some help

[Marijuanero]

some one help
recently all the gauges on the panel stoped working one by one on my 90 325i [xx
its a big deal beacause i dont no how fast im goin or how much gas i have or thr rpms, and the temperature gauge never worked since i got it
could this be an electrical problem or would i need to replace the panel

 

[Wadula]

good question. when the instrument cluster quits working it is quite often a fuse, but as you said they went off one by one i´m really puzzled

 

[echothreezero]

Pull it out and check all connections. check fuses etc. If still no go, you'll have to get a professional to look at it or replace it.

They have been known to go before, but not very often.

 

[C3 Motorsport]

There's also a sensor on the differential case that is sends speed info to the speedometer. If the sensor is damaged, or detached your speedometer/odometer will not function. As for the tach, check the Bentley for related fuses (I don't have mine in front of me). All of the guages in the e30 are electronic, not cable driven like some older cars. There are three main plugs on the back side of the cluster. A blue, yellow and white one. Make sure they are all seated firmly and not damaged.

If everything is okay, you may want to consider trying a replacement gauge cluster. You may not need to replace the whole thing, but you can get a used one on ebay usually for under $50 and you can swap guages between the two with minimal difficulty.

There's also a company here in Palo Alto, CA that specialized in speedo/guage cluster work. I think their website is www.paspeedo.com . They may also be a good source of info.

 

[ldzpstnr]

ITs more then likely the SI board or the SI board rechargable batteries. The is this thing inside teh gauge cluster called the Service Indicator board. It turns the little red, yellow, and green LED lights on in the guage cluster, there right below the check engine light. The SI board has rechargeable batteries in it that go out. Or the SI board could be fried. You can still get replacement SI boards from bmw or parts houses. This little board is suppose to tell you when to change the oil, green lights for good and red for bad obviously. All it does is watch how many miles you put on the car and what rpms the engine mainly runs and calculates when to change the oil.

The Tach and the Temp guages do not work in my car, and I am going to tare apart the cluster and try replacing the batteries... I hope the batteries are to blame, otherwise its the SI baord.

I highly doubt it is any fuses or connections, this is just what happens to our E30's. I have owned 3 E30's now and all have had guage problems because of the damn SI baord. Glad bmw dumped the idea after the E30.

The si board and the timing belt are the only stupid things bmw did on the E30, IN MY OPINION. Our engines are the ONLY bmw engine(to my knowledge) that has a timing belt. I would rather have chains.

Later guys and gals.

 

[Chesty Bonds]

My M42B18 has a timing chain...

 

[ldzpstnr]

I was meaning the M20 6 cylinder, not the other engines. The m10, s14, and m42 all have timing chains. Damn timing belts.

 

[echothreezero]

Si board frying may be it, but I don't think the batt will kill all the guages, although it can sometimes wreak havoc. I have removed my SI board for this reason - waste of time.

Also, if you don't have some of the features like ABS etc, often there will only be the blue and white plugs and no yellow.

 

[ldzpstnr]

Echothreeezero You removed your SI board from your car? DO the guages work without it? If so I will removed my stupid one and not deal with it anymore.

MOre then likely it is batteries, but sometimes the SI baords do burn up for some reason. I think the batteries are shot in my car, atleast I hope so when I try to fix it maybe next week.

There are differet models of guage clusters... there is the VDO units and the Motometer units. Not only that but dependant on year they had different wiring loom plugs. I beleive the 1985 and older had different styles of plugs but I may be wrong.

http://www.strictlyeta.net/ this website has a lot of good info about the guage clusters if I remember correectly. You can use either a VDO and a Motometer in your car IF the wire plugs are the same. SO if you just wanna buy a cluster off ebay you can, its easy to swap speedomoeters. BUT the TACHs WILL NOT interchange from VDO to Motormeter.... I have tried.

Later guys and gals

Aaron

 

[echothreezero]

Yeah, but all I removed was the small PCB that the leds are on - it just pulls out. I don't know if the rest of the board being left behind will still mean you have a fault, but I removed mine simply to get rid of the lights as I found them annoying and pointless. The yellow plug may also have something to do with the signal for the SI board, but I don't know - mine is unplugged and everything still works.