mrfriend

Hello!

My 2003 C230K Sport failed emission inspection becausethe Check Engine Light does not turn on when the key is in the ACC position.

I took the car to the dealer in (Tysons Corner, Vienna, VA) and got an $1800 quote for a new cluster(parts + labor + whatnot).

Too steep I thought, ordered a used instrument cluster online for about $160 and an EEPROM programmer for about $25.

Plugged my "new" cluster in:
- CEL works
- got a few convenience features my old cluster did not have.
- the display did not fade around the edges when hot
- SOS Teleaid message is displayed(no teleaid installed)
- odometer shows "------" (mileage differs from the ECU)

I swapped the eeprom(memory chip, 93C86...) from my old cluster to the "new" one in hopes to get the odometer to display the correct mileage.

Plugged the new cluster in the second time:
- CEL DOES NOT WORK
- convenience eatures are gone from the menu
- teleaid meessage is gone
- odometer shows the correct mileage

I was back to where I started, besides the new display!!!

So, I figured there were two possibilities:
1. I damaged the circuitry of the "new" cluster during the swap
2. The CEL is somehow disabled by the settings stored in the memory chip(eeprom)

To eliminate the possibility #1 I soldered the memory chip from my "new" cluster to my old one.

Plugged my old cluster with the new memory chip in:
- CEL WORKS!
- got a few convenience features my old cluster did not have.
- SOS Teleaid message is displayed(no teleaid installed)
- odometer shows "------" (mileage differs from the ECU)

SO, that leaves possibility #2 CEL IS DISABLED!!!

The previous owner must have disabled it(the car had a bad thermostat). @#$%^&*

I took it back to the dealership explaining that the CEL was disabled and I needed it Enabled. The service advisor was in disbelief and insisted that the cluster could not be programmed.

Can somebody help me find an SDS in developer mode owner around Reston, VA?
Any other suggestions?

VVF

Could you pass the inspection with the 'new' cluster without the mileage since it shows the CEL?

It would actually be interesting to hack into the eeprom, find out where the mileage is stored and all that... Then you could just modify a couple parameters in the 'new' one and be good to go.
But I guess it's all protected by checksums and cryptography. Anyone dumped their cluster's eeprom?

Edit: An interesting link: http://www.vag-info.com/Mercedes%20Commander%20info.htm

mrfriend

Thanks for the suggestion! I considered that option.

Perhaps I could pass the inspection, but wouldn't my car be declared as "unknown mileage" because of the cluster not showing the mileage during the inspection?

It would reduce the resale value of the car quite a bit?!

I'd rather "lose" the money buying an SDS unit.


I have a dump of both old and new EEPROMs. As you mentioned it is encrypted and possibly checksummed.

If anyone can decrypt them, I'd be happy to share.

VVF

In Texas vehicles older than 10 years are exempt from reporting mileage. Don't know if they still do it during inspections though.

Depends on how long you will keep the car. You can always argue with the buyer that the inspection place screwed up the report, and "it's impossible to alter the mileage in an MB"

samaritrey

You have a very interesting issue thats for sure. I have never heard or seen the setting in star to disable the CEL. That said I try to stay out of the developer mode because you can obviously really mess up your car but also because much of it is in German and my system does not always open all the developer menus for some reason.
BTW what convenience features did you have?

mrfriend

I should check on the ten year rule in Virginia. My car has 83k miles, that may affect the reportability of the mileage too.

One of the convenience features that caught my interest was the lowering of the mirror when in reverse to help with parking.

@samaritrey: would you be willing to rent your system to me for the weekend?

samaritrey

That is a nice feature I use to use it but decided to turn it off because the passenger side mirror motor was on its way out and I don't feel like fixing it.
As for renting it out I think I could be tempted to do that but I would want a temporary deposit and it would be much easier for me if you had a compatible computer to use as one of the computers I use has to much personal stuff on it and the other is much slower at running the software.
So send me a PM on here with computer information such as model and specs if you know them and we should be able to figure something out.