98 A4 1.8TQM Gauge Cluster plug and play for 97 1.8TQM?

[kblackwe]

I have a 97' A4 1.8TQM, and bought a 98' 1.8TQM cluster to fix my display dissapearing on me, thinking it was plug and play, but it was not. I bought this cluster from england for a good price, and figured it would be compatible (people have done euro S4 cluster swaps, so figured this would work as well). The two large connectors (blue/green) had different notches in them, so the harness plugs wouldn't plug into the cluster all the way. I ground those down, only to find out that the number of pins was off (16x2 for the 98 cluster, 14x2 for the 97 harness in my car).

I don't know if anyone else can confirm this, but has anyone run a 98 cluster in a 97 successfully (ie without taking the gauge cluster harness from a 98-up)?

I will try and post pics tomorrow of the 97' and 98' clusters side by side to better show what I am trying to describe.

[Mawhitey]

We have immobilisers in our clusters, and you do not. The easiest thing to do would be to get the display swapped into your cluster. Thats how i am gonna fix mine as its a lot of expense and hassle getting the cluster recoded to the car/ecu/keys over here

[onemoremile]

It is the euro model thing. I swapped an older cluster into my 99.5 and it worked great. I had to recode it from V6 to 1.8t since it only showed 2/3 of the actual revs but after that it was perfect.

[kblackwe]

Well, that sucks, thanks for the info guys...Anyone looking for a euro cluster...?