Programming X5 KMBI/Cluster No Reverse Lights W/Manual Transmission -- SOLVED
 

Hello,

Been a lurker for quite some time. I'm needing some help coding my replacement cluster for a manual transmission as the original apparently died.

Because the replacement used cluster is coded for an auto, the reverse lights don't come on when I shift to reverse.

I used NCS expert to code the replacement cluster and still did not come to any avail. I still get the fault code for no CAN from EGS 1 from the cluster via INPA.

Searching on Xoutpost, I haven't seen much info for E53s and this problem. I did see a good thread on E46 fanatics located here: https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showth...659314&page=17 (hopefully I can post this).


Any help would be MUCH appreciated. I'll follow up with some screenshots with my coding. Thanks again!

So attached you should see the NCS Expert programming of my modules before.

The KMB SA is: 200000308495180DT, this cluster is the used cluster

The EWS SA is: 200A00308495580FH, this is original to the car.

When I went to code the KMB, I first tried subtracting "8" from the "D" bit and got "5" as the new hex value. In doing so, I still got the "PRND" to remain on the cluster and ultimately, my reverse lights don't respond with the request.

I think I figured out my problem.

The E46 chassis has the transmission options listed in the SA bits for the coding, but on the E53 they are held in the GM bits. I also confirmed this by looking at the E53ZST file which contains the information of these options, as seen in my picture below.

It was then that I needed to subtract "8" on the GM bit of the 7th digit to get the standard transmission and not "AUTOMATIK" for the proper coding.

NOW, the KMBI (cluster) will expect the reverse light request to come from the standard transmission reverse light switch and NOT the EGS module. Therefore, the KBMI will then send the request to the LCS to activate the reverse lights because now it sees the proper request via standard transmission. In addition, I confirmed this via INPA by reading the codes from the cluster and found the EGS1 no CAN fault now cleared!

If ZCS on EWS was still original why didn't you just use that? ZCS itself doesn't do anything. It's just the information used when doing the actual coding and parameter values changed according to ZCS.

That's what I ended up doing, was taking the GM, SA, and VN from the EWS and copying it to the KMBI. Now it works as it should.

Is there a way to verify what the original coding was for the car? I suppose I could look up every option on my vehicle, but I'm not sure how to verify every option corresponding to the particular coding. :dunno:

Of course it would have been best to first check that ZCS on EWS and original cluster match so it's accurate. Though ZCS on EWS is likely as it should unless someone has deliberately changed it (or EWS, DME and keys are from another donor vehicle).

Verifying ZCS would mean checking every bit according to vehicle specs and additional equipment. There are some tools like Zeko to help in this if really needed.

I use PA Soft, NCS, etc and understand ZCS, GM SA and how to program the KMBI.

But does the cluster show the accurate mileage of the original car or the donor car? Does it have a tamper dot? I always thought you needed to solder in a new chip or something to use a used cluster in a different cluster

Sorry for the late reply!

Yes! I tried using Zeko, but the version I have does not run in Win10. :tapping:

I'm trying Zeko version 4.2 and no compatibility settings I used works. But I did try Decode BMW v0.3 and was able to look at my SA options--and they seem reasonable. As for the PO, he said the original cluster was busted and he threw it out. So no luck there.

I'll try to do more digging and find a working version of Zeko.


Yes, the used cluster has the tamper dot. And with that I'm curious as to "actual" mileage. I'm not sure I ventured enough in INPA to look at what the EWS says the mileage is. This should be in the "IDENT" function of INPA, ya? I'll need to explore more.

To my understanding, the larger one should be displayed on the cluster and is "checked" every 60 miles or so. It would be great to re-write the vin on the cluster to get rid of the tamper dot as well as the trifecta. But I'm working on getting my ABS module rebuilt hopefully.

Cluster will correct the mileage from LCM's redundant memory only if their VIN matches and cluster has lower mileage than the one in LCM. When the VIN matches tamper dot will also disappear.

If there are no reasonable doubts that EWS was changed or hacked and everything seems to work correctly I don't see much point wasting time trying to calculate ZCS again. Zeko and other similar softwares have their flaws and many things should still need to be manually verified.