D.I.Y. 05-07 Gauge Cluster into 03-04
D.I.Y. 05-07 Gauge Cluster into 03-04
***I am not responsible if you eff up your car. Undertake this DIY at your own risk. I've done this before and know what I'm doing, you may not. Please read all steps before starting anything. If you find anything you are not able to do, do NOT do this DIY.This was your warning!!!!!***
Please read the whole DIY before starting or buying anything. There are technical steps you will need to undertake and may not be capable of doing.
First off you will need a donor 03-04 cluster in addition to the 05-07 if you want to leave your stock one alone/unmolested.
Refer to these d.i.y.'s to take apart both clusters
03-04 cluster (TBD)
05-07 cluster
Now that you have this view
You want to look at the other side with the 2 white connectors. You now have to make a choice of how you are going to do this. One way is the way I say this done before. That is to solder onto the pins inside the connector and heat shrink tubing the new connection. I didn't like this way for 2 reasons. Messy and would not have a stock this should be here finish to it. The other way, the way i did it, was to actually desolder the connectors off so that you are left with just the open pin holes like this.
That is a pic of the small one and you can see part of the larger one on the left of the pic. You will need to do both to use this method. You will also need to do this for the donor/stock 03-04 cluster.
Now, please refer to the factory service manuals for whichever year your car is, and the one for whichever year your cluster 05-07 came out of. Those can be found here.
Factory service manuals
You will need to reference di.pdf and lt.pdf Those are driver information and lighting system. In driver info go to combination meter and then wiring diagram and also warning lamps and wiring diagram. In lt you will need illumination then wiring diagram. If you go here and are wondering what you are taking about please turn back now. I'm an electrical engineer and a automotive technician, and there were times I was like WTF. Now that we have everything we need it is just a matter or matching up the proper new pins, to the proper old pins. If you use the same method as I did, you have to use 22 gauge wire to fit into the pins.
Should look close to that in some mannor, my goal was to have the 03-04 brown and white connectors, go into the hole they should be in.
***Imagine pic of what the 03-04 cluster looks like from behind before you touched anything***
I got excited toward the end and didn't take a pic of that or of actually putting the 05-07 guts into the 03-04 housing. It is legit plug and play so to speak. by that, I mean they physically fit. The pin up top goes into the hole, and then the bottom left screw is placed in. it is a tight fit and this one screw is all you will need, makes life easy, no?
Then just follow the disassembly diy's in reverse order, and you will have a complete cluster that is 05-07 and plug and play for you 03-04!!!
I will be updating this thread with some of the missed pics when I pull this all back a part for the LED swap!!!
Only issues I still have and need to address are that the VDC off light is always on regardless of VDC state, and the dimming doesn't work. I finished this up at 11PM and put it all back together. I am still going over the diagrams to find out what I did wrong. May just be a pin off or a poor solder connection somewhere. Will update.
Please read the whole DIY before starting or buying anything. There are technical steps you will need to undertake and may not be capable of doing.
First off you will need a donor 03-04 cluster in addition to the 05-07 if you want to leave your stock one alone/unmolested.
Refer to these d.i.y.'s to take apart both clusters
03-04 cluster (TBD)
05-07 cluster
Now that you have this view
You want to look at the other side with the 2 white connectors. You now have to make a choice of how you are going to do this. One way is the way I say this done before. That is to solder onto the pins inside the connector and heat shrink tubing the new connection. I didn't like this way for 2 reasons. Messy and would not have a stock this should be here finish to it. The other way, the way i did it, was to actually desolder the connectors off so that you are left with just the open pin holes like this.
That is a pic of the small one and you can see part of the larger one on the left of the pic. You will need to do both to use this method. You will also need to do this for the donor/stock 03-04 cluster.
Now, please refer to the factory service manuals for whichever year your car is, and the one for whichever year your cluster 05-07 came out of. Those can be found here.
Factory service manuals
You will need to reference di.pdf and lt.pdf Those are driver information and lighting system. In driver info go to combination meter and then wiring diagram and also warning lamps and wiring diagram. In lt you will need illumination then wiring diagram. If you go here and are wondering what you are taking about please turn back now. I'm an electrical engineer and a automotive technician, and there were times I was like WTF. Now that we have everything we need it is just a matter or matching up the proper new pins, to the proper old pins. If you use the same method as I did, you have to use 22 gauge wire to fit into the pins.
Should look close to that in some mannor, my goal was to have the 03-04 brown and white connectors, go into the hole they should be in.
***Imagine pic of what the 03-04 cluster looks like from behind before you touched anything***
I got excited toward the end and didn't take a pic of that or of actually putting the 05-07 guts into the 03-04 housing. It is legit plug and play so to speak. by that, I mean they physically fit. The pin up top goes into the hole, and then the bottom left screw is placed in. it is a tight fit and this one screw is all you will need, makes life easy, no?
Then just follow the disassembly diy's in reverse order, and you will have a complete cluster that is 05-07 and plug and play for you 03-04!!!
I will be updating this thread with some of the missed pics when I pull this all back a part for the LED swap!!!
Only issues I still have and need to address are that the VDC off light is always on regardless of VDC state, and the dimming doesn't work. I finished this up at 11PM and put it all back together. I am still going over the diagrams to find out what I did wrong. May just be a pin off or a poor solder connection somewhere. Will update.
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