Gas MFA Cluster in a TDI

[onehotspud]

I believe that this has been covered in the HUGE cluster conversion thread found here, shorter version found here. Another thread to look at is this one by Nihilator. It is an AMAZING FAQ with a lot of information. This thread is specific to just putting a gasser cluster in a TDI.

Can I put a gaser cluster in my TDI?
The short answer is yes. Jetta / Golf instruments from a gasser will work in the Jetta / Golf TDI. A Passat cluster will not. Although I'm sure that a Passat cluster from a gasser will work in a Passat TDI, but I don't know anyone that has done that.

Can I take the MFA display and put it in my current cluster?
No. The MFA board is completely different than the standard cluster.

What about the tachometer?
It shows your RPMs exactly as it should. The only difference is the scale. But if your engine is at 2000 RPMs, the pointer will point to 2000 RPMs.

And the Speedometer?
Same as the tachometer. If you’re going 60 (mph or kph), it will still point to 60.

And the glow plug light?
For IMMO2 clusters (2000, 2001), the light is in the same place. But instead of the pigtail, it shows as EPC.

For IMMO3 clusters (2002+), it’s tricky. The LED (physical light) may or may not be there. If it is there, the tachometer face is blacked out in that spot. You could either run some wires to a different spot that will show through and put the LED there. Or you could poke some holes in the face to let the light shine through. Both of these work, but I didn’t like either one.

The third option is to have a pro go in to the eeprom dump from the cluster and change the tachometer scale to a TDI scale and then you can take your TDI tach face from your original cluster and put it in the gasser cluster. I suggest that only the pros do this. If you are confused about this in any way, DO NOT ATTEMPT IT. You run the risk of bricking your cluster.

How accurate is the MPG display?
Depending on your car, it will read 5 - 10% high. The IMMO2 clusters can be programmed with VCDS (VAG-COM) and adjusted by 5% increments for your car. The IMMO3 cars require a change in the eeprom dump. I’ve gotten mine to within .1% of actual mileage on an IMMO3 cluster.

 

[onehotspud]

Oh, and a picture!

 

[weasel]

Very cool. One question though. What did you do about the glow plug light ?? Or does something else light up in its place ?

 

[onehotspud]

I knew I was forgetting something. It uses the same LED. It's in the same spot, but it shows EPC instead of the glow plug symbol.

 

[compu_85]

WOW! I didn't think this would work... I was wrong! This is excellent news!

-Jason

 

[jck66]

Who's HUGH?

 

[A2B4guy]

Who's HUGH?

I don't know, but he must be BIG.

 

[onehotspud]

He's about 5'4" and has curly hair. Small hands too!

He knows everything about changing a cluster though.

 

[fishmando]

So what about a high pix gasser cluster?

 

[onehotspud]

Sounds like my next adventure.

It should work the same. I don't have the stock radio to get any additional function out of the high pixel cluster.

I looked through the thread on the MFA clusters and it looks like it might be plug and play. From what I read, the radio and cluster communicate via the can line. Depending on what year car and cluster, it should work.

But, I don't know 100%. I might look for a cheap full pixel and see if it will show the radio info. It would be fun to have, but not needed.

 

[onehotspud]

Alright, slight update..

I haven't had much time to figure this one out. But it is something that I noticed.

My check engine dummy light does not come on. I have unplugged the MAF, the 3rd injector, and something else that I can't remember. All of these threw a code, but no CEL. It doesn't even come on when I first turn the car on.

This might have something to do with the Rocketchip programming that I got. I installed this cluster shortly after getting chipped and didn't notice anything with the old cluster. I e-mailed Jeff from RC and he doesn't think that it has anything to do with the programming.

The CEL does show up when I run the cluster through the tests with all the other LED's. My next two steps are to install the old cluster to see if it comes on with that and to do a factory reset on the ECU and the instruments.

 

[onehotspud]

My next adventure!!

There is one other user here that I know that has done this. I'm documenting it for myself though.

Pros:
- Faces are dead sexy looking!
- Needles have a better (imo) look
- IMMO3 which allows the distance to empty
- It includes the rear fog icon LED
- No more "unleaded fuel only" on the face

Cons:
- Firmware needs to be flashed to work with a Jetta/Golf (different speed impulses between the Passat and the J/G)
- If it's still the gasser faces, no glowplug light. The LED is there, it just doesn't show through the face. I'll probably poke pin holes in the face to get by. This can be solved by finding a diesel Passat face. I may even see if I can switch wires around to have it display on a different LED.
- The temp and fuel gauge "printing" is partially blocked off by the J/G housing. There's also some other stuff that should be blocked off but aren't.
- The turn signal and the high beam indicator aren't "tinted" off. The turn signals aren't soo bad. The high beam is. I'll probably cut out the high beam indicator from my original cluster and glue it on to the face of the Passat cluster.

The cluster has been sent off to have the firmware flashed.

In the end, this will work for anyone interested in doing this.

 

[eyeguy]

Did you get the CEL taken care of, and could you just swap out the faces from the TDI? I guess I'd have to find someone to get me the SKC code and reset the cluster if I did this.

 

[onehotspud]

The CEL problem is a result of the Rocketchip. It's not really a problem. That's just the way it is.

You can swap faces from a TDI but you would have to have the firmware changed over to a TDI. I didn't want to spend the money to have the firmware put in. I know where the redline is for the engine. You should be able to have it flashed and reset by the same person.

 

[dieselgti]

That's the best average MPG a gas cluster will ever see

 

[onehotspud]

Putting the Passat cluster in my car was a bust. Seems that the North American Passat clusters can't be flashed with Jetta/Golf software. Such sadness!!!

The other option to making this work is if your car is IMMO3 and you purchase one of the newer Passat clusters for cheap. The faces will transfer over just fine. Gas and diesel faces are NOT interchangeable unless you have the cluster flashed to match the RPMs and speed.

 

[onehotspud]

Another addition to my cluster:

At night:

My major issue is that I can't see the glow plug light. The spot where the GP light should be is blacked out.

I will probably try to run some wires from the LED to a different LED (inside the housing) to give me a GP light. I don't know how that's going to play out yet, but I will probably take pictures and update this thread again. Initially, I'm thinking that I might try to hook in to one of the blue LEDs for the backlight display of the clock. That might be hard to see in daylight though. And if I get a flashing GP light, I wouldn't ever see it if my lights are on.

Much thinking to be done.. But, I'm MUCH closer to my "sport" MFA cluster. I just need a TDI tach face..

 

[mickyTDI]

A friend put a half height fis sport cluster in his 1.8T. It came from a 1.4 gasser golf. Interestlingy it has the redline lower at 5500 rather than 6500 and it has 2 immo warning lights! One at the top as usual and one where the EPC light was on his original cluster so he now has 2 immo lights lighting up, seems to be a lot of variations of clusters.

 

[onehotspud]

There are a *lot* of different clusters out there. In Ireland, you have different options than us in the states. We don't have a 1.4l engine here. The smallest one offered is the 1.8t.

Search on ebay.de and look up vw tacho. You will see many different clusters. If only I knew German...

 

[onehotspud]

Alrighty.. I'm almost done with this. I took my MFA Gasser cluster (1j0920926f) and loaded it with a dump from a TDI cluster that has KPH instead of MPH (1j0920826cx) and here is the result..

It works!!! I now have an actual glow plug light. The tach and speedo line up right where they are supposed to.

My next two projects: FIS cluster (not that I need one, but it would be fun to have) and sport faces. I had them and liked them. But I need to find a TDI tach face with the silver trim.

 

[onehotspud]

Small update..

The 1J0 920 826 CX dump wasn't working correctly with this cluster (surprise surprise). It didn't recognize my doors or trunk being open.

So I spent a few hours sifting through some dumps and I was able to locate the scale for the tachometer. I moved the numbers from the 826cx to the 926f cluster and I was able to get everything to line up correctly.

So NOW my MFA TDI cluster is fully functional.

I should have just spent the money for an actual MFA TDI cluster.

 

[greengeeker]

It works!!! I now have an actual glow plug light. The tach and speedo line up right where they are supposed to.

Congrats on getting it to work! but where is your gp light?

 

[onehotspud]

It shows exactly where the glow plug should be. Now that I can use a TDI tachometer face, it shows up as the curly glow plug icon.

The glow plug light always shows up in the same spot. It's just the face that might display something different.

 

[midntdi]

Another addition to my cluster:

At night:

My major issue is that I can't see the glow plug light. The spot where the GP light should be is blacked out.

I will probably try to run some wires from the LED to a different LED (inside the housing) to give me a GP light. I don't know how that's going to play out yet, but I will probably take pictures and update this thread again. Initially, I'm thinking that I might try to hook in to one of the blue LEDs for the backlight display of the clock. That might be hard to see in daylight though. And if I get a flashing GP light, I wouldn't ever see it if my lights are on.

Much thinking to be done.. But, I'm MUCH closer to my "sport" MFA cluster. I just need a TDI tach face..

What is the part number for this face?

 

[onehotspud]

it was a 1J5 920 926 cluster. I think that the sport clusters start with 1J5.

 

[onehotspud]

Updated the first post so that the information is a little more comprehensive and condensed. If anyone has any tips, lemme know.

 

[mrvermin]

Make sure you use Unleaded Diesel only

Oh, and a picture!

 

[kwalsh24]

Just a couple small questions. Can you switch a odometer from miles to kilometers? I was thinking about doing this mod to my car, seen a gasser MFA cluster but its in miles not kilometers and the seller says it has around 100k miles on it. Reading up that if the cluster has over 100k you cant roll it back to match the miles on your car (mine being 191k kilometers) would this basically make that cluster non usable for my setup?


I have my old auto cluster from my car, can i tear that one apart and use the faces of the diesel in a gasser?

The cluster I am looking at doesnt include the temp sensor or the tailstock, are these really a must have to have the cluster to work?

 

[Nihilator]

Just a couple small questions. Can you switch a odometer from miles to kilometers?

Yes. Changing the country code will switch your odometer reading from km to miles, or vice versa. Use a VAG-COM, change the soft coding's third digit. No biggie.

I was thinking about doing this mod to my car, seen a gasser MFA cluster but its in miles not kilometers and the seller says it has around 100k miles on it. Reading up that if the cluster has over 100k you cant roll it back to match the miles on your car (mine being 191k kilometers) would this basically make that cluster non usable for my setup?

You can't change a cluster's odometer if it's over 62km, or 100 miles, not 100k miles. You would not be able to change the odometer on that cluster without buying, renting, or borrowing an EEPROM-writing tool like Vag Tacho or VAGdashCOM, or sending your cluster out to someone who has one of those tools.

I have my old auto cluster from my car, can i tear that one apart and use the faces of the diesel in a gasser?

No. The cluster would still have the tachometer of a gasser, even if the faces are those of a diesel. It doesn't work that way.

The cluster I am looking at doesnt include the temp sensor or the tailstock, are these really a must have to have the cluster to work?

What's a tailstock?

If you're talking about the cluster's MFA screen, it would be an exceedingly boring cluster if you can't read the outside temperature or change the MFA screen.

Oh, by tailstock, do you mean the wiper stalk with the MFA controls?

--Chris

 

[kwalsh24]

Yes, i meant the wiper arm with the controls.

As for the faces, I was thinking about leaving the RPM face as it was, if i read it right the RPM range would still be the same on the gasser as it is on the diesel?

"What about the tachometer?
It shows your RPMs exactly as it should. The only difference is the scale. But if your engine is at 2000 RPMs, the pointer will point to 2000 RPMs."


I would just change the MPH face to KPH and the unleded fuel to the diesel face...

Sounds weird but i really want the MPG display lol...