Cluster Service and Repair - Brake System Warning permanently on

[Heineken]

Around march, a cluster from France arrived with the famous "permanent brake system warning" and about 70.000 km of roads travelled. Using the tester, the issue was confirmed quickly. RPM values were ~500 too high, speed about 10 km/h too much. Illumination bulbs were darkened but all working - quite normal values for a cluster of this age and mileage.

RPM being ~500 off

darkened bulbs

Corrosion near the ceramic hybrid chip (HIC) marked the reason for the permanent brake system warning.

at the middle of the special IC

One of the larger voltage stabilization capacitors showed heat damage - visible as heat shrink that starts creeping away:

All components were removed, cleaned thoroughly and re-installed with a complete set of new capacitors, carefully selected to match their original purpose (like low electric leakage and bi-polar).

cleaned and tinned

all in place

replaced where appropriate

Followed by checks and calibration, confirming the brake system error was fixed, all indicators were working and the illumination was even across the whole cluster.

night view

[ozon02]

Excellent work. Its good that Owner sent it on time. Otherwise it would have ended in fire.

[Heineken]

It's an important repair - if the large HIC chip gets damaged it becomes difficult to get a replacement.