[2003 VW Jetta Cluster]

Feel free to call. It's been several years and that was the only VW cluster I've ever dealt with but I can try working through the cob webs in my brain. I'd say first compare my cluster pics to yours. They may be the same or completely different. Happy to help however I can.

[2003 VW Jetta Cluster]

Years ago, I had one on a 2000 VW Jetta I worked on.  Blown capacitor and burned up trace.  I used eeprom equipment to pull a .bin dump from the bad cluster and saved it to the eeprom on a donor cluster off ebay.  I'd imagine the process could be the same if you wanted to give it a go.  Otherwise, follow James' advice.  Touch up the solder joints and see if anything looks bad / wrong.

On mine, I shipped it to some place in Massachusetts but they declined and sent it back.  Full write up here if it helps any: 

 

[I/O terminal]

I've never swapped an ECU before, but it sounds like a capable bit of equipment, however, going through the list on the website, it's not apparent to me what I'd use it for.  Is it just ECU's only?  It's probably just because it's Friday, and my head has already left for the weekend!

If I could suggest, as you solve problems with this tool, take detailed notes, pics, and/or video and post them here.  The more we as a group see the potential in real world scenarios, the more we can start to understand it and appreciate the situations where it would be invaluable.