MPH to KM/H bmw 520d

pa990

How hard is it to change a 2010 520d uk import from mph to km/h
i know that the speedo is just a dial to be replaced, but what about the odometer etc?

irelandspurs

Not sure if its your one http://www.lockwoodinternational.co.uk/5-series-c904.html

bazz26

Go into the iDrive main menu. Select settings>language>units>distance - mph/kph.

That will change the odometer from miles to kilometers. Changing the speedometer dials is alot more expensive and complex.

veetwin

pa990 wrote: »

How hard is it to change a 2010 520d uk import from mph to km/h
i know that the speedo is just a dial to be replaced, but what about the odometer etc?

Changing the odometer is the easy bit. Have you got any price for the fitting of a replacement dial. I remember reading that BMW were charging €800 for the job:rolleyes:

pa990

veetwin wrote: »

pa990 wrote: »

How hard is it to change a 2010 520d uk import from mph to km/h
i know that the speedo is just a dial to be replaced, but what about the odometer etc?

Changing the odometer is the easy bit. Have you got any price for the fitting of a replacement dial. I remember reading that BMW were charging €800 for the job:rolleyes:

I'm sure I'll find a diy guide online somewhere... Or get an indy to do it

bazz26

pa990 wrote: »

I'm sure I'll find a diy guide online somewhere... Or get an indy to do it

Afaik I don't think it is that simple. Mine is an import too and it's no big deal using mph. Or if trying to hide that it is an import is pointless too as any potentail buyer would just do a history check.

veetwin

pa990 wrote: »

I'm sure I'll find a diy guide online somewhere... Or get an indy to do it

From what I heard it's definitely not a DIY job. If you tackle it be sure to let us know though, preferably with lots of pics and a step by step guide:cool:

Gumbo

There is no DIY job for this. When the BMW dealers were bringing in the UK cars, "The sterling Collection", €1000 was budgeted for the replacement of the km/h dials and assocuated coding.

you can change the digital display to km or miles no problem through the iDrive, but the actual clocks and speedo is an expensive swap, unless you get a set from a scrappy and just pay BMW/indy for the coding.

Leonard Hofstadter

On the newer F10/F11 it might be quite expensive indeed to do it, because as far as I know they have Toyota Optitron style dials, not the standard ones like the E60 and most other cars have.

Wheelnut

That link by Irelandspurs at post 2 above is very good. Has anybody ever used one of those dials? is there much involved in changing one? Are there any specialists who fit them?

bazz26

Wheelnut wrote: »

That link by Irelandspurs at post 2 above is very good. Has anybody ever used one of those dials? is there much involved in changing one? Are there any specialists who fit them?

The problem is not physically fitting them, the problem is that it has to be coded to the car's ECU which is expensive and needs the correct software used.

irelandspurs

They just fit over dials that are there now,we did it to ford focus just pop off the needles fit the new face and put needles back on,but thats a ford focus,might be totally different for bmw.

Gumbo

irelandspurs wrote: »

They just fit over dials that are there now,we did it to ford focus just pop off the needles fit the new face and put needles back on,but thats a ford focus,might be totally different for bmw.

as long as the new dials take account for the car speedo going up in MPH increments but the dial shows KMH increments, it should work.

ie. one inch from 0 on the dial reads 30MPH but 60KMH on a km dial, so aslong as the new dieals are spaced correctly to allow for the difference, in theory it should work.

When BMW were importing the E60's, the completely changed the physical clocks.

irelandspurs

kceire wrote: »

as long as the new dials take account for the car speedo going up in MPH increments but the dial shows KMH increments, it should work.

ie. one inch from 0 on the dial reads 30MPH but 60KMH on a km dial, so aslong as the new dieals are spaced correctly to allow for the difference, in theory it should work.

When BMW were importing the E60's, the completely changed the physical clocks.

Yeah thats what there for there mph to kmh conversions

Blazer

Why not just leave them as is?
It's not illegal to have them so just use the figures below in your head.
About halfway down they have the km/h and what the mile equivelant is.

http://www.all-ireland.com/faqs/driving.htm

djimi

Blazer wrote: »

Why not just leave them as is?
It's not illegal to have them so just use the figures below in your head.
About halfway down they have the km/h and what the mile equivelant is.

http://www.all-ireland.com/faqs/driving.htm

Agreed. Its not hard to do the conversion in your head! My car is in mph as it an import and I dont even think about it (although Im probably helped by the fact that I still think in mph and never really took to this metric system nonsense ) I really dont see why anyone would spend any kind of significant money changing their clocks over.

creedp

djimi wrote: »

Agreed. Its not hard to do the conversion in your head! My car is in mph as it an import and I dont even think about it (although Im probably helped by the fact that I still think in mph and never really took to this metric system nonsense ) I really dont see why anyone would spend any kind of significant money changing their clocks over.

Agree with this view .. all you need to know is the kmph figure for 30, 40, 50, 60 and 75 mph. I don't even think about it anymore I simply look at the speed sigd and convert to mph before looking at speedometer. As said earlier the only reason to spend money on this conversion would be to disguise the fact that it is an import and there are other ways to detemine this

pa990

Blazer wrote: »

Why not just leave them as is?
It's not illegal to have them so just use the figures below in your head.
About halfway down they have the km/h and what the mile equivelant is.

http://www.all-ireland.com/faqs/driving.htm

personal choice..

Leonard Hofstadter

All cars with mph clocks show kph anyway.

While I would always rather a car with kph clocks, I have driven cars with mph clocks, and I've managed it:)!

Wheelnut

I have left the MPH dial in for 30 months! I would like to change for a few reasons: signs here are in Km so it would save the mental arithmetic, I drive other cars with Km dials and I have to adjust every time I change to the MPH car, the Km dial looks cleaner and the Km markings on the MPH speedometer are too small to be useful. I certainly would not spend a fortune getting it changed but I would be willing to spend the forty-odd quid quoted on that link. Finally, I am not trying to disguise the fact that it's an import, why would I do that? It's too easily found out.

thesraid

Hi,
did you ever get it changed after? I'm in the market for a second hand BMW and all of the ones I see have MPH. It's very annoying as the km/h section is very hard to see.

Wheelnut

If that question is for me: no. I still have the MPH clock and I use the speed read-out of my satnav for Km/hour.