Well, you are in Hong Kong, so I guess BMW NA is no help to you, but to anyone else reading this thread, BMW NA is replacing X5 and e39 clusters under a goodwill replacement deal where they buy you a new cluster and you only pay to have it installed. see this post:

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...+cluster+bmwna

I had my cluster replaced last week and it cost me $94 for the labor. Heck of a deal. Its nice to know that BMW will occasionally own up to their mistakes!!:thumbup:

Now if we can just get them to own up to the window regulators, crankcase ventilation system/oil seperator and crummy water pumps, we will be doing good!!

what do they do to install? it's just connecting the plugs and screwing it in...

...so is it programmed?

It has to be programmed to match your mileage and to use your on OBC.

i'll screw it in and they can program it if it saves me money ;)

On the warranty deal, they won't do it unless the dealer installs and programs the cluster. I figured that for $94 for a brand-new cluster, who cares? And as an added bonus (well not really, but every little bit helps!!), when they programed my new cluster, they somehow lost 40 miles on the odo, must have typed a number in wrong or something.:thumbup:

But the fact that the odo reading did change is interesting, seems to me that that means the dealer's computer has the power to change the mileage stored in the main computer (or whereever its stored). Veeerrrry interesting.....:confused:

Usually the odo can only be programed once...... and only new......