E34 Instrument Cluster issues

[jasrob]

Ever since I purchased my E34 over 3 years ago, I have had problems with the instrument cluster. I understand that this is quite a common issue with E34s. Originally it was just the fuel gauge that didn't work, but I have had issues with the instrument lights, the speedo working intermittently, the tacometer and economy gauge seizing up and now the temperature gauge reading incorrectly. I have tried a few things to get it working again - I replaced the capacitors as instructed on the www.bmwe34.net site, but this did not change anything. My mechanic suggested that the solder joints go bad where the connectors attach to the board, so I de-soldered and re-soldered all of them, but made things better in some areas and worse in others.

Anyway, I think it's time I stopped wasting my time and energy and purchased a replacement board - I'm not exactly sure where to start looking, but I did find some rebuilt boards selling for USD$140 on Ebay. Has anyone else had the same experience and bought a rebuilt board? Any suggestions who I might buy one off? Is there anything I need to look out for?

Appreciate any help you can give!

[BMWDriver]

Try another cluster if you can? I think in the classifieds there are parts cars. Could be less of a hassle.

[BMWDriver]

Just your luck too, two 535i 1989 for parts are up in them thar classifieds here.

[Claude]

Ever since I purchased my E34 over 3 years ago, I have had problems with the instrument cluster. I understand that this is quite a common issue with E34s. Originally it was just the fuel gauge that didn't work, but I have had issues with the instrument lights, the speedo working intermittently, the tacometer and economy gauge seizing up and now the temperature gauge reading incorrectly. I have tried a few things to get it working again - I replaced the capacitors as instructed on the www.bmwe34.net site, but this did not change anything. My mechanic suggested that the solder joints go bad where the connectors attach to the board, so I de-soldered and re-soldered all of them, but made things better in some areas and worse in others.

Anyway, I think it's time I stopped wasting my time and energy and purchased a replacement board - I'm not exactly sure where to start looking, but I did find some rebuilt boards selling for USD$140 on Ebay. Has anyone else had the same experience and bought a rebuilt board? Any suggestions who I might buy one off? Is there anything I need to look out for?

Appreciate any help you can give!

I had the same experience last year, i got a reconditioned board from eBay for my 535-1989 for almost the same price you figure you'll pay minus a certain amount returned when they received my old board. It does the job for me, no intermittence since. Like some boddy else mentioned you have to get the same board version as the one you already have (my car wah build after 03-1989 so the coding plug (the memory chip that keep the milage of the car in) was un plug in type on the back of the board... the alternative for car build before 03-1989 is a coding plug build in the cabling outside of the board. A bit tricky to explane having already your cluster on hand you certainly understand what i means.

The other very important point when you swap and reinstall the board / cluster is to clean all the connectors (male and female) with appropreate spray and push firmly on the connectors (make sure they all do good contact on all leads)... you had to play a bit with thoses connections when reinstalling the new board, first impression was that the new one create an other problem (OBC no longer work... ) but in fact everything goes fine when you play a bit with all those connections. By the way don't play (open/close those connector) when the contact key is ON put it on OFF position before and try again in the ON position after.

That's my experience. Good luck.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

try to find a whole cluster on Ebay to rule out any guage issues.

Pay close attention to the color of your board case. 1989 White case? There are three types... no coding plug on the board, white & blue, and they don't interchange.

also make sure that your coding plug is on the board, not on the wire loom.