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Battery went dead on my B7 RS4 since I haven't driven it in a couple months. After getting the battery charged up and the car going again my cluster dash lights (scales) are not showing up unless it's sunny outside. The first day it was overcast and I only had the needles lit up.

I have never had this issue in the past. My dash lights are always on and I never run with the headlight switch in the "Auto" position, it is always in the "OFF" position. When I open the door all the lights come on in the cluster (Scales & Needles) but after I shut the door they fade back to just the needles lit up, which I think is just the overheard lights affecting the sensor. If I shine a light into the light sensor on the cluster then the scales light up.

Of course when I turn on the headlights or parking lights the scales do light up but like I said I never had this issue in the past. I could be sitting in a parking lot at night with the engine running, no lights on and all my dash lights were on (Scales & Needles). It is awkward to start the car at night and only have the needles lit up.

I double checked with Vag-Com and my code was already set to 31300

17-Instruments:
Mode 0: Nothing lit until ext. light on
Mode 1: Pointers lit all the time
Mode 2: Scales lit all the time
Mode 3: Pointers and Scales lit all the time

Changing the first number had the desired effect for 0,1,2 but when I switched back to 31300 I still only see the needles light up. It seems as though adding the "3" in the front doesn't have any effect at all. Even though my car was already set to "3" it now all of the sudden after the battery going dead, do I have this issue.

Can't figure out WTF is going on here since I have never had an issue with the cluster before now??? Do I have any issue with the cluster or maybe the headlight switch is messed up. Everything else seems to function normally, parking lights, headlights, front fog and rear fog.

Thanks,

Bimmerod

Have you tried the + / - buttons to the left of the cluster.
I understand these adjust brightness although I cant recall using them myself.

Mike

Isn’t this normal behaviour? The dash shouldn’t light up when the lights are off?


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Hi

I was looking into Vag Com coding the other day. The values I saw were slightly different.

It was 31000, well it was actually 11000 but was set for pointers lit all the time. Not sure what difference the 300 makes?

Jon_J wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2019 6:44 pm

Isn’t this normal behavior? The dash shouldn’t light up when the lights are off?

Well it hasn't been normal behavior for the past 13 years. My Scales and Needles have always been lit up. I never drive around with the "AUTO" button selected. I didn't have to turn my lights on even at night to have my instrument cluster lights on. I could be sitting in the car, at night, running with ZERO lights on and my cluster was lit up.

OMN25 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2019 11:16 pm

Hi

I was looking into Vag Com coding the other day. The values I saw were slightly different.

It was 31000, well it was actually 11000 but was set for pointers lit all the time. Not sure what difference the 300 makes?

When you set the first number to "3" did the scales and needles lite up? Or did just the needles lite up?

The third number correlates to the options you have on your car. The RS4 might have different DIS options, not sure on that one ???? And even though the 4th number is a ZERO on mine, the Lap Timer is still active and works so go figure?


Bimmerod

mikep99 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2019 9:25 am

Have you tried the + / - buttons to the left of the cluster.
I understand these adjust brightness although I cant recall using them myself.

Mike

Yeah they adjust the brightness but without the scales lit up, it's only adjusting the needles

Bimmerod

My car long gone, but I thought the default was to have the cluster illuminated during the day, but that the light sensor over-rode the illumination if dark and the headlights are off, so that you don't mistakenly think your headlights are on

It was definitely debated years ago, and the view from memory was that it couldn't be overridden

Maybe your light sensor wasn't working before (so thought it always daytime) but is working now?!

I think the +/- behave differently with lights on and off. Lights on and they change illumination, lights off and it's just needles...

I’m working late tonight and tomorrow, but I will plug mine in as soon as I get chance and have a look. Mine currently only has the pointer lit unless the lights are on and not in auto.

I will change a few values and see what happens

OMN25 wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:26 pm

I’m working late tonight and tomorrow, but I will plug mine in as soon as I get chance and have a look. Mine currently only has the pointer lit unless the lights are on and not in auto.

I will change a few values and see what happens

Just wanted to follow up to see if you played around with it???

I have tried to unhook the battery and reset everything but it is still not accepting the "3" coding to the cluster. All of the other ones make the desired changes so I don't know??? I have even driven it around for a few hours to make sure it was fully charged and all modules were reset after the Auto-Scan.

Thoughts???

Bimmerod

Sorry I’ve had a hectic week at work. I’m home tonight, so I will plug it in and try it myself

I’m sorry to say I found the same. All other options worked

OMN25 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:30 pm

I’m sorry to say I found the same. All other options worked

Well that is unfortunate to hear

Not sure what else to try here ???

Bimmerod

I found a note on coding on Ross tech, I’m not sure if it will make a difference or not, but from what I can gather changing the country can give you different lighting options. I’ve not tried it so I have no idea if it will make a difference, but it dose say it affects the radio lighting etc.

I’m only looking all this stuff up as I have a fault on mine that the door open display is showing the opposite side door open .

I'm having the same problem, did you get it sorted ?
Thanks