problem but I would isolate the cluster first and see if this is really the drain. If there is a drain in the system then you can get poor voltage that causes the cluster to malfunction. It could be the NAV thats causing the drain by staying on all the time.

Okay fully charge the battery and make sure that it is healthy, disconnect the instrument cluster. Come back 4 days later and if the vehicle is dead then the cluster is not the problem. You have a drain elsewhere.

Time for an upgrade. "iS" cluster can be coded to a lower version and everything is function, including oil temp lights.