(Navi to Non-Navi conversion) TL Type S Cluster in a 2002 Regular TL
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5th Gear
Joined: Sep 2024
Posts: 5
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From: Houston, Texas, United States
(Navi to Non-Navi conversion) TL Type S Cluster in a 2002 Regular TL
Hello Everyone!
Recently, I brought out my 2002 3,2TL as my daily driver (a 1980 300D (yes, it's a Benz)) let go of its driveshaft. After I got her running (she needed a new rad and rad cap), I noticed that the navigation screen had peeled away after all of these years. Now, given that these navigation units also control the A/C, I've since decided to replace the Navigation unit with the knobs since the last version of the map was in 2013 (I live in Houston, and well, it's changed a lot since then haha), which makes it infeasible to update. After some research, I found that this is a cut and dry, mostly plug and play operation.
Which leads me to my question: Is it possible to directly swap a cluster from a Type S TL into a Regular TL, provided that they both have the 5 speed gearbox? After doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon @lithiumus 's thread on how he modded a Type S cluster to fit his 1999 TL (which has the 4 speed gearbox instead of 5). In his thread, he wrote that he had to mod the fuel and temp gauges because their signal wiring is different, which I assume is owing to the fact that the Type S TL did not exist in 1999 (the Type S came out in 2002). My assumption is, since my car and the Type S both have the 5 speed gearbox, it should be a drop-in swap, but I figured I should ask this good forum first before I go to the junkyard and buy a cluster that turns out to be a paperweight cause it doesn't work. Has anyone attempted this swap on a 5 speed TL? Please let me know before I buy.
Cheers,
Jakob
Recently, I brought out my 2002 3,2TL as my daily driver (a 1980 300D (yes, it's a Benz)) let go of its driveshaft. After I got her running (she needed a new rad and rad cap), I noticed that the navigation screen had peeled away after all of these years. Now, given that these navigation units also control the A/C, I've since decided to replace the Navigation unit with the knobs since the last version of the map was in 2013 (I live in Houston, and well, it's changed a lot since then haha), which makes it infeasible to update. After some research, I found that this is a cut and dry, mostly plug and play operation.
Which leads me to my question: Is it possible to directly swap a cluster from a Type S TL into a Regular TL, provided that they both have the 5 speed gearbox? After doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon @lithiumus 's thread on how he modded a Type S cluster to fit his 1999 TL (which has the 4 speed gearbox instead of 5). In his thread, he wrote that he had to mod the fuel and temp gauges because their signal wiring is different, which I assume is owing to the fact that the Type S TL did not exist in 1999 (the Type S came out in 2002). My assumption is, since my car and the Type S both have the 5 speed gearbox, it should be a drop-in swap, but I figured I should ask this good forum first before I go to the junkyard and buy a cluster that turns out to be a paperweight cause it doesn't work. Has anyone attempted this swap on a 5 speed TL? Please let me know before I buy.
Cheers,
Jakob
3rd Gear
Joined: May 2024
Posts: 3
Likes: 5
From: PNW
In my recent experience, I just swapped the entire interior, black leather and grey headliner, from a 2002 TL Type-S into my 2001 Base which had tan leather and headliner. It works as it should gauge wise IE; tach, speedo, fuel etc... however the VSA and SRS lights are illuminated but I haven't figured out if that's just a bulb I can pull to make it go away, or if I need to change some wiring by moving some pins on plugs to allow it to go out.
So TLDR; yes it will work.
So TLDR; yes it will work.
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