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Scott Gardner Job title Technical director, Bahnsport Porsche experience 15 years Dear Sir, I own a 2001 996 Carrera 4 and I’ve got a problem with the centre instrument cluster, which is pixellating. I’m finding it difficult to track down a company to use to tackle the problem. Are you able to share any ideas on what the issue is, and how to fix it? Andy Burke
We’re starting to see a few instrument clusters failing on the digital display panel on the 996 and 997 generation cars, often with no warning or obvious cause. Unfortunately, new instrument clusters are often expensive to replace direct from Porsche, although of course it’s the best option to guarantee a solution.
In the first instance contact your local Porsche Centre and ask them for a price. As well as removing the faulty cluster and installing the replacement, some coding/programming will be required to set your mileage and fuel level calibration data to your vehicle, and this will have to be factored into your potential costs.
The other option is to send your original cluster away for a repair. There are various companies out there that can provide this as a service, such as Cluster Repairs UK, Cartronics or Autotronics to name but a few. However, the best advice I can offer is to telephone around and ask them about their process, turnaround times, prices and also guarantees. Furthermore, check to see if this is a repair that the company has done before and that they’re confident the fault can be resolved.
Typically, costs can range from £150 to £400 (with VAT to be added on top) for their services to repair a cluster depending on the specific fault. Note that instrument clusters are a tight fit into pinch clips and require some force to pull them out once the fixing screws are removed. With this in mind, you’ll need to make sure that the area will be protected as best as possible to prevent any consequential damage while technicians remove the cluster.
Hope this helps, and good luck!