Instrument panel swap?

[jhammy]

Hello, I just bought my first Subaru and am really excited. However, I fear I may be scammed by the guy who sold it to me with some un repaired damage or strange replacement parts.

 

When I use cruise control I noticed there was no light that comes on the instrument panel. I also noticed that there was no gear indicator in the field on the panel. Doing some reasearch the panel in my 2005 Forester appears to be the same from an 04 Forester and not look like the 05. If you look at the gas gauge there is a gear indicator there and I don't see this when I google 2005 Forester instrument panel...Is it possible to swap theese out or am I just really overlooking something? The vehicle is definitely a 2005 as this is what the title shows and VIN matches.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

[lmdew]

The panels do swap for the most part.  There are some year to year differences on the plugs on the rear of the gauge cluster.

I've changed lots of panels in the 95-2002 range sometimes because a speedometer failed or the clock was not working...  If you have a different panel that is not an indication someone did something wrong.

[idosubaru]

Yep get an 05 panel and plug it in.

Theyre usually cheap and easy to exchange.

Takes an hour or less.

Www.car-part.com

 

If the price tag was for a 50,000 mile vehicle and it originally had 250,000, that’s a more notable issue.

 

Too bad you didn’t notice this when test driving.

 

I’m Assuming the cluster isn’t part of the “married” CANBUS or immobilizer systems which started around 05+. Which I don’t think can be the case if someone did just plug and play swap it.

Edited March 9, 2018 by idosubaru