In an earlier posting I mentioned that my instrument cluster just died one afternoon. No HUD speed display, no gas guage, no tach, no turn signal indicators. All dead. I finally got an appointment at the dealer (that took a week), and then got a call yesterday that it needed a whole new instrument cluster installed, and that there are none in the US. So, they have to get it from Germany, and that will take two to four weeks, then back to the dealer. They also noted that they could not do the software upgrade for the recall, because the new cluster would have to be installed for that software update to be done, so that gets delayed as well.

Lucky I'm going to NZ for a couple of weeks, so the car will not be used while we are waiting for the cluster to arrive. I wonder what happens when something goes that makes the car undriveable? Scary.

 

I am sorry to hear and hope you'll get it back as soon as possible. Have they explained clusters' post-mortem probable causes of death?

 

Nope -- they did not explain anything, other than it had to be replaced.

 

My dealer called me yesterday to say that the instrument cluster prob.

is a known issue and they have a replacement for me[w/software].

To date,my instrument panel has been flawless,but after your post, I

made an appt. to swap it out.

 

Interesting -- my dealer said nothing about a known problem. I have read on this forum of the cluster going out, but resetting itself after the car is restarted. I drove mine with the cluster out for over a week, so I know that resetting would not work.

 

My milegage display changed units and I lost my presets a couple of times.

 

mine dropped out about 3 weeks ago heading 95S, cruising around 90 mph, car didn't feel any different other than no instrumentation. funny thing is, I-Drive says all systems are OK!!! it resetted itself by restarting the car. never happened again. mine was built 9/03. it just sucks having to wait for parts!!

 

dont you get a loaner in these cases? i dunno, i know my dealer wouldnt give me anything, just asking if someone else knows

 

I am in the process of putting 3000 miles on an X3 3.0i this week. Have about 1200+ on it so far. Can't say enough about the merits of the little booger. Hit 100 while passing in the mountains today. It takes the twisties better than most of the larger SUVs. Does not have much power to spare, but has enough to get the job done in many cases. Nothing like the 545, though.

I will attach a picture of the loaner. The white car is my old Bimmer 540-6 which has 100k and is now titled to my son in Denver.

 

What was the final verdict ?

Is this truely a "known" problem ?

Does anybody have some documentation of known service issue ?