1. It has a cold start problem. It's been the worst lately, since the temp. is getting down into the 30s in the morning now. It takes ~10 secs. of cranking to start, and I have to stay on the gas for a little bit for it to keep running. When the temp. is in the 60s or 70s, it takes about 5 seconds of cranking for the first start of the day; starts after that are like they should be. What things should I check first?

2. The instrument panel likes to act up sometimes. The speedo or tach will "freeze" for a second, or sometimes, will take a few seconds to register when the car is started. Oh, and the light on the right side of the dash doesn't work now after I took the instrument panel out...

3. My car, like plenty of other E30s, has some wheel shimmy. It starts ~55 and goes to about 70. I've heard it might be the control arm bushings. Is that correct?

1] keep in mind long cranking is often problematic.............hit the wrong key.......be right back

ONE] as I was saying, 'slightly' long cranking isn't uncommon on these early DME 1.1 systems but yours sounds too long.

1] make sure the plugs, cap & rotor and filters are in good condition.
2] check the intake air hoses for cranks or breaks
3] if they're old, replace the DME MAin & Fuel Pump Relays
4] IF you have access to some more advanced tools, we could proceed from here [ fuel press. gauge, DVOM, etc..]

TWO] the cluster problem sounds like the 'Main Board' NOT the SI Board. The Main Board irs the one EVERYthing plugs into. The lamp problem is likely an old bulb, there are 2 illumination bulbs for the cluster.
The 2 larger round sockets on the back of the board hold them. The bulb # is 197 or comparible.

THREE] While cracked bushings can cause BE SURE to check the inner & outer balljoints and the tie rods, they can get very loose. You might know how sensitive these cars are to wheel balance. Have done by a reputable shop and request a 'Zero' or 'Fine' balancing after making sure the wheel are not bent [ ZERO Run-out ! ]

Best to you, hope this helped.

ONE] as I was saying, 'slightly' long cranking isn't uncommon on these early DME 1.1 systems but yours sounds too long.

1] make sure the plugs, cap & rotor and filters are in good condition.
2] check the intake air hoses for cranks or breaks
3] if they're old, replace the DME MAin & Fuel Pump Relays
4] IF you have access to some more advanced tools, we could proceed from here [ fuel press. gauge, DVOM, etc..]

TWO] the cluster problem sounds like the 'Main Board' NOT the SI Board. The Main Board irs the one EVERYthing plugs into. The lamp problem is likely an old bulb, there are 2 illumination bulbs for the cluster.
The 2 larger round sockets on the back of the board hold them. The bulb # is 197 or comparible.

THREE] While cracked bushings can cause BE SURE to check the inner & outer balljoints and the tie rods, they can get very loose. You might know how sensitive these cars are to wheel balance. Have done by a reputable shop and request a 'Zero' or 'Fine' balancing after making sure the wheel are not bent [ ZERO Run-out ! ]

Best to you, hope this helped.

ONE]

1]Filters are, I'll have to check the condition of the plugs, cap, and rotor.
2]The intake air hoses are fine.
3]I think these relays do need replacing.
4]The fuel pressure was ok, maybe it is the temp. sensor???

TWO] Once I had the cruise control set, and the speedometer started to swing back and forth between 0 and about 60 and cruise control stopped working. I switched it off and accelerated back to the speed I was at, turned it back on, and its been fine since. About the light, the wierd thing is that it was right after I took the instrument panel out. I took it out a second time and made sure everything was plugged in correctly and whatnot. The light worked once after that, and then stopped working again.

Thanks for all the help, man. It's much appreciated.