Has anyone had this before? Does the dial need replaced?

 

Yup. It's called a snowflake...and it's a sign that the liquid crystal in your cluster is starting to fail.

 

On the plus side, no two are alike!

 

You have a few options:

1) Ignore it (keep reading and you'll see why).

2) Send your cluster off to someone like VDO Repair to have the LCD replaced. The problem is that no one can source the panels so you are getting panels from donor clusters. This means that while it may work initially, you could be in the same boat next month or next year. Additionally these LCDs are flaky and just the act of disassembling the cluster can damage the other ones. VDO was very clear about that when I contacted them about ours. If I remember correctly they charge about $500.

3) Pick up a used cluster and swap it in. These can vary in price but are usually around the same price as having yours repaired. Again, those LCDs can go at anytime. You may also need to have it recoded if your car has different options than the donor (OBC being the big one). The real kicker is that the odometer is stored in the cluster so you will now see the donor car's milage and (if it's less than yours) that could cause titling issues going forward. There is a DIY hack to copy your coding and milage over, but it requires some serious soldering chops.

4) Buy a new cluster. A couple of years ago when I was looking they were $2200 and there were only 6 left in the US. I don't know if that was a temporary supply issue or if they have just stopped producing them. In the first 50 miles of a new cluster you can go to a Porsche dealer (anyone with a PIWIS actually) and have the mileage set to whatever you want.

Ours was failing in almost the exact same spot yours is and I looked into all the options above. I decided to let it ride for awhile and then I'd bite the bullet and go with #4. At it's worst the tens place was almost completely occluded, but then one day about a year after it started I got in and the LCD is completely clear again. I have not heard any other reports of it clearing up on it's own like that though, so don't count on that as a possibility.

So my advise is wait until you just can't live with it any more and then pick the option that works best for you.

 

FWIW, we had a 740iL with a similar type of LCD interface where the snowflakes came and went for years. Annoying as ****, but they seemed to come for a month or two and just I would get serious about getting it fixed it would go away for a year.

R

 

Thank you very much gnat.