swapping wiper stalk

[Gryffindor]

My last offshoot from the earlier COM2000 variants thread.

In all the excitement over cruise control, one of my original questions got left behind, and is still a problem.

Quick recap: I want to upgrade my MFD to a 3-line one; I already have the display and external temp sensor. I have read the threads on doing it, including being able to pop the end off the wiper stalk and stick a cotton bud stalk in it to operate the trip meter functions.

But my stalk won't allow that. Its end 'button' is part of the same moulding as the whole end of the stalk, down to where it rotates, and when that is pulled off there is a great big plastic prong inside, so I would at least need to swap the whole of the end of the stalk.

I will take photos of it tomorrow.

But even if I did, this prong limits what I can swap it with, and also I can't see anything - switch or button or PCB track - in the exposed end of the stalk by the base of the prong that a cotton bud stalk could press. So I think I have to replace the whole stalk.

Question 1: can wiper stalks simply be unplugged from the com2o00 while it is still installed, or (as I think likely) do I have to open up the com2000 to be able to swap the stalk over?

If that is the case, then swapping stalks is pointless - I might as well swap the whole com2000 for one with the right type of stalk.

Question 2: going by online data and photos, my com2000 is more basic than some, and of the three multi-way connectors on the back, one of them (in photos online at least) has a sticker over it and may even be missing:

online photo supposedly (if correct) of the back of a 96530926XT which is what I have:
   
https://eurofrance24.com/light-control-9...n-206.html

ditto of a 96530929XT:
   
https://eurofrance24.com/light-control-p...0-dav.html

This unit looks visually identical to the other one (if the website is any good).

The operation difference between these two units (if the website is any good) is that the latter has these extra features:

1. Rear fog lamp
   
2. Rear wiper control
   
3. On-board computer control
   

Other comm2000s have even more features, but research so far tells me that other comms of a similar visual shape to mine have the extra connector if one or more of these few extras are included in its functions.

Trouble is that I think no.3 may mean the trip-meter push button in the end of the wiper stalk, so it MAY (or may not) be the case that if I want a push-button wiper stalk I will need a comm2000 with the third connector - but if my current unit does not have one, then guess my car also has no cable to plug into it either!

But this all seems very odd - why do clusters have so many connectors anyway? Surely they would only need one with four pins (two power and two data) to connect to the BSI?

Question 3: would anyone have an idea what each connector block, especially the one probably missing on my unit, is for?

Question 4: I have limited my searches to other comms witha similar outline/profile to my one, to make sure that their stalks are compatible with each other. But if I can replace the whole com2000 with one that has a slightly different profile, then a whole lot more possibilities for finding a suitable one open up. Can I do that?

To explain the difference: my one has what I call 'perky cheeks' (the bulges by each stalk):

   

Not many comms have this profile. A lot more have 'droopy cheeks' like this:

   

TIA