autocheck / minicheck & trip computer

[Error404]

I've bought an instrument cluster and column stalks from another coupe which has the trip computer and controls on the stalks - great!

But it turned up today, and has the trip computer and mini-check....not the autocheck my coupe has the autocheck and i'd like to keep this.... if only because the loom is different...

So my question... do you think its possible to take apart the mini-check & trip unit i've got, take out the mini-check parts put the autocheck parts in it and install it - allowing me to keep the autocheck and have the trip too?

[S2central.net]

That will take a bit of looking... What year is your car - actually tell me the model year letter in your VIN - it will be as follows -

M 1991
N 1992
P 1993
R 1994
S 1995
T 1996

DO you know what model year of car the new parts come from ?

Oh and I just read your post again - please try to make it a little more clear as I got lost in the middle of it trying to work out exactly what you wanted to achieve.

Is your starting point a 3B or ABY Coupe. AFAIK *all* S2s had the Autocheck as standard (not Minicheck) complete with trip computer and the stalk to control it... Maybe someone changed the stalk on your car in the past in a hurry (on the cheap) and used the wrong thing ?

Looking at your signature you might not have an S2 of course so your starting point is going to be different. Anyway - I'll try to help if I have the right schematics here.

[Error404]

Thanks Paul

I won't be near the car until later, but it is a 1990 G plate Coupe Quattro 20v.
The autocheck was broken in it, so i sourced a new set of clocks to replace the broken set. All well and good, fitted them, all working fine etc.

Then I saw a set of clocks with trip computer, complete with stalk controls and snapped them up, thinking autocheck was standard. These turned up today and i spotted a problem. The set with the trip i just bought has the mini-check - my car is fitted with the autocheck. there lies the problem - the looms are different

What i want is auto-check with trip unit in my clocks....
at the moment i have a set of stock clocks with autocheck , and a set with the trip but only mini-check

I've not looked that closely at the units, i was really wondering whether i could transfer the autocheck from one unit to replace the mini-check in the other unit, whilst keeping the trip computer... if that makes sense?

the clocks with the trip and mini-check i bought came from a 1994 Coupe.

[S2central.net]

I'll try to get a look at this one this week - as luck would have it, I am in the middle of a huge project to try and capture ALL the S2 schematics. This mini-check stuff confused me at first.

Can you post a photograph comparing the rear connectors on BOTH your clusters ?

From memory, the trip stalk connects via a 10-pin black connector - which I suspect is only present on the PCB which is equipped for it with the minicheck or autocheck controller.

Actually I need to remove my own cluster (94) to change a bulb so that will freshen the memory.

Paul

[Error404]

quick question also - perhaps someone can answer this for me...

I've got a feeling i'll need to sell this mini-check / trip unit and get one with the autocheck / trip function... there are several on ebay.de - much more difficult to come by over here....

My question is really regarding the mileage / range calculation etc, seeing as euro units will work on kilometers as opposed to miles - are the trip units themselves the same and the input from the mileage odometer different from the kilometer odometer to account for the miles / kilometers difference??

[S2central.net]

Theres a coding plug on the side of the autocheck module which takes care of unit conversion. There's info about it on s2central.net in the technical section...

[Error404]

Great! cheers Paul.

As far as i can tell, the LCD screen for the mini-check [MC] is slightly larger than for the auto-check [AC], so the unit casings themselves are almost certainly different.

I'll post some pics up this evening. Let me know if there is any info you need gleaning from this MC/Trip unit - chances are i'll flog it and get an AC/Trip unit from ebay.de or similar.. at least i've now got the wash wipe stalk - seems the hardest part to find

[80Quattro]

It is not possible to combine a computer part from a minicheck unit with an autocheck module, I know because I have tried. The problem is part of the circuit board from the autocheck unit is in the way of the screen for the computer. You are correct that the autocheck screen is smaller so even if it did fit it would look untidy.

Also I'm not sure if you're aware of this but you don't need to change the whole instrument cluster to change the autocheck unit, you can just undo 4 screws and swap the autocheck units over and it will all work as it should.

I think you really need an autocheck unit with onboard computer from a 5cyl. Minicheck was never fitted to the 1990 coupe, they had warning lights or autocheck. You would have to change quite a bit of wiring to fit minicheck to an autocheck car and you would be losing the bulb monitors etc.

If you get the correct unit from ebay.de the units on the screen will be wrong even if you swap the coding plug over. You can however swap the computer circuit board between autocheck and minicheck modules to correct this.

[S2central.net]

Yes - that is consistent with my findings by poring over schematics tonight - and a look at my own cluster to remind me of the fundamentals.

Clusters with minicheck only have the blue & yellow 26-pin connectors, but the Autocheck clusters have another 26-pin connector that is white.

I'm a bit confused as to why your existing Autocheck cluster doesn't have the trip computer function already, but I guess that wasn't part of the AUtocheck module for a 1989/1990 car. At the bottom of the AUtocheck module you can see the 10-pin black connector where it hooks up to the stalk switch - that is NOT shown on any schematics that I have here - its logically just part of the Autocheck module.

The comment about swapping in a Euro module is true also - it will have the EUro legend around the display for km and liters. You really need a UK or US Autocheck module fitted with a GB/UK coding plug.

I can only assume the minicheck stalk that you have has the same 10-pin connector as the trip equipped AUtocheck module. That would be sensible but no guarantees !


PAul

[80Quattro]

I believe the reason he doesn't have the trip computer as standard is because it's a 7A coupe not an S2.

Minicheck clusters have a white 14 pin plug instead of the 26 pin one. The 10 pin black plug goes only to the trip computer part of the module, the same plug is used on minicheck modules with trip computers.

The stalks are the same whether it is the car has minicheck or autocheck but I think a switch on the dash was used for the computer on cars with the hazard switch on the stalk.

[Skull]

my friend installed tha autocheck in a BC unit with minicheck. the hole for the screen is really a little smaller, but... we also tried the km/h mp/h switch, with that plate on the side, and it doesent work, the bc somehow learns what to show and we couldn make it work differently.

[Error404]

yup. can confirm the minicheck plug is 14 pin, the autocheck is 26pin.

the Black 10 pin plug is related to the trip, as my all 3 of my AC units (without Trips) has only the blue, yellow and white 26 pin connectors.

********!! Right going to sell the MC Trip unit with the clocks it came with and keep on looking for a US / GB AC Trip unit

I suppose the AC Trip unit off the stealer is comedically priced?
Anyone got a part number so i can have a laugh?!

[80Quattro]

I got the price for a new one a few months back as I was having no luck finding a trip computer with autocheck for a V6. I can't remember the exact price but it was over £500 IIRC.

Skull23 - I don't see how it is possible to fit the autocheck part without modifying the circuit board. Here is a picture of the V6 autocheck circuit board
The piece of the circuit board below the screen is in the way of where the trip computer screen would go.

[Skull]

In that photo is a plate from a cluster with no BC, am i right? with the BC, the plate is different.

[80Quattro]

Yes, it's from an autocheck unit without BC I thought maybe you had fitted one of these into a BC with minicheck but now I understand what you've done. I have never seen just an autocheck circuit board from a BC with autocheck for sale so it's not really an option. It would probably be best just to find a BC with autocheck in this case, they are not uncommon for 5cyl. I had hoped I could combine that autocheck with a BC with minicheck as it's near impossible to find a BC with autocheck for a V6 here. In the end I just gave up and used a 5cyl one, I have an oil pressure gauge so I'm not too worried that the dynamic oil pressure control is a little out.