M3 Gauge Cluster Swap!

Alright, I searched on here before and after I did this and couldn't seem to get any straight, defined in stone, answers. So I figured I would try and shed some light on this subject. I'm hoping that from doing this I am helping others but at the same time hoping that not everyone goes out and does this. Anyway, I recieved my 02 M3 cluster for my 02 325i yesterday from Ari00, who is not only an awesome guy but an excellent seller! Installation took a total of about 2 minutes. All that is required for installation is removing the 2 torx screews from the top of the dash, pulling the old cluster out, unplugging the 2 harnesses and hooking up the new one. Now to make extra sure to avoid any excess problems from this swap I purchased the same year M3 cluster as mine. Now, I won't write too long of a book on here but the only thing that doesn't "work" like they do on an M3 are the oil warm up lights. The yellow to red-line lights do light up though (and look frickin sweet, I will post pictures once I get home from work) from 7500-9000 RPM. The only other things that are not "normal" are the tiny little tamper dot next to the mileage and that the traction control light stays on all the time because it's not recognizing the 325's traction control system. Neither of which bother me. All the gauges work correctly (even the oil temp gauge which does actually measure your oil temp, contrary to what everyone believes on here.) The speedo, tach, fuel gauge, engine temp, everything works exactly as it did before only now I have a speedo that will accurately read up to 180 MPH and a tach that accurately reads up to 9000 RPM. Anyway, like I said, this is my personal experience and is more then worth the tiny tamper dot and the traction control light (once I complete the M swap with all of the M3 electronics, the traction control light will go away.) One suggestion for anyone that does this (with any cluster) is write down your actual mileage from your cluster before the swap and then log the mileage on the new cluster so you can accurately keep track of the actual mileage on your car. Anyway, hope this helps answer some questions. Again I will post pictures tonight once I get home but even the pictures don't do justice of how awesome this cluster really looks!

I have always wondered about doing this. Good to hear it is just a plug and play set up. One thing I am confused about is the mileage odometer reading. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the new cluster would be able to give accurate reading becuase the mileage is not stored in the cluster itself but rather in the car's main computer. I guess this is not the case? please enlighten

The tamper dot will cut the resale value of your car in half...

Originally Posted by myksbmw

I have always wondered about doing this. Good to hear it is just a plug and play set up. One thing I am confused about is the mileage odometer reading. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the new cluster would be able to give accurate reading becuase the mileage is not stored in the cluster itself but rather in the car's main computer. I guess this is not the case? please enlighten

Like he said, the mileage will not be accurate....

1. inaccurate mileage
2. tamper dot
3. traction control warning

Too many negatives just to see 3 extra leds on rpm gauge & oil temp. Agree it looks nice but that tamper dot..

becuase the mileage is not stored in the cluster itself but rather in the car's main computer.

They are stored in the IC, LCM, ECU, EWS & Key and all must be synchronized.

what about the fact that the M3 has a higher redline than your car? is there anyway to calibrate the gauges? this is just my thoughts but wouldnt the tach read incorrectly with this cluster? just curious, thanks

ugh! the Tamper Dot is having a tampered with car to a resale. it's a fail safe feature made so people don't mess with the mileage and the VIN code.

you my friend just paid $$$ down the line for that 180mph speedo and 9000 tach your engine will never use.
it was interesting to hear the oil pressure gauge works, didn't know how it reads it. if true that an interesting upgrade for someone who would buy a new uncoded M3 cluster and have it coded by the dealership.

does the DSC work? i recall reading that if the light went on with that (and/or the ABS) the system is shut down as a fail safe. so it's disabled until it's fixed at the dealership. it's not just a light but a light showing the system is broken/shut off.

Originally Posted by hi its me alec

The tamper dot will cut the resale value of your car in half...

Lol, alright, guess I should have clarrified that although this worked for me, if you ever plan on selling your car I would not recommend doing this just in case for whatever reason it didn't work for you, and again this is just MY personal experience. Anyway to answer to odometer question, the mileage will never be correct for me as long as I am using the M3 cluster. In order to show the correct mileage the cluster must "agree" with the coding of your car. When I took the M3 cluster back out and installed my original cluster, my cluster atomatically adjusted the mileage to match what I put on the car since I had put the M3 cluster in and there was no tamper dot. As far as the tach and speedo being accurate, this is all configured electronicly (bless BMW) and there is no need to re-configure. I had my wife drive along side my car just to be sure and my speedometer matched exactly what hers said. Anyway, here's the pictures I promised and I'm going to take some more once it gets dark!

Originally Posted by Alex323Ci

ugh! the Tamper Dot is having a tampered with car to a resale. it's a fail safe feature made so people don't mess with the mileage and the VIN code.

you my friend just paid $$$ down the line for that 180mph speedo and 9000 tach your engine will never use.
it was interesting to hear the oil pressure gauge works, didn't know how it reads it. if true that an interesting upgrade for someone who would buy a new uncoded M3 cluster and have it coded by the dealership.

does the DSC work? i recall reading that if the light went on with that (and/or the ABS) the system is shut down as a fail safe. so it's disabled until it's fixed at the dealership. it's not just a light but a light showing the system is broken/shut off.

To answer your question alex, my DSC is still engaged. I tested this out in a wet parking lot this afternoon and got the usuall engine cut-out upon tire slippage. I forgot to try and disengage to see if it can still be turned off but it is definantly still on. Again, I must repeat myself, I cannot guarantee that this will work/be the case with anyone else's car but this is the case with mine.

Lol, let me just state this once more in case someone didn't catch it above. I AM NOT EVER SELLING MY CAR. Even though my cluster auto-adjusted for the extra mileage from the M3 cluster and had no tamper dot upon re-installation, I would not anyone to perform this with the chance that they might sell their car in the future just in case, for whatever reason, their car did not. I can only account for what my personal experiences have been with my car so please make sure you know, this is a perform at your own risk mod. Now, having said that, for anyone else that does perform this mod, I don't see any reason why all your gauges would not work the same as mine as long as you stick with the same vehicle production year.

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Looks Awesome Ryan! Glad you're enjoying it. To answer at least one of the comments asked above, if you keep your original cluster and replace it, your own car's mileage adjusts back to the true miles and all the "symptoms" of the original cluster come back. Traction control lights dissapears, tamper dot dissapears (doesn't come onto your original cluster), and all the functionality remains as it was.

As Ryan mentioned, this is pretty much a mod for those who don't plan on selling their car at any point, and should keep their original cluster JUST in case of any accident or anything of the sort. I don't wish that on ayone, but you should keep that in mind. That aside, I'm still searching for an '04 and up M3 cluster! My ECU would not adjust for the dash lights...reason I sold mine to Ryan. Enjoy it bud!

Ari

Oh, and also to possibly correct something Ryan mentioned about the correct year of car and cluster, as long as the car and cluster are either pre-2004 or after, as long as the two are like...ex, 2001 car and 2003 cluster or 2004 cluster and 2005 car, you should be fine.

In '04, BMW switched ECU brands to work with the rear LED lights and some other things. That, in turn, affects how the ECU "talks" to the cluster. Thus, I had all the functionality 9speedo, tach, fuel, etc) on the 2002 M3 cluster I put in my '04 car, but the dash lights did not work at night. Pre-2004 cars and cluster...any year combo, should work fine together. Just clarifying that for anyone considering the mod.

you might wanna double check the speed with that of the on board digital speedo on 7.3(i think it is)

when I put M clusters in my Z, DSC lit, and speedo was off. TACH was same.

so i removed it immediately. oh and if anyone wants to "try" it out, tamper dot will only appear on the "new" cluster being put in. when yuou put the old one back it it disappears(i didn't put many miles on it though)

I have an indie shop that can program gauge clusters like the dealer. I wonder if they could get all the functionality of the m3 cluster (lights, oil guage,etc) but keep the tamper dot and dsc lights off. I'll call them today.

I bought one too... waiting to see what the Indy Shop says

Originally Posted by 02m3csl325

To answer your question alex, my DSC is still engaged. I tested this out in a wet parking lot this afternoon and got the usuall engine cut-out upon tire slippage. I forgot to try and disengage to see if it can still be turned off but it is definantly still on. Again, I must repeat myself, I cannot guarantee that this will work/be the case with anyone else's car but this is the case with mine.

Alright guys, upon futher investigation, the parking lot may not have been wet enough yesterday. It rained all night and everything was soaked today and as I was pulling out onto the road behind my house I gave it a little more gas then needed and I did manage to break the rear end loose. I will experiment more with this later but it may be that the cluster overrides the stock DSC. Like I said I will test this more later on but Alex may be right, either way this makes no difference to me but if this is the case then for anyone who relies on their DSC to drive will need to keep this in mind. The ABS is fine and not effected, that I tested for sure this morning, more then once (dumb@ss drivers.) Anyway, thanks Ari for clearifying some of the things that I mentioned!

Originally Posted by jinthekoreankid

you might wanna double check the speed with that of the on board digital speedo on 7.3(i think it is)

when I put M clusters in my Z, DSC lit, and speedo was off. TACH was same.

so i removed it immediately. oh and if anyone wants to "try" it out, tamper dot will only appear on the "new" cluster being put in. when yuou put the old one back it it disappears(i didn't put many miles on it though)

Just a personal thought on this, I didn't think M3 clusters were swappable with the Z series? I didn't even think they were the same configuration. Anyway, like I said I verifed my speedometer enough to my liking. Basically here you just keep up with traffic and that's the speed limit but like I said, according to my wife's car our speedos read the same (hers is still stock) and that's good enough for me.

No, they can't. It's been tried by guys who had a lot more interest in doing this than anyone who's posted in this thread. It's been tried with BRAND new gauge clusters, at dealerships, by master techs.

Originally Posted by initialandrew

I have an indie shop that can program gauge clusters like the dealer. I wonder if they could get all the functionality of the m3 cluster (lights, oil guage,etc) but keep the tamper dot and dsc lights off. I'll call them today.