I've posted before about problems I've been having debugging my Instrument Pod on a K75S. So I borrowed an instrument pod which was reputed to be good. I am not sure whether it is a K75 or K100. But so far I believe that it is good  (i.e works) and after sort of installing it, it appears to work within my current setup. Which means that my GPI and Speedometer problems reside in the original Instrument pod rather than in the electrical lines feeding into the Inst. pod. In a sense this helps greatly that I now have an idea where the failure resides.

But a close inspection of the back of the instrument pod revealed a couple of differences and I wanted to ask the assembled experts what, if any impact these differences might have or represent. I am attaching a photo of the the two pods backs. The fronts are exactly the same to the casual viewer. Note on the comparison inst.pod (the lower) that the right side row of pins go up 4 and then have a gap (pin 5) before the pins continue. There is no such gap on the left side (as viewed from above). Whereas the original K75S inst. pod has a gap at pin 5 on both sides. (The first pin on the original K75S inst pod is hidden in the photo).

There is also a slight difference in that the screw hole between the the two rows of pins is raised in the comparison inst. pod. This appears to be just a function of the plastic back being slightly different.

Look at the abbreviated part numbers on the faded stickers on the back cover of each cluster to see if they lead anywhere - often they don't. Check them in realoem.com or other site with BMW ETK. Of course there is going to be a difference between US and Rest of the World listings due to KM compared to MPH, but there are also production date differences, authorities/police clusters, differences with dual fuel level lights or single, ABS or Non-ABS, early (split connector) to late connector, & etc. Realoem (or Max BMW, for example) will show the superseded part numbers but this will lead you to a better understanding of which cluster is correct - or compatible - for your particular motorbike(s).

Two Wheels Better wrote:Look at the abbreviated part numbers on the faded stickers on the back cover of each cluster to see if they lead anywhere - often they don't. Check them in realoem.com or other site with BMW ETK. Of course there is going to be a difference between US and Rest of the World listings due to KM compared to MPH, but there are also production date differences, authorities/police clusters, differences with dual fuel level lights or single, ABS or Non-ABS, early (split connector) to late connector, & etc. Realoem (or Max BMW, for example) will show the superseded part numbers but this will lead you to a better understanding of which cluster is correct - or compatible - for your particular motorbike(s).

Hi two wheels. Sorry didn't include all my previous struggles. I did go to real.oem and tried the part no. 6165382513 which is what i could read off the old label on the comparison inst pod. Not sure what you mean by BMW ETK. And didn't mean to be disingenuous in posting. But I put the comparison inst pod into place. Naturally it doesn't physically fit due to the differences in the back but I was able to make electrical connections and it appeared to work. Speedo, tach, GPI, and lights. It would be a trivial job to swap the backs as they appear to be quite similar. But before I go the route of just replacing the inst pod and start dickering to find out if the comparison inst pod is available for sale I was going to ask if there were any obvious/known issues. To the best of my knowledge the K75 and K100 instrument pods are interchangeable. And this is the first one that I've run across with the differences I cited.

J.

An instrument cluster part number will start with 62 11 1, 62 11 2 or even 62 11 9 and end with two more groups of three numbers. For example 62 11 2 305 252. The one sticker that's visible shows a partial BMW part number of (62 11) 9 062 230 which is an abbreviated BMW part number - which is all you need to research a BMW part number - but here it may only be an internal code number used by the BMWAG engineers. Checking BMW's ETK (German for electronic parts catalogue) shows numerous part number variations in back covers, full clusters and face covers. So, yeah, heaps of differences between them.

BMW made running changes with early clusters due to moisture issues. Many were replaced under warranty in the early days. A water-absorbing membrane was installed in newer units.

The fifth pin from the bottom is the eighth pin from the top. It's pin eight. Bricks before the K75 had two fuel level warning lights, for four litres "pin 7" and seven litres "pin 8" remaining. The seven litre light was abandoned from the K75 onward, including on the K100. An ABS light was used in that location, so it's a pretty safe bet that the K75 cluster came from a K75 without ABS.

But... but... but... to throw a spanner in the works; yes, the pin was removed because it was no longer required for the second fuel low level warning, but somehow they managed to introduce the ABS light without adding a new pin.

More research needed Jeeves! Get to it!

(I'll second-guess it. The ABS warning light was made part of the BMU circuit, so no new pin needed. The ABS circuit board sorted out whether the signal was from the BMU or from the ABS).

The bottom line is that you need an instrument pod that has the right number of fuel lights for that bike. If it's a single fuel light with ABS and bike doesn't have ABS, pull the ABS bulb out.

Just to confuse things further I was informed by the owner of Munich Motorcylces, a supplier of BMW parts in Australia, that there were 5 versions of the cluster available over the the life of the the K100 model. Many were running changes including the moisture problem and some for whatever. Good luck with your issues....a hammer can get rid of some problems.

Dai wrote:But... the pin was removed because it was no longer required for the second fuel low level warning, but somehow they managed to introduce the ABS light without adding a new pin.

Thanks Dai, that was a bit of a lazy guess from me, lurking in the back of my mind were long threads about ABS and bulb monitor problems, which I ignored too quickly. 

But another difference, we can also see the raised mounting points of the 75 S, which bolts to a counterweight to reduce vibration, but they shake to the shithouse, or at least mine does.

One thing I do know is I've used a '92 K 75 S instrument cluster on an '85 K100 RT without any noticeable issues, both without ABS. Maybe it would be good to see a photo from the front.

daveyson wrote:The fifth pin from the bottom is the eighth pin from the top. It's pin eight. Bricks before the K75 had two fuel level warning lights, for four litres "pin 7" and seven litres "pin 8" remaining. The seven litre light was abandoned from the K75 onward, including on the K100. An ABS light was used in that location, so it's a pretty safe bet that the K75 cluster came from a K75 without ABS.

So you are saying the upper Inst Pod which has two pins missing is from a "K75 without ABS". That would be correct as it is the original inst. pod from the K75 which I have and it does not have ABS. But I'm guessing you're saying the lower (in the picture) inst. pod came from a machine which had both "four litres" and "seven litres" lights? And the strange raised female screw?

jjefferies wrote:

So you are saying the upper Inst Pod which has two pins missing is from a "K75 without ABS". That would be correct as it is the original inst. pod from the K75 which I have and it does not have ABS. But I'm guessing you're saying the lower (in the picture) inst. pod came from a machine which had both "four litres" and "seven litres" lights? And the strange raised female screw?

Yes, yes and it's for holding the terminal cover on.

Aaandd.... BMW changes over time strike again. There are at least two different shapes of terminal cover. One is like a rectangular block with two rounded corners (fits the top instrument pod) and the other is wedge-shaped (fits the bottom housing). The top cover will also fit the bottom housing but not the other way round, because the recessed screw thread means that the terminal blocks foul the lower end of the wedge. IIRC Kostenlot currently has a rectangular block on the later type of housing because when I was putting the instrument pod back on the bike, it was the first cover I found. Lazy git. Yes, the correct (wedge-shaped one) turned up later but I'm not for stripping the fairing just to get at that screw.
Oh yes - the early pins are square but the later ones are round. So... early connectors will fit the later housings but not the other way round. WHYYYYYY
(not that many people are likely to fall over that problem, unless they make their own wiring harnesses ).

jjefferies wrote:So you are saying the upper Inst Pod which has two pins missing is from a "K75 without ABS". That would be correct as it is the original inst. pod from the K75 which I have and it does not have ABS. But I'm guessing you're saying the lower (in the picture) inst. pod came from a machine which had both "four litres" and "seven litres" lights? And the strange raised female screw?

My new safe bet, hopefully safer than my last safe bet, yep, yep.

I have instrument clusters from an '84 and an '87 K100 RT. They both seem older than your old cluster. My old one has seven perimeter screws, while your old one has the newer nine screws. Yours have the moisture vents, neither of mine do. Neither of mine have the raised centre screw. Your newer one has raised support for the mounting bolts.

When I started riding my brick, which previously sat for years, the instrument cluster went foggy, that lasted about a week, then it cleared up, and the problem never returned. I spose the lack of moisture vents allowed that to happen.

Dai wrote:Oh yes - the early pins are square but the later ones are round. So... early connectors will fit the later housings but not the other way round. WHYYYYYY

I'll hazard a guess. 

To stop, as Alf would say, silly scouse gits, from turning an upgrade into a downgrade. The improved cluster is backwards compatible with earlier models, but in a way that the earlier cluster can't be used on newer bricks. Planned obsolescence is probably more ingrained into us now than micro plastics. Alf could do it though, and with great pride to boot. Edit; That was one of the good things about BMW when they built bricks, they didn't push planned obsolescence on us, unlike a lot of the others.

Rectangular vs round pins:





ETK: The 2000/2001 ETK was built to work on Win95 and does not run on later versions of Windoze like Win10 but it will run on a Hyper-V virtual XP machine. That's what I still use a lot.