SI board / cluster question.

[harry]

Hi.

I've just bought a VDO cluster from a LHD car.

The SI board says 04/95 so i take it the batteries were changed then. It looks a little different to the motometer SI board. The batteries are mounted on a seperate plate and it has a connector that the other boards dont have. It fits in the motometer cluster and all the pins line up.

The VDO gauges look a little different to the motometer ones, but they all look interchangable.

I also have another motometer cluster containing an old looking SI board that has leaked everywhere, the battery acid is on the SI board, but also seems to be on the connectors in the cluster.

I wanted to know are the VDO and motometer SI boards and gauges interchangable. Secondly is the entire cluster with the battery acid on it scrap??

I was hoping to mix and match all the nice bits from 3 clusters!!!

Any help or guidance appreciated.

[A1BMW325iSport]

i`ve mixed and matched before and had good results.

[Brianmoooore]

All VDO and Motometer cluster bits are interchangeable.
There are two types of SI board for the E30. The earlier ( and less reliable type) has two AA sized NiCd batteries on it, which fail with age. These can be replaced with NiMH batteries as long as the old ones haven't leaked and contaminated the board.
The later type has two smaller non rechargeable Lithium batteries and is much more reliable.

[harry]

Thanks for the info.

I see what you mean about the earlier type SI boards. Thats the one thats leaked everywhere.

I havent seen to many of the VDO clusters in the UK. They seem to be better made.

At least i can get mixing and matching now, knowing that its going to work!.

Thanks again.