RET

The dash had been working normally until a few days ago but it will now only display messages in German and show measurements in liters and kilometers.

The car is an '89 GT with an '88 instrument pod. I believe that the problems were triggered in the following manner: the digital instruments usually performed a power on reset on engine startup and I had pressed and held the "zero" button on the console to clear the trip odometer before the reset cycle had been completed. The display came up in diagnostic mode and in German. I did not want to move the switch stalk as I was not sure how to safely exit the diagnostic mode, so I simply stopped the engine and restarted it, which did reset things somewhat: it was now in operating mode, but displayed in kilometers and German.

I suspect that primary cable problems from battery to starter cause the pod resets on startup (the EXK and LH brains did not reset, so I did not think that it was a primary ground problem), but this resetting has not caused any problems for well over a year (I meant to take care of it, but tempus fugit...). FWIW, the pod had been pulled, contacts cleaned, etc, a few months ago also.

Following the instructions in the owner's manual ("pull lever twice in one second..for US cars..") did not change the kilometer displays to miles. The language selection method for '90 models doesn't help, and neither does disconnecting the battery.

The display on reset is: "Typ-No 00" (leftmost display); and "19.05" (over) "1988" (in the center display).

I have searched Rennlist as well as rummaged through the manuals and service information guides (pdf files and physical) and have not found anything helpful. Also, the instructions in the "Diagnosis of the Instrument Cluster '89" service information pamphlet do not seem to work as described on this '88 pod.

Can anybody help?

Thanks!

Bob

Vilhuer

That must be very first production software version dash. IIRR general belief has been that first versions only have one language build in but it seems there must be memory space for at least two. What is difference between different language parts then? There can't be coding plug or anything like that because in this case it was overwriten without doing anything other than pressing buttons and moving stalk. It is very likely you just stumbled to holy grail of changing language in early dash. You just need to replicate your actions up to geting diagnostic mode on and then do something with stalk or reset button to change back to normal.

ROG100

Dean Fuller had a similar experiance on his 89 with the language in German - like that when he bought the car. We tried everything to change to English to no avail and concluded that a PO had but a German circuit board in the cluster for what ever reason. This maybe have occured like yours now I read of your experiance.
On Deans car we replaced the CB and everything is fine now. Not much help just an observation.

dr bob

My feeble memory reminds me that there is some diagnostic or reset function available by holding the stalk as power is turned on, then doing something with the stalk to select languages. I don't remember the specifics, but at this ponit you might give it a try and see if it helps. Did you by chance happen to cycle power with the key while holding the stalk out or in? That would be a clue.

Also--

The 1988 firmware date and rev number is the same on my '89 S4, built in December 1988. To the best of my knowledge, there were no digital dashes installed in 1988 MY cars.


HTH!

John Speake

To change language:
1) turn on ignition
2) Link pin 5 to 13 on the diagnostic connector (or use the Digi-dash mode with a "Spanner")
3) Pull lever towards you for 2 seconds
4) "Language" appears in the display
5) The centre display will show a code for language, like D for German.
6) Pull the lever to scroll through the available languages, D, E, F, I. i.e. German, English, Italian, Spannish to the one you need.
7) Turn off igntion or remove link to store the last selected langauage

ROG100

John,
IIRC this only worked for the later versions not the early digi dashes.
Certainly worth a try in this instance.
Roger

John Speake

Hi Roger
This procedure is shown in the Tech Info for MY90. My own notes record that this facility was not available AFTER that MY....... but it will be interesting to see how it works out :-)

RET

Many thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

I have tried the MY 90 sequence, but it does not seem to work as advertised: if I interpret my scribbled notes correctly, turning on the ignition and connecting pins 5 and 13 of the diagnostic connector by the passenger's seat did nothing regardless of pulling the op lever. However, putting the jumper in place before turning the ignition on resulted in the display of "DIAGNOSE STECKER" (diagnostic plug), with the words divided between the left and right display windows and the center display being blank.

Pulling the lever simply reverts the displays to normal mode and nothing I did convinced it to go into diagnostic mode. None of this is as described in the technical bulletin.

However, pressing and holding the "0" button (with or without the jumper), and then turning on the ignition (EDIT - sorry, not "turning the ignition on", but forcing a power on reset of the instrument panel by starting the engine while holding the "0" button), puts the display into diagnostic mode. Moving the stalk causes the display of interesting messages such as "SENSOREN PRUEFEN?"(test sensors),"DYN.WERT LESEN?" (read tach and oil pressure), etc., and allows diagnostics to be performed. Unfortunately I could not discover anything that promised to communicate in English; also unfortunate, I could not figure out how get out of this mode back to normal functioning without disconnecting the battery and upsetting the EZK and LH brains..

I don't care much about German versus English in either diagnostic or normal mode; I would be happy to have miles and MPH instead of kilometers and KPH displayed.

Hopefully in the next few days I will rig up a jumper and switch for the instrument panel's fuse so that I can predictably cycle power to it and do as Dr. Bob suggests. You never know, maybe Cyrillic or Egyptian hieroglyphs?

FWIW, I had been told that the instrument panel had been replaced, I just assumed that it was from an MY88 because of the "1988" displayed during power on reset.

Hilton

With the ignition on, try pulling the dash lever towards you twice in quick succession - on US cars this changes the units between imperial and metric (don't think you need to be in diagnostic mode for this).

RET

Thanks Xlot, but tried it with no success: language remains German and measurements remain metric.

John Speake

In diagnostic mode, did you pull the lever for at least 2 seconds ?

Tails

Language and value changes.

Information supplied by Colin, 89GT.

Quote:
"Depending on the software status (level) of the circuit boards installed certain information displayed in the instrument panel can be changed to suit the owner/driver. The softwae status is shown in the square cnentre box of the computer display when the special tool 9293 or jumper described later, is fitted. It is also printed on a rectangular paper label stuck on the back of the instrument cluster and inside between the two circuit board sections.

The digital panel was first introduced in MY 1989 with "software level K18". The dashboard language could be supplied in German, French, Italian or English and could NOT be changed, but on US market cars the units or measurement could be changed from Metric to Imperial and back by selecting the appropriate display function then pulling the operating stalk twice within one second.

From MY 1990 and software level K25 the language could be changed by a Porsche dealer by the use of special tool 9293 fitted into the 19-pin diagnostic socket under the floor panel between the passenger's seat and the door. In fact the special tool is merely a bridge between pins 5 and 13. A wire jumper will substitute. For those wishing to do this the language change procedure is:

Turn on the ignition
Fit tool 9293 or jumper (NB, it wont work if the jumper is fitted before the ignition is turned on)
Hold back the control stalk for 3 seconds until "language" appears in display.
Pull the stalk sequentially to scroll through the four available languages.
Turn off the ignition and/or remove the jumper to store the language displayed.

The language and the selected units of measurement revert to the default if the batter is disconnected or the instrument power supply is lost by other means.

From MY 1991 and software level K26 the selected language and units were on longer lost when the power was disconnected. If a new circuit board was fitted K26 also provided for the reading of the odometer display to be set to the vehicle's correct total distance travelled but note that this only applies to a factory new circuit board or one with less than 250 miles or km on it. The procedure to do this is covered under "Specific Functions" as described (badly) in the document 'Diagnosis of the Instrument Cluster'.

The final version of the software K29, was introduced in the first GTS of '92. Curiously this limited the diagnostic scope of the cluster to internal faults within the instruments themselves.

The shortage of new replacement circuit boards is a concern as is the absence of circuit drawings or other ttechnical details which would allow users to have their boards repaired. For those contemplating a PCB replacement the above information should, for the immediate future, help to identify a suitable used component.

Colin, 89GT. With thanks for input form John Speake, Roger Tyson, Wally Plumley, Doug Hillary, Tails, Schocki and others".

Unquote.

Hope this helps.

Tails 1990 928S4 Auto

borland

Disconnect the battery. That should reset everything back to normal.

RET

John - sure did; several times, and for more than three seconds. Did not work.

Tails - no joy.

Borland - tried that too, several times and only results was to scramble the ECU brains so that the engine would not run well for awhile.


Everything that I have tried so far has not helped: none of the documented techniques that I have found (most of which are listed in this thread) have even worked as expected.

I have a vague recollection of having run across a website sometime in the dim past for a company that offered to reset the total mileage odometer reading in 928 digital dashes for some outrageous fee.

Does anyone know of this company? I think that it was in the UK, and would suspect that if they are able to do this, then they may have some idea of what might be done to salvage mine.

Thanks again

Bob

soontobered84

Bob, have you changed out the turn signal stalk at some time? IIRC they are specific for MY'89.