Dash lights and funky instruments

[Al Gray]

Our 1992 525i now has 223,000 miles on it. My son, Sean, is the driver and when I was in the car the other day I noticed a number of lights were out in the dash plus the instrument needles were bouncing all over the place.

I went on the website and got the fix for the dash lights, the instrument panel should come out fairly easily because the wheel telscopes. I will replace all the lights but I am a little reticent about repairing the capacitors that need to be replaced to remedy the needles bouncing all over the place. Has anyone done this fix before or would it be better to take the instrument panel to a place that routinely fixes these things? I am just afraid of screwing something up and making it worse.

Any help would be appreciated.

Al Gray (age 62 and still kickin' ass)

[Interceptor]

If you're not good with soldering, take it to someone who repairs electronics. If you disassemble it by yourself and take them only the PCB, they shouldn't charge you too much since capacitors are cheap and it takes only a couple of minutes to replace them.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Easy fix with a few $ in new capacitors.

Make sure you use the 105 degree caps....The 85s won't last in an automotive application.

[BMWDriver]

I replaced all of mine earlier this summer. Fairly easy if you have done electronic soldering before. These were the capcitors, only one of each:

1000µF 16V
220µF 16V
4.7µF 63V

I expect you'll have the same blue backcover cluster as mine. You should go for higher voltage, that is often recommended. This is what I used:

1000 µF 100V, a bit of a tight fit, so watch for size.
220µF 25V
4.7µF axial 80V

Everything has been good since.

[Al Gray]

Did you buy the capacitors from Radio Shack, an auto parts store or someplace else. What was the approximate cost for the capacitors. Also, did you replace all the instrument lights while you had the instrument cluster out to do the reparis?


I replaced all of mine earlier this summer. Fairly easy if you have done electronic soldering before. These were the capcitors, only one of each:

1000µF 16V
220µF 16V
4.7µF 63V

I expect you'll have the same blue backcover cluster as mine. You should go for higher voltage, that is often recommended. This is what I used:

1000 µF 100V, a bit of a tight fit, so watch for size.
220µF 25V
4.7µF axial 80V

Everything has been good since.

[Warren N.CA]

Our 1992 525i now has 223,000 miles on it. My son, Sean, is the driver and when I was in the car the other day I noticed a number of lights were out in the dash plus the instrument needles were bouncing all over the place.

I went on the website and got the fix for the dash lights, the instrument panel should come out fairly easily because the wheel telscopes. I will replace all the lights but I am a little reticent about repairing the capacitors that need to be replaced to remedy the needles bouncing all over the place. Has anyone done this fix before or would it be better to take the instrument panel to a place that routinely fixes these things? I am just afraid of screwing something up and making it worse.

Any help would be appreciated.

Al Gray (age 62 and still kickin' ass)

This is a job for a person who is skilled at removing components from a printed circuit board. Otherwise traces might be burned off the board. It is also necessary to identify parts accurately and source suitable replacements, from distributor catalogs. Forget Radio Shack. It might be difficult to find a repair facility with the skill set to accomplish this.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Did you buy the capacitors from Radio Shack, an auto parts store or someplace else. What was the approximate cost for the capacitors. Also, did you replace all the instrument lights while you had the instrument cluster out to do the reparis?

I picked mine up from Digikey.com

Before you order anything, open up the cluster and take a look at what you need. Some boards have 4 or caps.

Rememeber to get he 105 degree ones.

[ScottyWM]

I would think it would be a lot easier to just replace the whole cluster - that's what I did. $40 and 30 minutes and you're done.

[Bill R.]

For my own car i picked them up locally from an electronics store, not a radio shack, a small business electronics parts house.
For ones i have done since then i got them from digikey.
There are a number of different cluster boards requiring different numbers of and values of capacitors. Take yours out first and make a list of the caps needed. On my own a friend and i soldered them in , on ones done since then i take them to a customer who has a radio repair shop and he does it for me since he has the practice and the small tip soldering irons that i don't have.
I then treat every plug and connector with stabilant 22a....

[mzarifkar]

I had a problem with my dash lights jumping around like it was vegas. I sourced a new Dash from a junkyard car, switched over the mileage and VIN chip, and for $40 had it fixed. removing the dash is easy, but make sure to protect the outcoming dash clear plastic window, from abrasing against the steering column, by covering it with a soft clean towel.

[BMWDriver]

Radio Shack is not the right place to get specific capacitors. They only sell bags of mixed capacitors, often without what you need exactly. I went to two different places specialized in electronics. The capacitors cost around $1-$3 or less.

The bulbs I replaced a few years back.

The hard part is opening up the cluster to get to the printed circuit board. Some of the plastic broke, but just little pieces. Also, if it's never been opened before, the pc board is held in place with a bit of melted plastic, which is not too hard to undo.