1988 735i instrument cluster

I live in California and have owned a 735i 5 spd (grey market import)
for almost 7 years. There have always been little problems like the
drivers side seat controls not working or the miles per hour gauge not
working. Now my mechanic says the instrument cluster has to be
replaced. This makes sense since on a regular basis the only gauge
working is the RPM's! Yep, a bit of problem if I'm going on long
drives with no engine temp or fuel gauge. Does anyone know how to fix
this or where I could get an instrument cluster. The BMW is now my
second car, it has approx. 234k miles on it and worth about $2,000.00,
so it's hard to justify a huge expense. But it drives beautifully and
I'd love to have it for awhile longer. Thanks in advance!

Judging by the pictures on
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...59&hg=62&fg=05
your e32 instrument cluster is very similar to the one in my e30. The
individual instruments within your cluster can be replaced without too much
trouble. Sometimes the instruments can be repaired by simply removing them
and cleaning the contacts with contact cleaner solvent purchased at an
electronics supply house. I drove my '84 318i to 340k miles and replaced
every instrument in it except the speedo during that time. These
instruments all came from a used cluster that I bought on Ebay for $75 which
had a bad speedo which is how I learned that the individual instruments can
be replaced. If you're lucky everything will work on the used cluster and
you can just swap it. It's not really a big deal to remove the cluster. By
the third time I could get it out in less than 15 minutes. Don't believe it
if your manual says that you have to remove the steering wheel. My e30
Bentley manual said the wheel had to be removed but it was not true - not
even that close. So have a look on Ebay or in your local junk yard. When
you get done you will be even more attached to your beautiful car.
Good Luck
Jack

"David" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I live in California and have owned a 735i 5 spd (grey market import)
> for almost 7 years. There have always been little problems like the
> drivers side seat controls not working or the miles per hour gauge not
> working. Now my mechanic says the instrument cluster has to be
> replaced. This makes sense since on a regular basis the only gauge
> working is the RPM's! Yep, a bit of problem if I'm going on long
> drives with no engine temp or fuel gauge. Does anyone know how to fix
> this or where I could get an instrument cluster. The BMW is now my
> second car, it has approx. 234k miles on it and worth about $2,000.00,
> so it's hard to justify a huge expense. But it drives beautifully and
> I'd love to have it for awhile longer. Thanks in advance!
>

I have the same car. The cluster sometimes blinks out and then on again.
First, most of the info is on the small dash computer. They want one
thousand dollars to fix it. I know this isn't the solution, but when it goes
out, I smack the top of the dashboard toward the right side. It comes on and
stays on. So I know it's a contact problem. Mine is a cream puff with 140k
miles on it. I think it will run another 20 years. Good luck to you.

"Jack" > wrote in message
news:MVr3h.2719$bg7.1766@trndny04...
> Judging by the pictures on
> http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...59&hg=62&fg=05
> your e32 instrument cluster is very similar to the one in my e30. The
> individual instruments within your cluster can be replaced without too
much
> trouble. Sometimes the instruments can be repaired by simply removing
them
> and cleaning the contacts with contact cleaner solvent purchased at an
> electronics supply house. I drove my '84 318i to 340k miles and replaced
> every instrument in it except the speedo during that time. These
> instruments all came from a used cluster that I bought on Ebay for $75
which
> had a bad speedo which is how I learned that the individual instruments
can
> be replaced. If you're lucky everything will work on the used cluster and
> you can just swap it. It's not really a big deal to remove the cluster.
By
> the third time I could get it out in less than 15 minutes. Don't believe
it
> if your manual says that you have to remove the steering wheel. My e30
> Bentley manual said the wheel had to be removed but it was not true - not
> even that close. So have a look on Ebay or in your local junk yard. When
> you get done you will be even more attached to your beautiful car.
> Good Luck
> Jack
>
> "David" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >I live in California and have owned a 735i 5 spd (grey market import)
> > for almost 7 years. There have always been little problems like the
> > drivers side seat controls not working or the miles per hour gauge not
> > working. Now my mechanic says the instrument cluster has to be
> > replaced. This makes sense since on a regular basis the only gauge
> > working is the RPM's! Yep, a bit of problem if I'm going on long
> > drives with no engine temp or fuel gauge. Does anyone know how to fix
> > this or where I could get an instrument cluster. The BMW is now my
> > second car, it has approx. 234k miles on it and worth about $2,000.00,
> > so it's hard to justify a huge expense. But it drives beautifully and
> > I'd love to have it for awhile longer. Thanks in advance!
> >
>
>

> I live in California and have owned a 735i 5 spd (grey market import)
> for almost 7 years. There have always been little problems like the
> drivers side seat controls not working or the miles per hour gauge not
> working. Now my mechanic says the instrument cluster has to be
> replaced. This makes sense since on a regular basis the only gauge
> working is the RPM's! Yep, a bit of problem if I'm going on long
> drives with no engine temp or fuel gauge. Does anyone know how to fix
> this or where I could get an instrument cluster.

Look for a US company called Programa (maybe with two m's), they
refrbish them. They have an advert in the ROundel usually.

--
Who needs a life when you've got Unix? :-)
Email: , John G.Burns B.Eng, Bonny Scotland
Web : http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk - The Ultimate BMW Homepage!
Need Sun or HP Unix kit? http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/unix.html
www.Strathspey.co.uk - Quality Binoculars at a Sensible price

Check out this E-Bay Seller by the name of Euro-Electric, they sell
refurbished clusters for a reasonable price (as well as swords and other
stuff), I do not have personal experience with them but understand
through our local club that others have had good service.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E...QQcmdZViewItem

The link is pretty long so may not come through correctly, try cutting
and pasting to make it work.

Good luck, Bob

Anthony Wilson wrote:
> I have the same car. The cluster sometimes blinks out and then on again.
> First, most of the info is on the small dash computer. They want one
> thousand dollars to fix it. I know this isn't the solution, but when it goes
> out, I smack the top of the dashboard toward the right side. It comes on and
> stays on. So I know it's a contact problem. Mine is a cream puff with 140k
> miles on it. I think it will run another 20 years. Good luck to you.
>
> "Jack" > wrote in message
> news:MVr3h.2719$bg7.1766@trndny04...
>> Judging by the pictures on
>> http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...59&hg=62&fg=05
>> your e32 instrument cluster is very similar to the one in my e30. The
>> individual instruments within your cluster can be replaced without too
> much
>> trouble. Sometimes the instruments can be repaired by simply removing
> them
>> and cleaning the contacts with contact cleaner solvent purchased at an
>> electronics supply house. I drove my '84 318i to 340k miles and replaced
>> every instrument in it except the speedo during that time. These
>> instruments all came from a used cluster that I bought on Ebay for $75
> which
>> had a bad speedo which is how I learned that the individual instruments
> can
>> be replaced. If you're lucky everything will work on the used cluster and
>> you can just swap it. It's not really a big deal to remove the cluster.
> By
>> the third time I could get it out in less than 15 minutes. Don't believe
> it
>> if your manual says that you have to remove the steering wheel. My e30
>> Bentley manual said the wheel had to be removed but it was not true - not
>> even that close. So have a look on Ebay or in your local junk yard. When
>> you get done you will be even more attached to your beautiful car.
>> Good Luck
>> Jack
>>
>> "David" > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
>>> I live in California and have owned a 735i 5 spd (grey market import)
>>> for almost 7 years. There have always been little problems like the
>>> drivers side seat controls not working or the miles per hour gauge not
>>> working. Now my mechanic says the instrument cluster has to be
>>> replaced. This makes sense since on a regular basis the only gauge
>>> working is the RPM's! Yep, a bit of problem if I'm going on long
>>> drives with no engine temp or fuel gauge. Does anyone know how to fix
>>> this or where I could get an instrument cluster. The BMW is now my
>>> second car, it has approx. 234k miles on it and worth about $2,000.00,
>>> so it's hard to justify a huge expense. But it drives beautifully and
>>> I'd love to have it for awhile longer. Thanks in advance!
>>>
>>
>
>