Not much update on the thread even though I've done a fair amount to the car, projects ongoing but not fully completed.
Over the weekend manged to complete one of the retrofit a facelift cluster, as I needed this for my on going MMI 3G+ installation. so another quick write up
Old cluster and dash trim
To get the cluster & trim planel off you start by removing the following trim
Fist I removed the drivers side air vent, there are two clips at the bottom and two at the top, the image below just shows the two tools pushing up the bottom clips.
There is also a electrical connection for the light on the air vent which is located at the bottom of the vent.
Next is to remove the light switch, with the air vent removed you can get your fingers behind and push the switch out, and unplug the switch
The dash switches were the next to be removed, this is done by pulling away the small bit of trim between the buttons
once removed you pull the switches out, and unclip the connections
Next it to remove the center console air vent & switches.
There are 2 clips that hold the air vent in on the left hand side, just a little further back where the hook tool is to pull the air vent out.
There is a further clip near where the key goes, just pull the vent forward to unclip. You don't need to unplug any of the connectors, just leave it near the
gear stick.
At this point pull the steering wheel forward as far as it will go and as low as possible and lock in place
Remove the two screws either side of the steering wheel and pull the trim downwards
Remove the remaing screws.
Tilt the panel and unplug the connector going to the instrument cluster, and the screen.
at this point remove the screws holding the cluster in place best use a 5.5m socket, as I was also fitting the sliver trim panel, I also removed the screen.
Before fitting the cluster back, you need to modify the connector for the instrument cluster, as it's in a different location on the facelift, you just need to cut off the section of plastic shown in the picture so the cable lays flat, otherwise the cluster won't fit back, it will foul on the back of the center console.
The cluster I purchased was for a TDi with part number 4F0920983G. For the A6 C6 there are only 2 TDI FL clusters avalible, they are not engine size or model specific, they don't have any imobliser information, or information about coded keys.
resemble everything back and switch on the ignition. At this point the cluster goes into component protection and the message safe will come up, and you get all the lights on the picture below appear and they won't go away until CP is removed.
A this point the only thing that works is the speedo, everything else is disabled, no cluster lights, no fuel guage, no temp gauge and no warning on the DIS, so make sure everything on the car is fine and you have enough fuel to get to the dealer to have CP removed.
Once CP is removed the final job is to get some who can peform mileage correction, I've just purchased a tool to do this as I could not find anyone in the north
east to do the job. I'm not going into how this is done.
Job is now done, have to say I do like the new features of the facelift cluster, needle sweep, higher resolution display, Speedo in the DIS, laptimer (not sure how useful that will be) and the updated look of the cluster.
Forgot to add if you have the old gray instrument cluster trim, you need new trims for the switches part number is 4F0998511A, as you can see on the last photo mine are missing and will order on Monday