fix of poor solder joints in cluster on my 11/88 E32 750iL cluster with grey backplate
these pictures show the joints resoldered
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/h...terrepair1.JPG
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/h...terrepair3.JPG
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/h...terrepair4.JPG
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/569942/
symptoms:
The car sitting for a week (too hot and no air con) then today I drove it to work. Was OK before. Now fuel level and temperature gauges don't move, dash OBC display and gear position "E" "D" all dead. On freeway there was no light of any sort from the dash. Checked the fuses in the engine bay to look all good. Slammed the dash top no use. The 750 runs best ever otherwise. I have changed instrument cluster capacitors six years ago.
Is this just contact problem and I have to pull out the instrument cluster board to reseat the connectors? OR some other known problem? Patrick C 88 750 159K
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I had a similar prob and we fixed it. There are 3 bulbs on the grey cluster for the illumination of the speedometer, RPM meter, the fuel and temp indication. These are in series as far as I understand. When slapping on the dashboard the lights on temp indicator came on. We switched the cpl. bulb with socket with the middle one, fault moved. Turned out to be a slightly burned bulb holder, the bulb was o.k. The RPM indicator as well as the econometer moved sometimes not or erratically. Soldering of some points solved that (cold solderings). The check control has separate bulbs, and the brightness of these bulbs is not controlled by the light dimmer, but by the light sensor in the middle of the cluster.
As you have no light at all, I would first pull the cluster, spray the contacts with contact cleaner, reseat them.