REMOVING THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER DIY
But sometimes it happens not everything goes for the best, and you can discover some unpleasant surprise. So in my case the beautiful Carrera S featured a distorted areas on the upper left side of the central display of the instrument cluster (see Photo). From research and insights through the Rennlist forums it would seem the inconvenience caused when the car is exposed to very cold weather. Rejecting the idea of taking other actions against the dealer, assuming the low probability of success, I set about looking for Laboratories/Workshops offering this type of service, but difficulties arose immediately. The laboratories in Italy dont have the spare part (display) in stock, so someone proposes the replacement of the entire instrument cluster with another one dismantled from demolition cars. So for months I started looking in the vast variegated "internet" world for the spare display, but without any success; some suppliers had had it available in the past but at the time it was no longer on offer. Time passes when I finally come across an Italian company that has the aftermarket spare part in its catalog.
I get in touch with the company and in a few days I received the brand new display at home. After a few days of meditation and after several consultations of articles, videos, etc. available in that informations mine that is the internet world I took a courageous decision: I do everything by myself! It necessary to premise that this is quite a long and demanding operation but it does not present particular difficulties except that you may incur in breaking of some plastic clips of the many present. The clips fix the different parts to each other that make up the instrument cluster. For the rest a fair familiarity is required in the use of tools such as flat-blade screwdrivers with torx inserts. Moreover I would say that the illustrated method can also be extended to the boxter and cayman models which, although equipped with clusters with three quadrants instead of five as on the 911, have similar characteristics.
Required tools1. Normal and long handle magnetic screwdriver with T-10 and T-20 Torx inserts for removing the screws that fix the instrument cluster to the dashboard and the different pieces of the cluster itself. At this point, to access the two T-20 screws Torx that fix the instrument cluster to the dashboard, first must free the plastic former with the leather dust cover them, right under the cluster. To do this simply grasp the piece in the center with your fingers and pull it towards you. The lining is secured by two clips on the back, which requires some strength to release it. The covering element is not completely removed from the dashboard, but it is sufficient slide it backwards far enough to gain access to the Torx fixing screws. Once the coating is free from the shims, proceed with the removal of the cluster fixing devices. 5806269, which I recommend to read before begin to take apart the cluster . With the instrument cluster free, release the swinging arm (black color) of the electrical harness by pushing it downwards and unplug it. Once the connector has been disconnected the instrument cluster can be safely removed.
With the instrument panel removed, do not turn on the ignition or attempt to start the car since an error code will probably be present once the instrument panel has been reinstalled. It is a good idea to carry out operations on a surface of soft material so as not to slip the different parts, avoiding to damage or scratch the instrument panel. The cluster (Photo above) is held together by 6 T-10 Torx screws, plus some plastic clips at the top, bottom and side. The four Torx screws (red) hold the black case together in the white internal support element, while the two screws in blue encased keep the case fixed to the anthracite outer covering that presents the windows with the five instruments. Helping with the plastic remover tool (Photo above) lift the needles out of the housing one at a time, taking care not to scratch the faceplate.
For the purpose covering the fork tool with spongy material. Do not need to remove the needles of the pressure gauge and oil temperature to replace the displays only. Observe (red circles) the position of the four small springs that hold the electronic board in suspension on the white support at the central display. Now you can start to remove the four black plastic rings from the inside of the white support, pushing them outwards and thus freeing the central quadrant screen from the white support itself. Once the gauge faceplate has been raised, you can see the three display locked in place by the black plate, which in turn is held above by the transparent screen to diffuse the illumination over all the instrument cluster. Both the black and the transparent plates are in one piece only which makes the operation of detaching the retaining clips quite delicate action, with the possibility of breakage.