Service light reset??
- Thread starter Eeindee318i
- Start date
Internet search success!!
Found one on the internet afterall. Good old search engines, If anyone else needs the link its:
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html
Found one on the internet afterall. Good old search engines, If anyone else needs the link its:
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html
The most common problem with resetting the service lights is bad NiCad batteries in the instrument cluster. The batteries seem to fail pretty consistently after 4 years.
The symptoms of this are:
1. The inspection light comes on.
2. Resetting the light either doesn't work or works for a short period of time and then the inspection light comes back on.
To replace the batteries, first remove the instrument cluster from the dash. On the E30, that means first removing the plastic trim below the cluster (at the bottom of the dash just above the steering column) That exposes the bottom screws for a trim piece that wraps around the cluster (couple of screws on the bottom, couple up under the "eyelid") That, in turn, exposes the screws for the cluster itself. There are two (I think) on the bottom, and two on black tabs that stick forward from the top of the cluster. Remove them and pull the cluster forward and out. Take a good look before you unplug the wiring, there are 4 or 5 plugs you have to take out. Once you've seen it, you won't have trouble getting it back correctly, they are color and shape coded pretty well.
Now set the cluster face down on a table (careful not to scratch the plastic face!) On the back, there are several (about 8-10) screws, most around the edge, with one or two in the middle. Take them out, and the whole back will come off, and you will be able to see the board (It's the only board in there, along the bottom and goes most of the way from one end to the other). Remove the board.. to do that, you have to remove two things. One is the engine code plug which plugs in to the board from the opposite side (the outside of the instrument cluster). It is a plastic rectangle about 1"x1"x.5". You have to press a tab to unclip it and pull it out. The other thing holding the board is a plastic piece that is held in by one screw. Take the board out, and you will see the batteries in the middle.
Mine were two NiCad AA cells with something like "Varta 500 RST" on them. These are top of the line NiCads. You can replace them with standard replacements (e.g. Radio Shack AA NiCads), or if you have a good electronics store nearby, order them from Varta. Either one will have the same voltage, so work the same, but the Varta's will have more capacity, so last longer when you pull out the car battery, and perhaps not die as soon either. (The Varta's have 600 mAmp hours capacity vs 450 for the Radio Shack AAs. Both are 1.2V).
The old batteries are held on by tabs that are welded to the battery on one side, and soldered to the board on the other. Remove the solder with a solder-sucker or solder wick (again, see Radio Shack), straighten the pins and remove the batteries. Be sure to remember the polarity of the batteries for when you reinstall them. The original batteries are marked +/-, but the board isn't.
You have to rig up a way to solder the new batteries to the board. You can take the old mounting tabs off the old batteries, and remount them to the new ones, but that is tough. You can buy batteries with mounting tabs, the Varta's may come with them, I'm not sure. The Radio Shack tabs won't mount directly to the board, I cut them to fit. You could also rig up a wire to go from the tab to the board. Anyway, take a look at it. It's pretty easy to figure something out.
One warning, on my board the tabs were soldered to the board at one point on one end of each battery, and at two on the other end. It turns out that on the end with two connections, one of them is just for strength and has no electrical properties. I just soldered to the one, but if you aren't sure which is which by looking at the board, You can solder a small wire between the two holes and just mount the battery to one. My batteries originally had a small amount of glue holding them to the board. When I replaced them, I replaced it with some silicone gasket material to help keep the batteries from vibrating loose.
All that sounds complicated, but it's really not if you have a little soldering experience. The only things you have to be careful of are to not crack the board while you are playing with it (not a big deal, it is pretty rugged) and when you solder, don't create any bridges (shorts) between leads on the board. That's easy if you just don't use too much solder. It's probably a good idea to charge up the batteries before you install them if you can.
Then just reverse the steps to reassemble the cluster and reinstall it in the dash. Don't forget to put back in the engine code plug! You will have to reset the service interval indicator after you are done, of course
The symptoms of this are:
1. The inspection light comes on.
2. Resetting the light either doesn't work or works for a short period of time and then the inspection light comes back on.
To replace the batteries, first remove the instrument cluster from the dash. On the E30, that means first removing the plastic trim below the cluster (at the bottom of the dash just above the steering column) That exposes the bottom screws for a trim piece that wraps around the cluster (couple of screws on the bottom, couple up under the "eyelid") That, in turn, exposes the screws for the cluster itself. There are two (I think) on the bottom, and two on black tabs that stick forward from the top of the cluster. Remove them and pull the cluster forward and out. Take a good look before you unplug the wiring, there are 4 or 5 plugs you have to take out. Once you've seen it, you won't have trouble getting it back correctly, they are color and shape coded pretty well.
Now set the cluster face down on a table (careful not to scratch the plastic face!) On the back, there are several (about 8-10) screws, most around the edge, with one or two in the middle. Take them out, and the whole back will come off, and you will be able to see the board (It's the only board in there, along the bottom and goes most of the way from one end to the other). Remove the board.. to do that, you have to remove two things. One is the engine code plug which plugs in to the board from the opposite side (the outside of the instrument cluster). It is a plastic rectangle about 1"x1"x.5". You have to press a tab to unclip it and pull it out. The other thing holding the board is a plastic piece that is held in by one screw. Take the board out, and you will see the batteries in the middle.
Mine were two NiCad AA cells with something like "Varta 500 RST" on them. These are top of the line NiCads. You can replace them with standard replacements (e.g. Radio Shack AA NiCads), or if you have a good electronics store nearby, order them from Varta. Either one will have the same voltage, so work the same, but the Varta's will have more capacity, so last longer when you pull out the car battery, and perhaps not die as soon either. (The Varta's have 600 mAmp hours capacity vs 450 for the Radio Shack AAs. Both are 1.2V).
The old batteries are held on by tabs that are welded to the battery on one side, and soldered to the board on the other. Remove the solder with a solder-sucker or solder wick (again, see Radio Shack), straighten the pins and remove the batteries. Be sure to remember the polarity of the batteries for when you reinstall them. The original batteries are marked +/-, but the board isn't.
You have to rig up a way to solder the new batteries to the board. You can take the old mounting tabs off the old batteries, and remount them to the new ones, but that is tough. You can buy batteries with mounting tabs, the Varta's may come with them, I'm not sure. The Radio Shack tabs won't mount directly to the board, I cut them to fit. You could also rig up a wire to go from the tab to the board. Anyway, take a look at it. It's pretty easy to figure something out.
One warning, on my board the tabs were soldered to the board at one point on one end of each battery, and at two on the other end. It turns out that on the end with two connections, one of them is just for strength and has no electrical properties. I just soldered to the one, but if you aren't sure which is which by looking at the board, You can solder a small wire between the two holes and just mount the battery to one. My batteries originally had a small amount of glue holding them to the board. When I replaced them, I replaced it with some silicone gasket material to help keep the batteries from vibrating loose.
All that sounds complicated, but it's really not if you have a little soldering experience. The only things you have to be careful of are to not crack the board while you are playing with it (not a big deal, it is pretty rugged) and when you solder, don't create any bridges (shorts) between leads on the board. That's easy if you just don't use too much solder. It's probably a good idea to charge up the batteries before you install them if you can.
Then just reverse the steps to reassemble the cluster and reinstall it in the dash. Don't forget to put back in the engine code plug! You will have to reset the service interval indicator after you are done, of course
Read the linked article before you do this people - newer cars short 7 to 19, not 1.
No, won't be your steering rack - likely to be batt as very well described by Bunker.
The first time I took out my cluster, I worked it out myself- not hard, but would have been easier with a guide (no "OMG, OMG will I be able to get this back together?!" shit).![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")
No, won't be your steering rack - likely to be batt as very well described by Bunker.
The first time I took out my cluster, I worked it out myself- not hard, but would have been easier with a guide (no "OMG, OMG will I be able to get this back together?!" shit).