I tried asking this on JeepForum, but no one knew, so I thought I would ask here.

My 2012 Liberty Jet has bad instrument cluster lighting. Temp gauge does not light up. Fuel flickers, sometimes the tach flickers.
LED Backlighting, so no bulbs to replace.
Everything else in it works fine.
So without thinking, I bought a used cluster, then found out it need to be coded to the vehicle.
So my question is, does it REALLY need to be synced by the dealer to the vehicle?
I mean if all it does is mess up the mileage, I really don't care. Legally, where I live, all I need to do is record the mileage before and after the replacement.

If I do have to pay the dealership, will it work unconfigured enough for me to test the lighting. I would hate to spend money to find the new is just as bad or worse than the original.

Not to familiar with later models, but just out of curistory have you checked the plug in connectors on the back of the instrument cluster? Just for the heck of it, I would unplug and reconnect the plug in connector several times and see if it makes any difference in case you have a bad connection somewhere.

Also, have you done a hard reset on the OBC's? if not, disconnect the negative battery cable and leave it off for about 15 minutes, then reconnect it and see if it helps any.
Good luck!

You could also check the wiring for power and grounds along with the power feed for the lights.
Kinda sounds like you may have a ground problem based on some of your issues?

But being it is much later model than what many of us are familiar with, it could be a BCM (body computer) problem if all the things are controlled through it.
Studying a wiring diagram could provide some insight as to how it is controlled and where it gets its signals from.
I would have thought that a digital mileage display would get its numbers that are stored in the PCM or BCM, so it would not make any difference what instrument cluster head you plug in, it would still show the correct mileage. Now changing the OBC would require reprograming with the current mileage...

Found this picture on line, this is what the back side of the cluster looks like, it shows several connections.

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Supporting Vendor and Moderator of LOST
05 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited
Ironman Springs/Bilstein/Shocks
Yeti StgIV Hot Tune
Week's BatteryTray
No FCV/EGR
Samcos/ProVent
SunCoast/Transgo
Carter Intank-pmp
2mic.Sec.Fuel Filter
Flowmaster/NO CAT
V6Airbox/noVH
GM11 Bld.fan/HDClutch
IronrockArms/wwdieselMount
98 Dodge Cummins 24 Valve

The cluster (CCN) does back up the vehicle config from the TIPM. If what is broadcast on the bus is different than what is stored, it should update automatically, just key on without starting, count to 5, and key off. Everything should work after that.

The original info is still stored so a dealer would be able to tell it was swapped from a different VIN and as you mentioned the odometer would be off. The good news is the odometer and VIN on these is really easy to reprogram if you have an eeprom editor like a CH341A. I've upgraded my sport base cluster twice, once to the midline and once to the high end one and was able to get the odometer to match on both.

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2008 Liberty Sport
OME Lift, JBA A-Arms + Track Bar
245/75/16 Nokian Rotiiva AT Plus
Numerous junkyard upgrades

Thanks so much for that. Just the information I needed.
Sadly I do not have an eeprom editor. It is on the list of things I want to add to my tech hoard, but has not happened yet.