Adonis89

Hello. I am currently a proud new ower of an 07 E63 and new to the board. I have a question that my brother and I can not find the answer to. He bought an 06 E55 recently and wanted to do an E63 instrument cluster swap (saw mine) so he bought one. He put it in and it had the ----- where the milage is so he drove the car for a few days while we researched into getting the mileage issue handled at a shop.He was going to take it in to the dealer for a trunk release issue so he put his old cluster back in but, when he installed the old one back in he noticed the milage was exactly the same as when he took it out! Is this correct?? We thought that the mileage that was driven those few day while the other cluster was in would just be updated back onto the old cluster.

He is very very worried now about the status of his car and taking it in because it is not true milage.

We have been researching this issue and had no luck.

What should we do?

Is this what happens?

Adonis89

No one has any input?

green1212

when you switched clusters, you would have needed to code the "new" cluster to 0 miles for it to work correctly by using the mileage correction tool to reset mileage on the cluster to 0 but that correction tool is very hard to find, even mb dealerships dont even have one. then the coding from your original cluster should have been printed/copied and when the "new" cluster put in, the coding from the old cluster should have been used to replace inside the "new" cluster. another way to do this is swap the PCB from the old cluster and swap it into the new cluster and this will work also. you could also call jerry at eurocharge and i believe some members have said that he can perform the zero reset on the mileage so it will work also. the PCB swap will retain the mileage from your old cluster and continue on inside the new cluster without resetting back to zero.

now the mileage thing when it didnt read anything for couple days while it just had "--------"... well you are out of luck on that one. just forget about it, put the old cluster back in and drive some and let whatever those miles were just be forgotten, nothing can be done about it, even so, how would you know exactly how many miles you drove anyway??? and its a good thing that we cannot alter our miles on the car, can you imagine how many cars would have "low" mileage from being able to do that?? so just forget about those few miles and if you want to continue with the exchange, then either swap the PCB from old to new or call jerry and mail the cluster(s) to him and get it done that way. hope this helps and ask any questions you may like.

green1212

just swap the PCB from the old cluster into the new and it will retain the mileage.
it has been done many times before dont know why people are still trying to resset the mile on the used cluster to zero.
I also have a stock E55 cluster for sale.

__________________


here is a picture of the swap and what it all entails. good luck! where did your brother buy the e63 cluster from?? i would like to get one soon. thanks!

green1212

i want to give credit where credit is due. this is from shardul's post. shardul is a very smart and helpful forum member and i did not in anyway want to have credit for this. sorry for not including the whole post with his id and signature. but this was done/posted by shardul. thanks!

Adonis89

Thank you for the replies I greatly appreciate it and the information.

In regards to the old cluster being put back in and the mileage being the exact same, is this typical? From the research we did, we where under the impression that the mileage that was driven / added to the car in those few days was stored in the vehicle and when the old cluster was put back in, the old cluster would communicate with the car and the mileage that was driven for those few days would be added to the mileage on the old cluster being reiinstalled.

Ex. Old E55 cluster has 10,000 miles on it when taken out. Other E63 cluster put in but registers the ------. 200 miles are put on the car for a few days with E63 cluster in. Old E55 cluster reinstalled, car communicates with cluster, now mileage is 10,200.

^Is this how it is supposed to go with every car?

.....or are the miles driven with the E63 ----- cluster in basically undocumented and DO NOT get added to the old E55 cluster when reinstalled?

green1212

the miles driven when the car is "-------" goes undocumented. im not 100% sure but the computer in these cars are limited and unless "programmed" to do this or do that, the cars ecu or the cars computer will not perform this "addition" on its own. as advanced as the cars are, there are some limitations and you would need the mileage correction tool and/or STAR to inform the cars ecu/cluster of what it "should" have. but you are correct, and it wasnt mb intention of people doing cluster swaps. lol. but realize it can be done and the e63 cluster can become a reality just have to jump through some hoops to get it done. btw: where did your brother get a hold of the e63 cluster??? thanks!

Adonis89

He bought the E63 cluster on ebay. Was rather expensive. Looks alot better than the stock one.

So, just to understand, if you take out the "original" cluster that came with the E55 (or E63 etc...or any benz) install a different cluster that registers "-----" for the odometer and drive it, say for a week and put miles on the car, then put the "original" E55 cluster back in (whick does not have the "----"), the mileage in the odometer when you first took out it out will be exactly the same when you reinstall it?? The miles that you drove for the week will not be updated on the "original" cluster when it is put back in?

Sorry for all the questions, Im not much of a car guy and just trying to understand. Thanks for being patient with me.

green1212

yes thats correct. although the miles might be logged or recorded in the ecu?? it cannot "add" the miles back onto the original cluster. and unless you do the PCM swap, when you place the new cluster into the car and reset to "0" miles, then the mileage will start as if brand new car. often times when people do the swap and they see the "--------" on the mileage, they feel somethings wrong and wont drive it and just go ahead and replace the original cluster back in hoping no damage was done. but to answer your question: yes the miles are just lost as far as any updating when you replace original cluster and when/if you sell the car, just inform the next buyer that you have switched clusters and reason for mileage difference.

Adonis89

That is scary . To know that this is possible and rather easy to do, just swaping clusters in and out. So technically a dishonest person or dealership could do this, drive a ton of miles on the car with a different cluster in (that has "-----") and when they are ready to sell it, just swap the old one back in (since it will work and is married to the car) with the lesser miles. You know how the world is today and im sure some a-hole out there has done this to someone.

How can i check into this with my brothers E55 and my E63? Is it hard to have this checked?

green1212

yes it is easy to do but the thing i will say about that and all cars for that matter: the service history! thats why the service history is so important! each time you take a vehicle in the mileage is documented and its the first thing thats done in basically all dealerships. and eventhough the gauge may not reflect the total/correct miles, thats when you look over the car and one can tell pretty soon whether a car truly only have 10k miles compared to a vehicle that have over 50k miles but only showing 12k miles on the speedometer. many people are very suspect of a car only having a few miles on the clock, leads to questions and you better have your story straight. talking about an E55, some people dont want one with less than 20k miles thinking something must have been wrong and the "lemon" law took effect and dont really care for a high mileage one either over 150k miles thinking they will be stuck with the massive maintanence bill so its very tricky and at the end of the day, those that are trying to deceive are also up to no good in other areas not just with the mileage on the car. but conceivably, yes this can be done, i am not sure if the ecu will record any info/message about the change that a STAR system can expose so all i will say about any car: do you due diligence! there should be a history of the car's maintanence whether you did them yourself or not and when there were free recall items to be done why wasnt it done? what was the mileage then? if taken in....etc... etc... i looked into the prices for the cluster and you are right: ouch! they are very expensive indeed!

E55Greasemonkey

The mileage is stored in the EIS (ignition switch) but only updates to the cluster every 500 miles or so...put the original cluster back and drive it for a while, it should automatically update to the real mileage.

Adonis89

I agree. Unfortuantly there are some shady people out in the world, and dealers.
I checked all my records on my E63 and so far I dont see and issues. I think im good. Yes, the clusters are pricey.


Is this true?! I did a bunch of research about this and found nothing about the EIS updating to the cluster. I called the dealer also and they said that it has to be flashed using STAR to update the mileage to the cluster or the discrepancy in the mileage will go undetected unless they probe the EIS/PCM.

E55Greasemonkey

How many miles have you driven it? Yes, it is supposed to update periodically..never tried it real world though 11 yrs MB tech here.

Adonis89

My brother drove it a few days so not sure. Maybe around 200 miles.

Adonis89

My brother wrote down the mileage on the orginal cluster that is currently in. He has been driving alot and so far it has not updated with the EIS. With the E63 cluster in with the "----" he said he probably drove at least 200+ miles or so with it in for those few days, he commutes to work about 25 miles each way or so per day plus drives about 15 miles each way to see his girlfriend, and so far he has driven 319 miles with the original in. So far no updated change to the odometer. I guess we will just have to see as more miles put on the car.

Adonis89

So far my brother has put well over 500 miles on the car since swapping of clusters and no mileage update/adjustment. I guess we will just keep moving forward and see if it ever does. Just posting an update, might answer some questions for a few people.

Alps

If cluster is driven on then it will need resetting back to zero, then put back in and set using star and mated to the car, it will not resolve itself, the cars Milage is going up so the cluster will never catchup.

WraithAMG

Green1212 - Do you still have the original E55 instrument cluster for Sale? If so, how much do you want for it? Also, mine went dead and when I took it to the mechanic he said that he couldn't communicate with the cluster and read the mileage. Will this be an issue with he can't read the original mileage off of the old cluster?

Alps

the milage is on the car, if you get a used cluster you will have to get someone to reset it to 0 miles before you can sync it to your car using star and milage can be read from the car.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

I have a used cluster for sale