Since it was sourced from a Jeep Compass Trailhawk in the US, I faced multiple challenges installing it on my SUV.
BHPian commander.sri recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
“An idle mind is a devil’s workshop” said a few great minds. Well, mine is no different but my devil is more of a DIY nut.
And so, evolved the crazy idea in my mind over the weekends of why cannot replace/upgrade the crazy & outdated looking limited feature MID in my 2018 D-MT Limited (O) Jeep compass’s instrument cluster to a more advanced & exquisite 7-inch multi-color MID. Pulled my fancy & trendy electronic brick we all love to carry these days – my mobile phone (literally a brick – it’s a FOLD 4) and started looking for any pointers online who had the similar “DIY Khujli” for feel-good upgrades.
Well, the regular Google search surprisingly had little to no information on someone pursuing similar thoughts. Maybe none wanted to fiddle around with FCA’s (FIAT Chrysler Automobiles now part of Stellantis group) fancy wiring and security protocols even for auxiliary equipment which keeps on trying its best to throw some or the other error when something is upgraded/replaced. After a thorough and detailed search over the web of the world with various combinations of keywords/tags, found a video on YouTube where a gentleman (YT Channel: South Hawk Computing) from the US tried swapping an old one for a new 7″ multicolor MID. However, the upgrade/replacement was a mere plug-and-play as he replaced the whole instrument cluster with an updated one. Interesting right? Nope – it ain’t for us.
Although the video gave some detailed insights on how to get the instrument cluster out from the dash and replace another, the real bummers which barged-in later could be categorised in three words – “Kmph”, “Odometer” and “Proxy alignment”.
First Bummer – “Kmph”
As we all are aware that Jeep is an American brand with significant numbers of the model Compass on the US roads than in any other country and definitely much more than in India. This gives a high chance of sourcing the desired instrument cluster from the salvage yards in the US and yes, I was able to find one on ebay US for 50 USD for the whole instrument cluster with a cool 7″ multicolor MID. Here comes the first bummer – “kmph” – the speedo was in MPH aligned for the US market and we are with our metrics in KMPH.
This is where most of the logical part of my brain got me worried and finally came out with a solution of opening both my old cluster (with kmph) and the new (with mph), swapping just the interfaces with each other did the job. By bringing both the instrument clusters together and focusing on the interfaces made it very evident that the difference is primarily on the speed level markings on the speedos and not with the movement/function of the speedometer needles.
So, opened both the clusters, removed the speedo needles by rotating them anti clockwise, swapped the interfaces and fixed them back. It might sound silly but as they say, problems which sound larger than life could really be solved by meagre common sense. More on the other bummers with detailed pictures as the saga continues.
Some pictures clicked while addressing the first bummer – “kmph”
Second Bummer – “Odometer”
Later came-in the time for the second bummer word – “odometer”. Well, the first part of the issue was with the odo reading as it had everything shown in miles than in kilometers (obviously). Was able to address the same by quickly fiddling with the settings in the instrument cluster for changing the units from Imperial to Metric.
Then comes the second part with the FCA’s way of things – the number of kilometers/miles the vehicle has run is hard coded along with the VIN number into the instrument cluster’s memory and cannot be flashed/altered ever, even if we connect the unit to a different vehicle! So, my actual odometer reading at the time of replacement was 58748km and after the upgrade reads 21003km. It was good to know that the replaced cluster came-out from a vehicle which was less run than mine.
Third Bummer – “Proxy Alignment”
Now comes the biggest bummer – “Proxy Alignment”. Before we get into what it is, let’s look at what are those plethora of issues which are engulfed in this classification.
- Flashing Odometer Reading – A standard FCA protocol triggered by the BCM/BCU (Body Control Module/Unit) when any modification is done with the vehicle and its electrical auxiliaries even when replacing with genuine spares.
- Air-bag System Service – An error caused due to the change in airbag positions from Left aligned ones (LHD in US) to Right aligned ones (RHD in India).
- Mis-matched Door Ajar Warnings – An error similar to the one above caused due to the change in door positions from Left aligned ones (LHD in US) to Right aligned ones (RHD in India).
- 4WD Service – The replaced instrument cluster came from a Compass TrailHawk with 4×4 system and since that’s missing from my 4×2 one, an error gets thrown.
By looking at the exhaustive list above, it might look extremely complicated to fiddle with especially the airbag error but when we understand the logic behind why they are getting thrown and how to eliminate them, the solution is absolutely simple – that’s “Proxy Alignment” in FCA language which aligns all the connected units to BCM/BCU and other related modules including the ECU.
Proxy alignment is the default nomenclature used by FCA guys at their ASCs where in they connect the laptop with their proprietary diagnostic software called wiTECH v2.0 through the OBD connecter below the steering column, run a diagnosis for errors (DTCs), clear the errors, then run proxy alignment which re-aligns all the connected devices and guess what – all the above errors are gone as my instrument cluster is now re-aligned with the features and options my vehicle is manufactured with.
Please be advised that there is a high chance that none of the “experts” at your nearest Jeep ASC might really know about this and would normally straight away deny saying it will not work/we know better/please don’t teach us kind of responses but will absolutely exhibit a “pleasurable silence” after all gets sorted in 2 mins of their time with just a click of a button when we insist doing it.
There is a setback though for this process where the instrument cluster updates itself to the newest version of its firmware and shall now have the 80/120 speed beeps like the ones bought after July 2019 when this so-called safety measure was rubbed on to the 4-wheeler manufacturers in India.
The final video after replacing the instrument cluster but taken just before getting the “proxy alignment” done. So, you might still see the errors listed in the Bummer 3 section.
P.S ~ My sincere apologies for the shabby pictures. Tried my best to capture all that I could in a not-so-lit environment while solely working on the project. Cheers.
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