Some Q's on newbees -94 520iA T

[tibbe]

Hi.

I'm Sven-Erik Tiberg living in norht sweden and new to this forum but old on bimmer ( BMW MC ) internet communities.

Bougth a -94 520iA Touring (http://survey.ltu.se/movies/bimmer/PICT0002.JPG) last week in germany, couldn't resist 135.000km on tacho and as new inside for appr. 3.200 3.200US$.

Got some small fixes to do that I would appreciate your collected knowledge to make:

Have some problem with the radio, the display are half yellow even at turned off ( new radio? if so any modern radio?) and it doesn't fetch som many stations. Antenna ampl.? how to check?

Shift indicator on the dashboard, the characters are sometimes missing some dots ( both shift and program char ). What to do?

Inpections check - reset, any way to do it by myselves.

Rear winscreen wiper, stops sometimes half way up, is it the wires running into the chassi.

And finally, tried to removed the inner part of the rear door ( touring ) that includes the tool panel, loosended many screews but it's still fastended somewhere in the lowest part.

BTW: it's fun to work on a new brand of car, been working on AUDI's for 15y now latest a 5000 CS Wagon. Well it's not all new to me had a 2000TiLux many years ago. Interested in how it's like to drive a RWD car after many years with AWD on winterroads half year.

-- BG --
Sven-Erik Tiberg
Lulea / Sweden

[Rory]

Hi.

I'm Sven-Erik Tiberg living in norht sweden and new to this forum but old on bimmer ( BMW MC ) internet communities.

Bougth a -94 520iA Touring (http://survey.ltu.se/movies/bimmer/PICT0002.JPG)last week in germany, couldn't resist 135.000km on tacho and as new inside for appr. 3.200 3.200US$.

Got some small fixes to do that I would appreciate your collected knowledge to make:
Congrats, should be a nice addition to the stable.


Have some problem with the radio, the display are half yellow even at turned off ( new radio? if so any modern radio?) and it doesn't fetch som many stations. Antenna ampl.? how to check?
Display sounds like a bulb is dead, you can call the manufacturer (Alpine or Pioneer) and get replacements for a couple dollars (or Euro's ;) ) each. Then it is popping the cover off the radio and soldering them into place. It is really quite simple. If some stations aren't there, pull the radio out (two set screws on each side under the flaps) and see if the antenna is loose or not hooked up.



Shift indicator on the dashboard, the characters are sometimes missing some dots ( both shift and program char ). What to do?
Sounds like the LCD may be on its way out. Do the dots ever appear in the "missing" spaces"? Probably the easiest thing to do for replacement would be to replace the cluster with a used one rather than trying to find the indicator.



Inpections check - reset, any way to do it by myselves.
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/electrical/e36_reset_service_lights.html
Note: Any way you want to jumper will work (Wire or paper clip).



Rear winscreen wiper, stops sometimes half way up, is it the wires running into the chassi.
Can't help you there, never dealt with the rear wiper....Sorry.



And finally, tried to removed the inner part of the rear door ( touring ) that includes the tool panel, loosended many screews but it's still fastended somewhere in the lowest part.
http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/maintenance/Body/DoorRemoval.htm



BTW: it's fun to work on a new brand of car, been working on AUDI's for 15y now latest a 5000 CS Wagon. Well it's not all new to me had a 2000TiLux many years ago. Interested in how it's like to drive a RWD car after many years with AWD on winterroads half year.
It can be kind of fun. E34's are great in the snow with a good set of snow shoes. Enjoy!!

Best,
Rory

[tibbe]

hi

Thanks for replies, will try remove the radio tomorrow.
BTW. had a look at the 2004 ETK, it's the base of the toolbox in the trunk door of a Touring that I like to remove.

About winter wheels: we are using wheels with spikes and in my 0.02$ opinion we use to have as narrow tyres as possible ( would guess for 195/65 for the 520i ) to compress the snow as much as possible while driving to get more friction.
I know it's fun to skid, use to balance the front and back side slip on my Audi AWD by giving more or less gas. Did a donut arround the front wheels last winter on our ice-roads, would probably be possible to do it with a X model with the tracktion and slide controll dissengaged.

About the dots in the dashboard shift indicator, it comes on and off from day to day, haven't seen any pattern of the disfuntion yet. Can a poor battery / alternator give this fault.

-- BG --
Sven-Erik