Re: [E34] New 525i owner and some questions

["Ron Buchalski" <rbuchals@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Ben,


>Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2000 23:16:52 -0400
>From: Ben Ruset <bruset@domain.elided>
>Subject: [E34] New 525i owner and some questions
>
>Hello List,
>
>This is my first post. Yesterday I took delivery of a 1989 525i. It's a 
>really nice car, and seems really solid and well built.
>
>However, it has a few issues. Tonight as I was driving around, my digital 
>odometer, fuel gauge, and water temperature gauges went out. Sometimes they 
>would come back on almost immediately, other times they would not come back 
>on until the car had been shut off. I'm thinking that maybe there is a bad 
>ground or a loose wire somewhere?

Most of the ground wires are BROWN, and they connect to a few common 
grounding points under the dash.  Your best bet is to buy the Bentley's 
manual for the E34, which has a full section of wiring diagrams in the back. 
  It'll take a little while to understand what's going on with wiring, but 
it's in the manual.

Did the speedo and tach still work?  I believe that the entire instrument 
cluster uses a common ground.  If that's the case, you may need to take the 
gauge cluster out and look for loose connections.

>Secondly, the diagnostics are telling me that the bake linings are worn. 
>Supposedly the car has new brakes (I saw the old pads so I know

I just did a complete brake job on my E34 525iT, and two days later the 
brake wear warning came on.  It turns out that I left too much slack in the 
wire for the right rear wear sensor, and it rubbed against the inside of the 
wheel until it wore through the wire.  I simply replaced the wear sensor and 
the warning went away.  The brakes are brand new.

>it has to have new parts in there). The display for the diagnostics is 
>pretty dark so I am thinking either I have a burnt out bulb there or 
>something electrical is giving erroneous readings to the diagnostics. When 
>I step on the brake pedal the backlight for the odometer dims. It sounds to 
>me like a bad ground somewhere.

Are you talking about the display to the right of the radio?  It has either 
two or three light bulbs in it, so it's possible that one or more is burned 
out.  To remove it you must first pull the radio out of the dash.  Then pull 
the lever to release the computer module.  The lever is hard to pull, and 
you may feel like you're ready to break something, but that's the way it 
works.

>Where should I start troubleshooting?
>
>Lastly, the backlighting for the temperature dials on the climate control 
>is not working. How do I get back there and change those bulbs?

It depends on the year of your car.  My '93 has a climate control panel that 
must be removed and COMPLETELY disassembled to replace the bulb, which plugs 
onto the circuit board.  Later models use a bulb that can be replaced 
without completely disassembling the unit.  It's a PITA.

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