Referral Request: Gauge Cluster Repair Service

[AWE46M3]

Hey Group - looking for a reputable company to send my cluster off to get the stepper motors replaced. Circuit Board Medics and Kassell Performance are the two I could find doing some researching on the forums. Anyone use a cluster repair company recently and have referral?

A business in Southern California that offers this service would be a huge bonus but I’m happy to ship it off. Quality work is my main objective.

Thanks in advance 🤝

[nahvkolaj]

I sent mine off to Automotive Circuit Solutions to fix the ambient temp sensor problem. A bit pricey but I have a 100% cluster again and it seems they treated it with care.

[maw1124]

These folks are well known and used in Mercedes circles... https://www.programainc.com/item_lis...&idcategory=47

BMW M3 Instrument Clusters look like $270.

maw

[AWE46M3]

I sent mine off to Automotive Circuit Solutions to fix the ambient temp sensor problem. A bit pricey but I have a 100% cluster again and it seems they treated it with care.

Thank you! Appreciate the recommendation.

These folks are well known and used in Mercedes circles... https://www.programainc.com/item_lis...&idcategory=47

BMW M3 Instrument Clusters look like $270.

maw

Thank you, Maw - I'll do some research on them.

[maw1124]

Thank you, Maw - I'll do some research on them.

I should say, they’re also reasonable to talk to on the phone, will give you a sense of what goes wrong with them, what they end up replacing, etc. All classic and simple stuff as a general rule. It’s a computer board, what can go wrong? Solder, capacitors, what else? They know and don’t mind telling you what you’re paying for, may even be able to trouble shoot.

maw

[liam821]

Another option is just swapping clusters. It's super easy to pull the EEPROM chip which holds the mileage/vin/programming off and hot-air solder the chip to another cluster. My daughter's e46 cluster stopped working and I was able to swap the chip to another cluster and popped it back into the car and everything worked perfectly as expected. No coding is needed.

[BMWE46M3]

I used Circuit Board Medics and would recommend them.

[AWE46M3]

Another option is just swapping clusters. It's super easy to pull the EEPROM chip which holds the mileage/vin/programming off and hot-air solder the chip to another cluster. My daughter's e46 cluster stopped working and I was able to swap the chip to another cluster and popped it back into the car and everything worked perfectly as expected. No coding is needed.

Thanks for mentioning that, Liam! I looked into a spare cluster and believe the price to get it repaired could be comparable with no guarantees the used cluster could hold up for another 20+ years. Hoping to refresh the cluster so line new internals to reset the clock on those needles doing their thing.

I used Circuit Board Medics and would recommend them.

Got my initial recommendation from a thread you commented in. You sent you cluster off to them for your coolant needle, right? I did the cluster reset but the needle keeps migrating to the right after a few drive cycles. Time to fix it for good!

[9kracing]

Hit up this guy, he's cheap and competent. He does everything.

https://www.facebook.com/Fixels/

Palo Alto Speedometer did my cluster, but they don't normally work on BMW clusters.

This guy in San Diego has been doing clusters for 20+ years.

http://www.foreignspeedoinc.com/

[bran.stum]

There's a guy that does this in SoCal. He wasn't pleasant to work with and there was a bunch of dust on the inside of my cluster when I got it back. He was the cheapest I could find at the time ($200~ total), so may or may not be worth it for you if you can deal with the personality and know how to disassemble the cluster slightly to clean.

[ejendow]

There's a guy that does this in SoCal. He wasn't pleasant to work with and there was a bunch of dust on the inside of my cluster when I got it back. He was the cheapest I could find at the time ($200~ total), so may or may not be worth it for you if you can deal with the personality and know how to disassemble the cluster slightly to clean.

You talking about this guy? https://www.bmwgm5.com/default_right.htm

was very unpleasant to work with when I had him fix mine haha

[nahvkolaj]

Found the receipt for the service I mentioned above. Automotive Circuit Solutions was $200 + shipping 1-way (from me to them).

Edit: clarity

[bran.stum]

You talking about this guy? https://www.bmwgm5.com/default_right.htm

was very unpleasant to work with when I had him fix mine haha

That's the one lol. He copped an attitude right after I sent my cluster out, so I just had to deal with it.

[AWE46M3]

Hit up this guy, he's cheap and competent. He does everything.

https://www.facebook.com/Fixels/

Palo Alto Speedometer did my cluster, but they don't normally work on BMW clusters.

This guy in San Diego has been doing clusters for 20+ years.
http://www.foreignspeedoinc.com/

Thanks for both of those recommendations. Glad one is relatively close to mitigate damage to and from the vendor. Appreciate your input.

Automotive Circuit Solutions was $200 + shipping 1-way (from me to them).

Another one for Automotive Circuit Solutions - thank you. What did you have them fix for you?

[AWE46M3]

There's a guy that does this in SoCal. He wasn't pleasant to work with and there was a bunch of dust on the inside of my cluster when I got it back. He was the cheapest I could find at the time ($200~ total), so may or may not be worth it for you if you can deal with the personality and know how to disassemble the cluster slightly to clean.

hahaha Scott from GM5. I spoke to him yesterday - I figured he had so much business he could give a shit if I sent him my cluster or not. Wish I had a business endeavor where I could treat protective customers this way 🤣