W211 Retrofit: Dead Facelift Cluster after 2 days. Can I build a "Hybrid" from two un
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E200 CDI w211 and ML320 CDI w164
W211 Retrofit: Dead Facelift Cluster after 2 days. Can I build a "Hybrid" from two un
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some technical advice on a W211 cluster retrofit that went south. My car is a Pre-Facelift (Pre-FL), and I upgraded it to a Facelift (FL) cluster. I made the FL unit "Virgin" via OBD, coded it with STAR Diagnosis (DAS), and it worked perfectly for two full days—AMG menu, needles, everything was spot on.
The Issue: On the third day, the new cluster went completely dead. Black screen, no needle movement, nothing. When it's plugged in, it seems to be "clogging" the Interior CAN Bus:
My Questions:
Thanks in advance for any insight!
I’m looking for some technical advice on a W211 cluster retrofit that went south. My car is a Pre-Facelift (Pre-FL), and I upgraded it to a Facelift (FL) cluster. I made the FL unit "Virgin" via OBD, coded it with STAR Diagnosis (DAS), and it worked perfectly for two full days—AMG menu, needles, everything was spot on.
The Issue: On the third day, the new cluster went completely dead. Black screen, no needle movement, nothing. When it's plugged in, it seems to be "clogging" the Interior CAN Bus:
- The Climate Control display goes very dim (emergency mode).
- Parktronic (PTS) stops working.
- STAR Diagnosis shows "No communication with ICM."
My Questions:
- Can I build a "Hybrid" unit? Is it possible to use my working Pre-FL PCB but transfer the software/firmware from the dead FL unit? I really want to keep the FL software features (AMG menu, updated graphics).
- Hardware Swap: Can I swap specific chips (Processor, EEPROM) from the dead FL board to the Pre-FL board, or are the PCB architectures too different to make this work?
- Did I kill it? Is it possible that the OBD "Virgin" process or coding caused a delayed failure, even though it worked fine for 48 hours? Or does this sound like a hardware component (like the CAN Transceiver or Voltage Regulator) just gave up?
- Repairing the FL board: If the cluster is blocking the CAN bus, what’s the most likely culprit? Is it worth trying to resolder/replace the CAN transceiver chip?
Thanks in advance for any insight!
