1995 318ti Cluster swap to (98) M3 Cluster Issues. Experts needed
 

Hello all,

I've ran into a slight road block when I was in the process of swapping instrument clusters. I have a 1995 318ti Base model and I've acquired a 98 m3 cluster to swap in. My 318ti's cluster coding plug is black while the m3 coding plug is white. My issue is that the black coding plug will not fit in the m3 cluster. Is this normal?

My assumption is that I will need an obd2 coding plug from a 318ti (96+) cluster. Is this correct?

When I did run the m3 cluster without touching its original coding plug, I did noticed after unlocking test 15 function (to off), I tried doing test 09 to pull the currently mileage on the ecu and it did not pull anything and was left with "-------". Another interesting fact, was that there was no display of the tamper dot running the cluster without doing anything to it.

Running into strange issues. =/ If anyone has anymore insight please let me know. :confused:

I did try to get creative and noticed that the black coding plug from my 95 318ti was not fitting into the female portion of the m3 cluster because some slight variance in the plastic slotting for the plug. After trimming the black coding plug it did fit into the white female portion of the m3 cluster but the m3 cluster when powered displayed a "code 1" error with a constant beep. Of course, this means its totally not compatible.

-Jasper