Please make this a home page link! Free cluster replacement minus labor!!!
 

Big Thanks to SeattleTopaz!!! When I bought my 2000 X5 this year, with no warranty, I knew that the Pixels were shot. I fell in love with the sport package and 19"'s, I could go on and on and on.. Anyways, I could barely make out the odometer, etc... I figured that it would be a pretty easy fix. So I brought my X to my local dealer to have a vehicle inspection. Just to make sure there was no major problems with my new X5. Long story short they wanted $625 to have my cluster fixed!! I first thought he meant $6.25 but the invoice showed $625!!! And I almost said go ahead and fix it since that was the only problem I was having.

Well I happened to see the post that Seattletopaz made and I couldn't believe that it was true. BMW was willing to replace any year, warranty or not, X5 gauge cluster with faulty pixels for free!!!! You just have to pay for labor. $90 for one hours work. I just made the appointment with my local dealer and they confirmed that it would be covered:thumbup: . BMW really stepped up to the plate on this one. :)

Here is my original invoice from the dealer that is now only charging me $90 instead of $625 a $535 savings, yippe!! SeattleTopaz let me buy you a beer!!:beerchug: Click on the pic to enlarge the invoice.
http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e3.../th_ripoff.jpg

So if it's alright with the admins please replace or edit the pixel fix thread on the home page with the following information:

This has been posted all over, but here's the info you need... BMWNA has a goodwill replacement policy in place for the 5/7 series (includes the x5).... I recently had this done for my out of warranty '02 X5. In my case, about 50% of my pixels in the odometer were dead.. I paid for the the 1 hr labor charge, but the cluster was covered by BMWNA under this replacement plan. I've heard of some dealers charging 1/2hr, but this varies.... they take out the old cluster and pop in and reprogram a new one.

"Have the following information ready when you call BMWNA (details for that follow), which you'll also fax or email to them, as well.

Year and model of vehicle
Vehicle mileage
VIN number
Name, address and phone number of the registered owner
Name of your nearest/preferred dealer
Description of the defective unit (e.g., "Instrument cluster pixels" and/or "MID pixels", etc.)

Then contact BMWNA at:

Leonora Vlaovich
BMW North America (BMWNA)
201-573-7742
201-930-8362 fax
leonora.vlaovich "at" bmwna.com"

Leonora is the coordinator for this program. A rep will be assigned to your case who will work with your local dealer to get this fixed. In my case I received a call in the next day or two from a nice rep at BMWNA...

Good luck.

Why didn't the dealer let you know about the replacement plan in the first place?

I have no idea, but now it's payback, haha!

Well if you think about it; they still made $90 from you.

I'm also pretty sure the dealership was aware of this but didn't want to inform you about it.

$90 is better then making $625 ++ from me.

They replaced mine on my 01 as well. I am not sure that's par for the course on all production years, but you can contact BMW of North America and inquire.

BTW, I got the lowering kit on Monday. Thanks for the fast turn around and I'll keep u posted on the install.

When I installed my gauge rings on my '02 X5 last week, I noticed that the seal on my cluster was dated 08/2004. Apparently the cluster was swapped out during the CPO process which took place in Jan '05. The CPO process works very nicely.

That's great info to have. Thanks for sharing!

BMWNA agreed to replace the instrument cluster on my out of warranty '03 X5. :thumbup: I just have to pay the labor.
However, they are not willing to replace my Nav screen that also suffers from dead pixels.

Anyone have luck getting your Nav screen replaced under the goodwill policy?

my radio also has dead pixels...

I can think of 625 reasons.;)

I also had my cluster replaced. I attempted to contact Leonora Vlaovich
BMW North America but there was no such person so I sent an email to BMW NA through their web site. The information on my cluster replacement is on the other cluster replacement thread.

:rofl: We need a bulletin board for these items...

BMW USA said they would pay for half the part and I would cover the rest. Should i push a little harder?

ummm...isn't it supposed to be free because BMW acknowledged this problem? all you have to pay is the installation

Yes.

I have been having an instrument cluster problem for the past 3 years but didn't know what to do about it. I wanna thank you for the information posted....but I am having problems contacting BMWNA. Either no one answers, or I am directed to Leonora Vlaovich and she is NEVER in the office. I sent an email and got NO response. Is there another contact person for the replacement program? Thanks.

I had my Pixels taken care of today. 1hr Labor. Leonora has emailed me back at times within minutes. Not sure why she isnt getting back to some of you..

Cluster replacement program
 

Thanks guys for the info on the replacement program for the instrument cluster. I bought my '01 X5 used and some pixels were bad, but I didn't know there was a replacement program. I contacted BMW corporate and my local BMW dealership set me up for replacement...and it cost me under $100.
Much better than the quoted $650 for parts and additional $$$ for labor.
Thanks again!

I got my cluster replaced a month ago on my '01. I see that some people are saying they can't get ahold of Leonora, she emailed me back the next day and I had someone else from BMWNA call me two or three days later. Had the cluster replaced at the dealer for $90 in labor. :thumbup:

And hey, dylandog, BMWNA is paying 100%for the part, not just half. If your dealer is telling you otherwise, they are either misinformed or trying to pull one over on you.

You guys are lucky. For my 02 X5 BMW GB offered nothing except an appointment at the local stealer so I could pay full price for the cluster and labour. The nice lady did say the new cluster comes with 12 months waranty!!!

I too had my cluster replaced 2 weeks ago on my 01. I had to pay 25% of the cluster and .5 hr. labor. total with tax was 235.85. Not bad, they wanted 625.00 plus labor!!! Forget about that!!!! Leonora never called me I just sent her an email, she had this Robert Murphy guy call me, he was very nice. Talked to my SA and took care of everything...

Pixel Problem Fixed
 

Hello,
I just had my 2002 X5 with 56k miles fixed for free completely. I read up on the BMW boards about Leonora from BMW NA and I gave it a shot. Within a week of contacting her I had my BMW fixed completely for free. 100% covered.
This is why I drive BMWs.:thumbup:

I am still waiting for her to contact me about my transmission leak, I sent an email last Friday and called today.

Called again today, still not available. That direct number for her is incorrect by the way. I guess I will just open up my case with a representative if I can't get in touch with her :(

Hi, my X5 3.0 also have the pixel short and missed at Hong Kong over two year. I call my dealer and they said due to the warrenty expired & they need to charge around US$2000 including part and labour. I found this forum and I hope I can do this at Hong Kong.

Would you please let me know the email address of Lenora? And can you let me have the reply from BMW?

I think this problem and the "Rain sensor bubble" are the manufacturer's defect on everywhere espeacilly the car before X3 born. But in Hong Kong, they do not undertake those problem and need us to pay.http://www.xoutpost.com/images/icons/icon8.gif I found some car owner at Canada or other countries have same condition, can we sent the letter together to force BMW to face the problems?

It's weird that some dealers charge nothing and some charge hundreds? What gives?

Money grubbing stealers that are too lazy to verify that BMWNA covers this problem.

Leonora have reply to my email on next day:thumbup: , prompt reply.... GOOD.http://www.xoutpost.com/images/icons/icon11.gif

I forward the reply email to BMW Hong Kong, no reply........ BAD.http://www.xoutpost.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

Resend today adn ask them let me have the the contact of their Managing Director, I will call him/her. Ha Ha........... (hope they can reply):nanana:

Goodluck. I feel like I'm driving a new X since I had mine replaced!

My new cluster will be here on wed. Bmw Na is covering it, all I have to pay is sales tax. (same thing happened to my 540)

Pixel replacement
 

Hi Everybody

After I ask to call the Managing Director of Hong Kong BMW, they reply to me immediately and they take some photo & collect some information about the bad pixels. They said they need to send all information to Germany headoffice for getting approval to do the replacement as goodwill. They also mention if my car is service at other service center, then they will not do anything for me.

On next day, they said they can arrange to replace the cluster and I need to paid around $70 for labour. So happy.:rofl:

I think most of the X5 manufactory at USA between 2001-2002 have same problem (also have ring sensor bubble problem) and I hope everyone can push BMW to fix their defect.

i wonder if they would replace my cluster (one column of deal pixles, hardly noticable) now that they picked up half of my tranny LOL. I dare to ask.

What happens if you have already paid for a new instrument cluster and it's been over a year will BMWNA give you a refund?

Probably not! Sorry to disapoint you my friend. It's already hard enough to get them to pay for the cluster already....GD

I have an 02 E53 X5 3.0d euro version. I am encountering misfiring of pixels in my instrument cluster. I contacted my BMW dealer but they say I have no choice but to replace the whole cluster. Cost is about USD800.00.

I read what the guy from Hongkong did . I am just waiting for the whole cluster to fail before I give it a try to ask for warranty replacement and just pay for labour cost.

I just send her an email. hope to hear from her soon. I have dead pixel problems too.

ok guys have a issue, my car is a florida import, i'm in canada. Talked to BMW NA, they can't do anything since its now a canadian car so they said i need to talk to bmw canada. I called bmw canada, they said they will honor the goodwill policy, but i need to go to a dealership and get it checked out. So i went to the local bmw dealership, the service manager mentioned to me that they can't honor goodwill on a us imported vehicle. He said he tried before, and that bmw canada will not honor a us import, so i'm stuck in the middle, us and canada are both not honoring my goodwill policy. What should i do?

will this work for a MID replacement too?

Leonora is gone but they have someone else to take over. She got back to me fast and I have an appointment with my local dealer to replace it. I only have to pay for the labor! thanks again for the info.

I am also a Hong Kong owner of 2001 made X5 4.4i. I called HK dealer for free replacement, they said they could only do it for cars younger than 36 months or possibly 48 months. They said they could not do it for me since my X is about 7 years old. hongkongloftus, what is your X' made year? Could you share anything more with me?

I just sent an email to BMW headquarter to make a complaint about this and ask for free replacement, BMW headquarter replied me one day later saying my case was under assessment. Any ideas?

ok so i was getting no where so i called bmw canada again, i told the guy i talked to the whole situation, guy says theres nothing on my record saying i called earlier regarding the goodwill policy, so i had to explain to him all over again. This time i get a whole different answer, he says bmw canada does not have the goodwill program, only case by case. And the fact that i only owned the car for less then a month, it will most likely not get approved since i dont have a good record with them. He said he's gonna look into this issue, and will call me back with result, but mentioned not to get my hopes up since it will most likely get declined. Dealership wont do anything, sounds like bmw canada wont do anything since they think i'm not as good as the next guy who spent thousands on services locally. So what if i dont have a record with them, its still a bmw and goodwill policy should honor their car. Anyways i actually just got the call from bmw canada while i was writing this thread, and he said he went over it with his manager and will not honor the goodwill since they dont offer to us imported car, he also went on about how the car is out of warranty, i tried explaining to him what does warranty have to do with goodwill. Anyways so it sounds like bmw canada wants nothing to do with this car, and bmw na wants nothing to do with their car. I love how both bmw canada and na are totally seperated from each other and both brush me off, its a bmw, bmw in general should offer the goodwill service, not decline me cause i have a imported vehicle. Anyways, im gonna try to fix it myself this weekend... thumbs up for bmw's great service!! heh...

That sucks. By the way...

¶

A paragraph is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea, or the words of an author. The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line and ending without running to the next passage. Sometimes the first line is indented, and sometimes it is indented without beginning a new line. At various times the beginning of a paragraph has been indicated by the pilcrow mark: ¶.

I don't know why this is happening to you, but when my cluster went dead on some pixels. I emailed Leonora, I didn't get any answer untill I emailed her a second time. Then after about a week, I got a phone call from some other guy, don't remember his name, but he was very helpful, he explained that he will have to see if BMW NA will cover this or come to an agreement of how much labor and parts they will pay for. Sure enough, he called me back after two days and they covered 70% of the total bill. I only had to pay 210 dollars for labor and parts. So I'd maybe keep emailing Leonora, and maybe someone will respond to your situation. Good Luck

Yes, it's a "case-by-case" basis - the basis seems to be how much you "used" BMW dealers - I had my used 2001 X5 less than a year, but used BMW dealers for all my mods & upgrades - the dealer in Charleston,SC didn't like it, but BMWNA told them to do it - (free parts + 0.5-1.0 hr labor charge, in my case $115)

do you guys think this will cover my 01 x5. I tried to clean it myself but taking out the cluster and spraying it with the canned air. I accidently ripped the sticker on it. Do you think it voids this program?

:rofl: :rofl:

tried using the fare-play policy with our dealer here but no luck. 8 weeks to get back at $2,250.
Bought mine in Florida and shipped it myself.
Was wondering if BMW of usa will allow me remove the whole unit and send it back. Or can some1 recomend another solution

Jonblayz:
I had the same problem too with the canda BMW and NA BMW. I agree a goodwill policy should be honerd no matter how long or how much money you have spent on the vehicle! let me know how the DIY fix goes?

Me too. I am intersted to know if my intrument cluster can be repaired. Gradual misfiring of pixels is already showing in my instrument cluster.

I drive an 02 X5 3.0d euro.

All done. I just have to pay for labor. The guys at Freehold BMW was very nice. :thumbup:

I'm wondering why they are doing this by goodwill. Is there a legal problem with being unable to read the odometer? Maybe a call to your state/province consumer affairs commission or DMV can straighten this out. Just a thought.

I wonder if they are honoring this same sort of deal on the clusters in the BMW 530 and 540's.

You should try contacting BMWNA. It's worth a try. They were really quick with mine.

It takes forever to contact Leonora Vlaovich. I called a month ago and someone returned my call only earlier this week. But they did promise to get it taken care of within the next week, so crossing my fingers...

I emailed the address above last week Nov 30th, and I got the # for BMW NA customer service, and they told the ticket was just created yesterday. So the email DOES work, but it takes time i guess. the rep told me someone should be contacting me tomorrow regarding the issue to set something up for me. I called a BMW here in south florida and he told me he knew nothing about it. and would have to keep my car for a few days to change the MID, I can do that myself in 20 minutes.

Anyway - here's the BMWNA customer service # 1.800.831.1117

I had the issue with my 2002 X5 3.0 with 68,000 miles. Leonora Vladovich is no longer with BMWNA.
Melissa McNamara-Murphy e-mail: [email protected] responded to me and Betsy Holhman sorted it out. They replaced my instrument cluster for labor only ($132 Weatherford/Berkeley). Wanted to see a copy of my registration etc. Dealer told me cluster would run almost $1000!
One tip: Mention your inability to read caution warnings from the cluster, I think it might help

Wow, this is some good info; it'll save alot of $$ for many BMW owners. Thanks for the info :thumbup:

@ pagibbo

i just emailed bmw uk, hopefully i'll get a different response :)

Thanks
 

I just wanted to sincerely thank the person who originally posted this. I bought my X5 in February of this year, and noticed that some of the pixels had died, which made it hard to read the MID. Replacing the cluster was high on my list of priorities, after getting the 60k transmission service and inspection II, of course. I was skeptical, since the original post was back in 2006/2007, so I sent an email to Melissa Murphy-McNamara at BMW NA and the next day got a response telling me to just fax her my registration and she would have somebody give me a call. The next day, Tim Brown called and asked the usual questions: when did you notice it starting to happen (as soon as I test drove it), where did you buy it from, etc. I was hesitant to tell him I bought it from craigslist, but I was just beyond ecstatic I actually got a call back from them, so I figured I owed it to him to be honest.

He did some checking around and told me that the replacement was approved, BMW NA would pay 100% parts and I would be responsible for labor. I just had to call and set up a service appointment at Hendrick BMW and call him back to let him know when it was and he would handle the rest. Not a problem, I said, I was just thrilled that BMW was actually helping me out on this. He told me that since I bought an X5 he approved it, but said he wouldn't do the same if I would've gotten an X3. So we both got a chuckle from that. But really, thanks to whoever posted this. And sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but had to relate my experience.

I need to get this done in my X. I was only offered 50% replacement in my 7, which is more than ordering the repair kits and/or replacing it from a recycling yard car.

Email [email protected] and see what they say. I doubt they'll help you on the 7 since it's 11 years old now. Generally speaking, I've heard that this is covered as goodwill assistance, which only applies to vehicles with <100k miles.

Yeah, they denied 100% and only offered 50% the first time I wrote them about this years ago. I wrote them in regards to the X, then asked nicely if she'd reconsider since this is the 4th BMW i've got now....trying to give her and myself a brand loyalty plug ;) The motor only has about 55k on it since the rebuild, that counts for something right :thumbup: I sent the email off today, so i've got my fingers crossed for a quick reply and resolution.

Does this goodwill repair include the radio unit?

I believe it was already mentioned in an earlier post that yes, they do that also. I just spoke w/ the guy from BMW today, faxed in both registrations for the X and 7. I'll let you know if the MID is for sure part of it when he calls me back.

What's your name and the year is your X5? I spoke w/ a guy named Thomas, and he says that since my X5 is on 01 w/ 77k miles, that they're once again only going to offer me 75%. I can fix it myself and/or buy an M5/4.6/4.8 used cluster for less that 25% of their cluster plus labor charges, then just install it myself and have it coded. I'm on hold right now trying to get in touch w/ Melissa directly because i'm sick of reading about all these various people getting 100%, especially after being on our 5th BMW in our family.

My SA ordered the radio unit and is coming this thurs. 100% covered including install labor:wow: Sweeeett.

What year and mileage is the X5 that's getting these items replaced?

how did you do it? i have no luck and have even resorted to emailing Melissa

The exact same thing happened to me when I called them. I spoke with Thomas, but he instead gave me a measly 50%, I was in shock and couldn't believe it, knowing that a goodwill policy should be enforced. So I talked to him for about an hour and haggled with him to no avail. However I decided to accept the offer just to see how much it would cost. Would it make this impossible now to try to contact melissa and try to get that full 100%?

I called back and asked to speak w/ Melissa directly, got put on hold w/ the receptionist, then she decided to re-iterate what TommyBoy had told me. At this point I just started getting f-ing pissed since the desk jockey chick is now try to get in the way. Apparently i'm going to have to compile posts from various forum members (xoutpost, bimmerforums, bimmerfest, m5board, dtmpower, roadfly, 5driver, etc) and send them in an email to Melissa w/ links to the post #'s. I'm just so god damn annoyed right now w/ the whole process and them trying to put out this vibe like they're doing me some favor by, when in the end, they'll be charging me more for parts and labor than I could spend by just sending it to www.vdorepair.com or trying to repair it myself. I don't need the WHOLE cluster replaced, I just don't look like i'm driving a POS when my radio and cluster isn't even legible to passengers or myself.

I'm guessing from the little pics he has in his signature that his X's are newer. Mine's an 01, and Tommyboy said that if it was an 02 that I could get 100%...bullshit.

For the price of their 75% and labor, I can find an M5, X5 4.6/4.8 cluster, pay for the mileage to be swapped over, and probably still be out the door for cheaper.

Got all my pixels back. All brand new
COST: $0.00 :thumbup:
http://www.xoutpost.com/members/tamb...-e53pixels.jpg

Again....what year and mileage is the X5 that you got these replacements?

Funny enough, I removed my MID to try and wire if for AUX input, and when I plugged it back in....all pixels were restored. I went out bought electronic parts cleaner and dielectric grease, so hopefully i'll have the same luck w/ my gauge cluster!

Ok, sorry for the delay on this post. Many of you are wondering how I made this happen. Here's my story:

I provided Mike(my SA) the information about the "Goodwill Program" BMW have regarding deal pixels, gave him Leonora V's contact info. He wasn't fully aware on the details of the program and was surprised because he also has a 02' X5 and wanted to do the same thing. To have a bit more pull, he asked the dealership's Service Manager(Rich) to make some phone calls and verify what the real deal is. I don't know who he ended up speaking with but in the end the program is legit and checks out 100% true. It applies to 5,7 X5(E53) and some other models. So the eligibility of your X is indiscriminate of what year it is (pre or facelifted). It boils down to how the SM words his claim.
I think BMWNA inadmissibly know that the pixel type format for display is poor. So Mike ordered my radio unit and his plus MID. The parts got to the dealer after 2 days or being placed on order. I'll try to squeeze some info out of Rich to find out who specifically gave him the green light.
Conclusions:
-I think BMWNA has better reassurance when they deal with the dealership on your behalf.
- 50-75% coverage on pre-facelifts is not entirely true(delership politics play a factor).

Let me know how i can help to get your pixels back. Good Luck :thumbup:

Can you entertain me and tell me what year your X is? Tommyboy says that since mine's an 01 that i'm "lucky" to be getting assraped at 75%.

Mine is a 05 and a 02 was done at the same time at my dealer. Like I said "Indiscriminate of year" an E53 is an E53 is an E53:thumbup:.