Begin Original Post
Hi everyone, I’m having a frustrating issue with my 2012 S60 T5 fuel gauge displaying ZERO after trying to retrofit a TFT cluster, the issue persists even after reverting all changes and putting the original DIM back in. This is going to be a long post where I detail every step so someone with more experience than me might be able to help.
Okay to start, I purchased the shifter and TFT out of a 2014 S60 T5 (FWD/Auto) to upgrade my 2012 S60 T5 (FWD/Auto). At the time, I had seen forum posts that stated VDASH was needed, and a few posts mentioned P3Tool could also be used, but I now know that I probably didn’t need programming at all. I purchased P3Tool and started looking into the process. I followed this guide from NordCarolina. I cracked my CEM code in just 90 minutes and backed up my CarConfig with P3Tool.
Next I went to backup my DIM but was only given the option to Read EEPROM, “Write EEPROM” “Full Backup”, and “Write Backup” were all greyed out, this differs from the NordCarolina guide. I do not know if this is a bug or because I have a V1 TFT, but I also do not think the backup would have saved me from this issue. Regardless, I made a backup of the EEPROM and continued.
Just like the NordCarolina guide, I then made the following changes to my CarConfig:
- P#013: Screen Skins: 0x04 = R-Design
- P#040: DIM Type: 0x02 = DIM Type Basic LED
- P#101: TPMS: 0x01 = Without TPMS
- P#112: Indirect TPMS: 0x01 = Without indirect TPMS
- P#247: Fueltank Sensors: 0x01 = Fueltank, 1 sensor
(If you read this before doing your own swap with P3TOOL, DO NOT MAKE ALL OF THESE CHANGES. DO NOT CHANGE CHANGE ANY VALUES BEFORE PROGRAMMING EXCEPT P#013-Screen Skin and P#040 -DIM Type)
I saved the changes, disconnected my battery, removed the DIM, and spliced my new wires into the High and Low CANBUS signal wires. I attempted to use the pins out of a fan connecter like @p.rico did in their guide, but they were relatively loose in the connectors and would slide 5mm back and forth. Later, during troubleshooting, I removed them and instead used the pins from the male end of these 22AWG JST connectors from AliExpress, they fit the DIM connector perfectly and seem to be an exact match for the existing pins. I paid less than $1.50 for 10 sets of these, so 20 male pins. Volvo PN# 30656697 is $5 each pin so this is the play, don’t waste your money.
Upon plugging in the TFT and reconnecting the battery, everything seemed to work; Shifter light illuminated, fuel showed 1 white bar (I had about 40 miles left so I figured that is probably right) and the Performance theme was selected. HOWEVER, my AM and FM radio options now weren’t showing up, only my SAT radio option was available. I assumed this was because the TFT needed to be programmed. So I did the “Read EEPROM” and “Full Backup” procedures in P3Tool and then attempted the “Write Flash” procedure with 70L FWD selected for my Fuel Tank Model, “2012-” selected for my Model Year, and “Base” selected for the Base Flash. I waited with bated breath as the flash completed, and then my car restarted, only to have no TFT display at all. (This is probably because I have a V1 TFT, but I’m not sure what the Write Flash issue is). No problem, I’ll just use the “Write Backup” function to restore it.
That worked, the TFT came back up. The mileage even showed the proper 90k. However, the radio options still didn’t work. So I reverted to my CarConfig from before the TFT swap and then made the changes in the guide one by one. It turns out the iTPMS parameter #112 being changed from 0x00 “Undefined” to 0x01 “Without indirect TPMS” was the cause of the inoperable radio. I reverted that and the P#101 parameter 0x01 back to 0x10 from my original config. No TPMS light came on so I figured I was set.
Confident things were going well, I took the car for a drive to fill up the gas, which was now showing 1 blinking red bar instead of a solid white one. I thought “maybe it calibrated and I was lower than I thought”. I don’t know when that change happened, but sometime between the initial install and taking the car out for a drive, the fuel reading changed.
After getting gas, the fuel reading didn’t change, red blinking bar at startup, then it goes completely dark. I drove around for 25 miles thinking maybe it needed time to calibrate, but nothing changed. Defeated, I started tracing my steps backwards and decided to start from the beginning.
I reverted the CarConfig to my original backup, unplugged the TFT and replaced it with the original DIM, and even removed the two wires I had added, just in case. To my dismay, the DIM didn’t show any fuel reading either. I’m now freaking out, but I decide to reset my trip odometer and drive for a tank to see what happens.
After 200+ miles, my DIM still showed no fuel reading, so I reached out to VDASH to ask if their software is capable of fixing my TFT or DIM. They said yes, assuming I do the conversion properly, it should work, even with the V1 TFT. I then followed D5T5’s own guide to the retrofit with their VDASH software. I purchase the TFT programming and it completes, even on my V1 TFT. However, there was no change, in fact, now I had a slowly blinking yellow “i” on the dash as well (Upon inspection in P3Tool, they made a lot of strange changes in my CarConfig, adding external charger and fuel heater values, which could have been the cause). I drove for another 25 miles, but nothing changed. I emailed VDASH support and they responded quickly, saying to try a custom fuel map they wrote for me and added to my account. I attempted to load that file but it failed, saying “error 1215” with a popup about ISO authentication failed [0x0DB].
At this point, I’m not quite resigned to my fate of never having a fuel gauge ever again. So I try sleuthing in VIDA. I reverted everything back to stock, put the DIM back in, and attempted to read my fuel level. Surprisingly, VIDA can communicate with the DIM just fine and the DIM said it had 21L of fuel, even though the gauge showed empty. I then went and filled up again and reread the DIM, which gave the following information:
I do not know what “DIM Damped” is or how it relates to fuel level. I emailed VDASH after trying their modified program that failed but they have not replied for a few days. So now I am frustrated and lost, I do not know what to do from here. Any help or emotional support would be appreciated.
END OF ORIGINAL POST
Issue has since been resolved, see edit at the top of this post for the stupid simple solution.
If you read all of this, thanks for humoring me. I spent so long writing it I figured I would still post it for posterity, maybe someone will find it useful.