DIY: How to reprogram a used cluster to match your car's mileage, VIN and coding

[Jaaap]

So what does it say in the CABI.ERR and ERROR.LOG files?

[CaseA26]

I've recently purchased a 2003 325i (so an e46) that needs some love, and am slowly trying to get things working, first enough to pass a NY safety inspection so I can register it, then everything else.
Among other issues, it seems the instrument cluster was replaced at some point in the past and never configured correctly.
I've got cables for both BMW Scanner 1.4.0 and ISTA+ and got them working on a laptop.
BMW Scanner shows the IKE has the donor VIN and a slightly different mileage, as well as a slightly different option set programmed.
As this is pretty high mileage already, I don't care so much about synching miles to the LCM now, unless it's going to cause issues down the line.
So I primarily am interested in setting the VIN and options codes.
The software says that it has an M35080 chip with algorithm M35080-2 auto-selected, HW version 29 and SW version 35.
When I try to set the VIN with PA-Soft under the recoding menu, it tells me that it needs to be set to default configuration, which is grayed out.
Can I set this all without having to pull the cluster and remove/replace the chip?
I was hoping that it would be as simple as modifying the EEPROM data and writing it back to be done.
In the IKE EEPROM data file, I've found one instance of the VIN starting at 0x07a, without the "12" the directions refer to in the data.
If I can set it by just writing the EEPROM, do I set this to the new VIN or to FF and let the other modules push it?
Then to configure the option codes, do I use the "final coding" section with NCS Expert?
I know this is a lot of questions, but I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks!

[Bmwe39528i1998]

So what does it say in the CABI.ERR and ERROR.LOG files?

This is the error I'm getting

I tried reading from EWS and coding to the original cluster, works no problem.
But coding zcn to a used cluster gives this error

[blackknight530i]

This is the error I'm getting

I tried reading from EWS and coding to the original cluster, works no problem.
But coding zcn to a used cluster gives this error

Are you trying to write to a Low or High cluster?

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[Bmwe39528i1998]

Trying to write to High Cluster.
The one previously in the vehicle was also high cluster. Which is strange why coding the old cluster works.
I have a spare low cluster, tried to connect it, but the connectors are different.

[07M5]

You will not be able to change the vin or lower the mileage in that cluster without physically replacing the M35080 or connecting to it in situ and zapping the protected section back to FF’s. Only the very early E46 clusters allowed changing the vin using pa soft.

[Bmwe39528i1998]

I was checking some options in LCM and saw that it has low cluster selected.



I wonder if changing it to high cluster would do anything positive?

[CaseA26]

You will not be able to change the vin or lower the mileage in that cluster without physically replacing the M35080 or connecting to it in situ and zapping the protected section back to FF’s. Only the very early E46 clusters allowed changing the vin using pa soft.

That's understandable but disappointing. I was hoping that the part in the DIY for the M35080's that says "The VIN is easily changed at any time, so you don’t need to also clear at section..." meant that it could be just updated in the EEPROM with just a write and not pulling it. I've seen a number of posts here and elsewhere about the EEPROM and a protected section, but haven't seen which address/offset locations are in the protected section. Do you know which part is protected?

Thanks!

[blackknight530i]

That's understandable but disappointing. I was hoping that the part in the DIY for the M35080's that says "The VIN is easily changed at any time, so you don’t need to also clear at section..." meant that it could be just updated in the EEPROM with just a write and not pulling it. I've seen a number of posts here and elsewhere about the EEPROM and a protected section, but haven't seen which address/offset locations are in the protected section. Do you know which part is protected?

Thanks!

Are you sure it's a M35080? Some early high clusters had 93s66, which can't be changed easily. M35080 should be fine though.

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[CaseA26]

Are you sure it's a M35080? Some early high clusters had 93s66, which can't be changed easily. M35080 should be fine though.

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This is what PA-Soft found for the module:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unit BMWTNR HW SW-FSW CI DI BI/VI Date Odometer VIN ADFG Algorithm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IKE -> 6.932.903 29 35 08 54 13 47/03 281529 km PR09450 02FFFF M35080 - 2 (E46R)

When I try to use the function to reset the VIN under the Reconfig menu, it gives me a message that it needs to be set to default configuration, but the option for default configuration is grayed out.

The EEPROM file has the following for the 0x070 address block:
88 ef 02 0d 05 04 d5 49 1b 20 50 52 09 45 90 0a

I see "PR" from the donor VIN in 0x07a - 0x07b (50 52), then "09 45". There's a 90 after that, when the VIN has a 0, so I was assuming skip the 9, similar to the 12 the DIY mentions. I don't see any more instances of PR (50 52) in the EEPROM.
Is this in the protected block and unable to be modified and overwritten or will it invalidate a checksum somewhere in the data?

[07M5]

That's understandable but disappointing. I was hoping that the part in the DIY for the M35080's that says "The VIN is easily changed at any time, so you don’t need to also clear at section..." meant that it could be just updated in the EEPROM with just a write and not pulling it. I've seen a number of posts here and elsewhere about the EEPROM and a protected section, but haven't seen which address/offset locations are in the protected section. Do you know which part is protected?

Thanks!

I’m sorry but I believe I was mistaken. Just the mileage is trapped in the protected space so it should be easy enough to change the vin on an E46.

The protected space in the M35080 is the first 32 bytes. New chips have these bytes as all zeros and only increasing values can be written.

[blackknight530i]

Actually, I didn't realize you were talking about an e46 cluster. Yes, I've had to erase the mileage on e46 clusters before it will allow it to change the VIN. I thought you were talking about e39, which is what this thread was mostly about.

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[CaseA26]

I guess I was looking at the thread title and hadn't noticed that this was mostly an E39 page. Sorry about that.
I'll poke around see if I can manage to do anything before I start pulling hardware.

Thanks to you both!

[Stillmatic718]

Hey Blackknight! What’s your turn around time to make an e53 4.8 cluster work for a 530i with all the functions (engine temp, oil temp, warm up lights.. etc) working? Also, what would I have to ship to you?

[Bmwe39528i1998]

For M35080 it says you can change VIN easily in BMW Scanner 1.4. Without changing the chip
Where you so do that?

I tried changing odometer in Reprogramming -> Write odometer, that didn't work

[07M5]

I believe that you need to dump the EEPROM, modify the vin, and then write it back.

You cannot change the odometer like this though. That requires opening the cluster and modifying or replacing the chip directly.

[blackknight530i]

For M35080 it says you can change VIN easily in BMW Scanner 1.4. Without changing the chip
Where you so do that?

I tried changing odometer in Reprogramming -> Write odometer, that didn't work

Can't be done without using an eraser for the M35080 chip. Chip usually needs to be removed for this.

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[osc911]

For the M chip you can change the VIN in situ but the odometer requires chip removal.

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[blackknight530i]

For the M chip you can change the VIN in situ but the odometer requires chip removal.

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On e39, but not e46 like he is trying to do.

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[blackknight530i]

Hey Blackknight! What’s your turn around time to make an e53 4.8 cluster work for a 530i with all the functions (engine temp, oil temp, warm up lights.. etc) working? Also, what would I have to ship to you?

Best way to contact me for stuff like this is to either PM me or message me on my Fixels facebook page: www.facebook.com/Fixels. Turnaround is usually 2-3 business days. I would need the DME, original cluster or EWS or ZCS code from PA Soft or NCS Expert, and the X5 4.8is cluster (if you already have one).

[Bmwe39528i1998]

I have an E53.
Mileage is not really an issue, cuz I can adjust it on LCM to match the cluster.
The same with VIN, I can adjust it on LCM.
I deleted the EWS, so that is not a problem either.
The only problem is I cannot seem to write the car's zcs to the cluster, and I have not figured out why yet.

What commands do you use after reading zcs off ews or lcm?
Schreiben to kmbi followed by sg_codieren?

[endr]

Anyone know if I can just swap chips from an old cluster to new cluster if it's the same chip? If it's possible, then I won't have to code anything right?

[blackknight530i]

Anyone know if I can just swap chips from an old cluster to new cluster if it's the same chip? If it's possible, then I won't have to code anything right?

Not recommended if the HW and SW versions are different. If they are the same, it should be ok.

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[endr]

Not recommended if the HW and SW versions are different. If they are the same, it should be ok.

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I see. Would it be dumb to try? Would it screw something up in the rest of the cluster if I swap and they are different or chip is just dead? The whole cluster doesnt work except for a few lights that come on. I have no idea if they are different HW SW versions or chip is working and have no way of testing it other than hooking it up to some software.

[07M5]

The easiest thing to do is just ignore the old chip and program the new cluster to your car. Just make sure the new cluster build date is newer than your old cluster. The hardest part is swapping the chip.

* Purchase a blank M35080 (more reliable in my opinion than trying to zap the old one)
* Use PA Soft to dump the chip contents from the new cluster
* Open cluster, pull needles, remove the chip
* Modify the dump file. Change vin and set mileage to zero
* Write modified dump to new chip
* Install chip in new cluster, replace needles, etc
* Install in vehicle. The mileage will be copied over from EWS or LSZ or whatever module is used as the backup in your car
* Use NCSExpert to change the ZCS / FA vehicle order
* Use NCSExpert to write a blank man file to the cluster