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Re: E28 jumpy gauges

>From: ben thongsai <bthongsa@domain.elided>
>Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 06:38:52 -0500 (CDT)
>Subject: Re: E28 jumpy gauges
>
>> From: Brian.Foster@domain.elided
>>
>> The 1985 E I just picked up had a similar problem... everytime I stepped on 
>> the brake pedal, I'd get a "pop" which would cause an sporadic drop of the 
>> speedometer, the check light to come on flashing, and occasionally a 
>> failure of the radio.
>> 
>> As it turns out, the latest Tech Talk Column from Craig @ Brecht BMW (Sept 
>> Fahren Affairs that's on its way) addressed this problem with one of two 
>> potential culprits: drained batteries on the gauge cluster PWB or a bad 
>> circuit on this same PWB. In my case, I had both. It sounds to me, that the 
>> car is probably old enough that all you really need to do is have a 
>> mechanic with decent PWB soldering skills check over the board, look for 
>> lifted traces, and replace the battery.
>
>Another thing you may want to check if you suffer from this problem
>(occasional radio failure and speedo, especially when hitting bumps and
>stepping on the brake) are the fuses.  The E28 still uses the old
>style ceramic fuses, and the contacts do get dirty, loose, and corroded.
>Dirty/loose fuses for the check control, speedo, radio/brake light can and
>do cause symptoms such as these.  As with the 2002 and older cars, it's
>not a bad idea to replace the fuses every couple of years.
>
>Hope this helps,
>Ben
Hi. As it turns out, I have recently acquired an 87 535is. I had owned a
528e previously, and had the exact same problem. 3 things corrected the
problem: 1. replace the fuse in the holder currently, and 2 use emery cloth
to clean the contacts at both ends of the fuse holder. 3. bend the fuse
holder inward slightly more than it is now, to assure good contact. Since
I've done this, the problem has not reoccured. I hope this helps. CHEERS!!
Gerry Rovner
gerryr@domain.elided
ph  408-654-8221
FTP Software
1987 535is
1993 Jetta
ex 1982 528e
1977 320i
1972 2002