Can a second hand speedo/driver display be encoded to my car?

[MG4XP]

Can a second hand speedo/driver display be encoded to my car?

Greetings fellow owners and enthusiasts!

I'm the proud owner of an MG4 XPower and really enjoying it so far after 3 months of ownership.

When I bought the car I noticed the driver display had a small chip on the top and bottom right hand corners of the plastic bezel. Ideally I'd like to get this fixed.

I can source and fit a used replacement part (£150 vs £600!) no hassle but when consulting the workshop manual it states that the IPK will need encoding to the car.

My questions are as follows.

1. Can a second hand unit be reflashed/wiped by a willing MG dealer and recoded to my car, or is this only technically possible with a brand new unit? I have been advised it's the latter by one main dealer, and that it's simply 'plug and play' by another.

2. If I purchased a second hand display (and presuming the answer to my first question is that only brand new 'blank' units can be encoded) what options do I have, if any, to wipe the unit and get it coded to my car?

Thanks in advance for any inputs and suggestions!

 

[salty]

To the forum. Only a thought, do you know anyone or have access to one of those 3D printer things. If that plastic frame comes off, and looks like it might.
Could that 3D printer copy it.

 

[Kithmo]

I'd probably patch that up with some black body filler or similar.

Black body filler.

 

[Tig170]

Thats a very straight forward repair* (if I did it myself), but maybe speak to your suppling dealer first.

* i would use a small bit of milliput black

 

[MG4XP]

Thanks all for the suggestions so far. I've been advised by my dealer again this afternoon that the new unit should just plug and play, and that they'd help me out if I ran into problems, so can't say fairer than that!

I'm tempted to source a second hand part and try it (and can report back) and if that proves too much of a faff I can return for a refund and have a go at a DIY repair.

 

[salty]

Think they could be right about the plug and play. Think about it why wouldn't it be.
The screen I presume is a generic screen.
It's your car that holds all the info, not the screen. Anyway, good luck.

 

[Panther]

I hope the date on that cluster is backwards otherwise it's time travelled from 2030

 

[Barrie]

I hope the date on that cluster is backwards otherwise it's time travelled from 2030

That's the Chinese way of putting the date - backwards to us. It's 30/05/23

 

[MG4XP]

Update: Replacement unit test fitted. Almost plug and play except for an error with the Odometer reading. Have spoken with my dealer who are quite helpful, and they're going to get back to me.

 

[Deepbluexl]

Maybe it just needs to be setup with SIPS to match the VIN to let the ODO work as expected..
Your dealer may help you with this...

 

[EVfanatic]

Did you get this sorted ok? My speedo screen has stopped working altogether so looking at trying a second hand screen.

 

[MG4XP]

Did you get this sorted ok? My speedo screen has stopped working altogether so looking at trying a second hand screen.

I fitted a second hand screen and it was very straightforward. However, the only snag was that the Odometer/mileage readout is not being displayed correctly (read, not at all!), as per my photo above.

My XPower is due it's 2 year service in a couple of weeks time, so I'm going to ask my dealer if they can apply the latest software update in the hope that it fixes the issue. I'll report back.

 

[MG4XP]

Update: Car went for in for the two year service. The technicians were not able to fix the issue, as the VIN from the previous vehicle is still encoded into the speedo unit. They have raised a ticket with MG directly to seek advice on how/whether the unit can be wiped to allow it to be recoded to the car, as they don't have the capability to do this in house. I'll report back but wondered if anyone knew of another potential way around this?

 

[hojnikb]

Update: Car went for in for the two year service. The technicians were not able to fix the issue, as the VIN from the previous vehicle is still encoded into the speedo unit. They have raised a ticket with MG directly to seek advice on how/whether the unit can be wiped to allow it to be recoded to the car, as they don't have the capability to do this in house. I'll report back but wondered if anyone knew of another potential way around this?

could you open up the unit and swap the circuit board from the old speedo?

 

[MG4XP]

could you open up the unit and swap the circuit board from the old speedo?

Yes, I managed to open the unit (trim tool and 3x screws) and the screen and bezel can be separated from the board with two ZIF ribbon cables. A mini project for this afternoon!

 

[MG4XP]

Update: Managed to fix the issue by swapping the circuit boards between the two units as per @hojnikb suggestion. Odo now working and no more damaged bezel.

 

[Anon70]

This is what you have to do to code modules to a Honda, not sure if MG would be the same

 

[haloweenhamster]

What's your plan with the bits you aren't using?

 

[MG4XP]

What's your plan with the bits you aren't using?

There're three possible options as I see it
1. The spare unit sits in a drawer unlikely to see the light of day again.
2. I sell the unit as-is to recoup a little bit of cash.
3. I repair the chipped plastic with some miliput and sell the unit to recoup perhaps a tiny bit more cash than option 2.