New member here!

 

I drive a 1.2l 9n3 polo, 2006 on a 55 plate. 

 

Having done a fair amount of searching I know this topic has been discussed before on here and I have a fairly good understanding of what I need to acquire and do as a result, but there are a couple of points I still have queries about: 

 

i) Which one would be the appropriate instrument cluster to go for? I’ve been on etka/oemepc and there is a bewildering array to choose from, in very technical lingo (and I like to think I’m quite tech-savvy!). 

 

ii) where can I get the instrument cluster from? I have found literally only one mfd cluster for a 9n3, on eBay, and it comes with the necessary stalks. It’s approx. £140. Is that a reasonable price for the mfd cluster with stalks? 

 

iii) However the cluster I found came from a diesel car. Does this make a difference? The tachometer only goes up to (I think) 6000rpm, compared with my current one which goes up to 7000. Aside from the fact that I have no intention of revving to 6000rpm (let alone 7000) does the fact it came from a diesel make a difference in any way? I read somewhere that even though it’s a different tachometer scale it should still give an an accurate reading. Will this one still be compatible?

 

iv) I know that I need to get the new cluster coded to my car, but how do I actually go about doing that? I don’t particularly want to shell out for VCDS, so could I take it to my local VW dealership? What do I ask them? ‘Here, I’ve got this instrument cluster I want to install, can you code it to my car please?’ Will they charge to do this?

 

v) Will there be any features on the mfd which might be disabled due to the age of the car e.g. mpg display? My car has air conditioning and I’ve read that the mfd pulls the data for outside temp. from the ambient temperature sensor attached to the air con system. Is there anything else I might need to look into adding?

 

Thanks in advance for any help! It’s starting to look like quite a big job....

First welcome to the forum.

 

1: The basic part number is this 6Q0 920 942  ????  the last four are for things like chrome bezel's and the speedo/tacho range (FX?? & GX?? is the petrol version) https://volkswagen.7zap.com/en/rdw/polo+derby+vento-ind/po/2006-461/9/920-920010/#1

2: Ebay/Gumtree/Facebook market place or scrappy

3: The Diesel tacho will not be suitable for your petrol the whole scaling of the range will be out, even if you tried putting the fascia scale from your petrol, I have fitted a petrol speedo unit in my diesel Octy, but to get the scaling correct I had to download the eeprom data from my old diesel speedo and copy the sections of the code that refered to the tacho scaling into the petrol speedo to get it to work properly.

4: Coding the speedo, it's not just VCDS that is required, you first need vagtacho/vagcommander to read the immobiliser pin code from your old speedo and the replacement, then with those codes you can then re-code the replacement with VCDS, I think your local VW dealer will just give you the brush-off and say it's not possible etc, best to find a good autoelectrician near you to do the coding.

5: The outside air temp sensor that feeds the aircon panel will also be shown on the speedo as the information will be on the CANbus data that connects all the various computers and things like MPG (instant and average) again all comes via the CANbus system 

Hmmm I think I’ll give this one a miss. Literally the only 9n mfd cluster I have been able to find is this one for a diesel engine. Do you of any petrol ones available? And on top of its cost is the cost of buying the software it several hundred pounds...and whilst I am confident about doing physical installation myself, it’s all a bit of a faff. 

 

Any ideas?

I don't know of any available, I would imagine it wasn't a common (expensive) option taken up by many new owners.

 

The Vagtacho/commander can be found on ebay for £20~40 and a VCDS clone for around £60 

Ok thanks. I’ve now found one that came from an 9n3 gti with the 1.8l petrol engine. This sounds more promising. Slightly cheaper too...

Hello Guys,

I'm looking to attempt this myself as well after seeing a YouTuber swap his standard 1.2 clocks for GTI ones, like how Toonahfish considered doing. However, as I drive a 2009 1.4TDI 9N3, my tachometer goes up to 6000 as mentioned earlier.

After doing some research, I noticed that quite a few, if not all, Bluemotion variants of the 1.4TDI have this MFD functionality, with the correct rev range. Do these trims of the 9N3 have a different cluster compared to the base model, as I have heard that base model clusters don't have the ability to display the MFD features, as it requires the more complex cluster seen in the GTI?

While looking through 3DColourMFD's website, I came across this interesting bit of information.

 xxx 920xxx - cluster have CAN-bus

 xxx 919 xxx - cluster have not CAN-bus

Nige8021 mentioned earlier that the values displayed on the MFD functional clusters come from the CAN bus system. I'm now starting to think that the two different cluster variants shown above are the capable and non-capable clocks for MFD functionality, with the 920 variant being the MFD functional one as it has CAN-bus funtcionality. Another thing, is that the GTI and Bluemotion clocks that are known to be MFD capable are all 920 variants.

After a quick VCDS scan, I found out that my cluster was a 920 variant one. So according to what I have gathered the clocks within my car should be MFD capable however I cant access them due to not having the MFD stalks. So if I where to get MFD stalks and connect the missing pins I should be able to access MFD functions in my car.

These are all assumptions I've made. Am I right or have lost the plot? some guidance would be much appricated.

18 hours ago, Keyvoo said:

Hello Guys,

I'm looking to attempt this myself as well after seeing a YouTuber swap his standard 1.2 clocks for GTI ones, like how Toonahfish considered doing. However, as I drive a 2009 1.4TDI 9N3, my tachometer goes up to 6000 as mentioned earlier.

After doing some research, I noticed that quite a few, if not all, Bluemotion variants of the 1.4TDI have this MFD functionality, with the correct rev range. Do these trims of the 9N3 have a different cluster compared to the base model, as I have heard that base model clusters don't have the ability to display the MFD features, as it requires the more complex cluster seen in the GTI?

While looking through 3DColourMFD's website, I came across this interesting bit of information.

 xxx 920xxx - cluster have CAN-bus

 xxx 919 xxx - cluster have not CAN-bus

Nige8021 mentioned earlier that the values displayed on the MFD functional clusters come from the CAN bus system. I'm now starting to think that the two different cluster variants shown above are the capable and non-capable clocks for MFD functionality, with the 920 variant being the MFD functional one as it has CAN-bus funtcionality. Another thing, is that the GTI and Bluemotion clocks that are known to be MFD capable are all 920 variants.

After a quick VCDS scan, I found out that my cluster was a 920 variant one. So according to what I have gathered the clocks within my car should be MFD capable however I cant access them due to not having the MFD stalks. So if I where to get MFD stalks and connect the missing pins I should be able to access MFD functions in my car.

These are all assumptions I've made. Am I right or have lost the plot? some guidance would be much appricated.

Just because your speedo part number begins with 920 doesn’t mean it has the MFD capability it’s the numbers after the 920 that matters as there are dozens of variations for MFD/Non MFD. then there’s the speed display in MPH or KPH also what engine code you have all effect the last set of digits