I am going to order the parts tomorrow to retrofit the Chrono Pak Kit to my MCS. The parts will be brand new so I know I will need to have them coded to my car. My question is, can I install the new dual gauge cluster and Chrono Instrument gauge, then drive to the dealership with my old Tach and Speedo to have the new parts coded and +chronopak added to the BCU?

I have searched and found many threads regarding chrono pack retrofits and I know this can be done successfully. I am just wondering about the correct procedure for coding. I don't want to take it to the dealer for installation if I can do this on my own.

 

Can't wait to see the outcome. From my experience with my local dealers and coding, they tend to give very high quotes for this kind of work. When I asked to get my alarm activated, the range in prices was staggering. Eventually, I showed one dealer what the factory recommended time was and they came around. Hopefully, it'll be smooth for you.

 

I have an appointment to take my car to MINI of San Diego to have the alarm coded. They told me it will cost $135, a full hour. I plan to take a copy of the official MINI Alarm Retrofit Instructions which show an install time for everything at 0.75 hours. It pisses me off because the next closest dealer is 45 minutes away in Escondido. I just wish I could get it done at a reasonable price the first time without service departments trying to gouge me.

 

they wont touch it because it did not come on your car from the factory look at are research in this question https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ll-speedo.html

 

An hour for coding the alarm? When I did it they charged me 20 bucks. For that price you should consider a coder.

 

in the UK, not a problem, chronopack retrofit coding is available, I have had it done!

 

I'm extremely interested in doing this mod myself, I have the NAV right now and while it's fun, it's also kind of hard to use "easily".

How much were the parts, and where did you buy them from?

 

I decided against it. The parts were way too much for what it was worth. I ended up adding gauges for a fraction of the cost.

http://gallery.me.com/wdprice1#10018...lack&view=grid

 

I don't blame you. I'm actually thinking that if I get tired of the NAV, I'll take it out and make a custom panel in it's place for gauges, so it kind of looks like the chrono gauge pack, only custom.

 

Would you place this custom panel in the spot where the NAV screen is currently, keepingly in place the idiot lights and fuel gauge.

 

Yeah, sadly I need the idiot lights and fuel gauge.

 

Actually, you can get a scangauge or ultragauge, etc which can provide all that info via OBDII. Fixed gauges are quickly becoming old school.

 

I'd be into that. Actually, if I could somehow rig a actual fuel gauge to match the cooper gauges, that would be awesome, I'm not a huge fan of the digital gauge.

 

Very nice, where did you get those?

 

Welp, I have a chrono as well as tach / speedo ordered. Used, all off the same car.

I have all the software to code this.

I'll report how it goes as far as true milage goes.

 

Firehawk, let me know how this goes. We're both on PSMINI as well, so if you wouldn't mind, let me know either here in this post or over there, I'm anxious to see how this turns out!!

 

Absolutely!

 

Well I kinda anticipated this would happen.

It all works, plug and play but I was not able to get it to re-learn my vin / miles.

Everything works except the miles are from the donor car.

I'm going to check into dismantling it and re-flashing the eprom to a virgin state so it will take my vin.

 

That's really strange. I would not have thought the memory was resident in the cluster.

 

Just to save you a little time you cannot re-flash the vin. Many have tried with no avial. And I asked Way from WayMotorWorks if he would be able to do it since he has the same programing tool that MINI does but he said the same thing that MINI did, "Its burned into the speedo and cannot be removed" If your car has less miles than the donor car did i would put the old speedo back in and replace it when the milage matches.

If you're willing to spend the money on a brand new chrono package, it will program to your own milage. But thats expensive

 

I figured the vin was hard coded into the stupid thing.

I'm took apart my speedo and saw a place where I might be able to jtag it.

I'll dig into it.

 

So does that mean the ODO doesn't change, or just increments from where it left off? If the old one is put back, will it update to the actual mileage, or no? The new method of rolling an odo??

 

I have heard that the original odo will update when plugged back into the car. I have not tried this yet but will soon and post results.

The odo on the new "wrong" cluster does accumulate miles just like normal.

Yeah if a shady person wanted to there is absolutely no visual indication that the odo has been changed, unlike other BMW's where you get the tamper dot.

Anyone who pulls bcm codes off the car will know the cluster is not right, becasue it'll report a vin mismatch on the cluster.

 

AFAIK the VIN & mileage is stored in the speedo, Engine ECU & the BCU..............
I had the same experience with donor car miles so used new OE parts.

 

Looks like a new speedo for that setup runs around $400, ouch.