850i on board check

[paul161inf]

I perchased my 850i a week ago with only a few minor things wrong with it. The computer display in my car telling me whats wrong is somtimes pixelated so I could't read the words clearly. At other times I can see it fine. I know the brains are working right because when I fixed the things that it said were wrong with it it reset itself by not displaying that fault anymore. The guy I bought it from said it just resently happened he said it needed to be reprogramed and he'd pay for it which would cost $100 I went to a bmw dealership for a full inspection and they said it would be $500 for a new head unit and $100 worth of labor. My question is to anyone, do you think I need a head unit or maybe there is a loose wire or fuse? I question bmw because they spent 3 hours on the car and could not find out why the wipers were not working properly and they said it will take another 2 hours to figure out the problem. I figured it out and fixed it in two minites. The fuse was blown. I know its a longshot and i probably need a new head unit but if anyone has any ideas it would sure be worth a try rather than hastely replacing the unit.

Thanks paul161inf

[SwissM8]

Hi Paul,

The dreaded dying pixel phenomenon on the OBC is common on the 8 series and is basically a design fault. BMW are correct and the only 'real' fix is to buy a new one and the price they quoted is about right. BMW North America acknowledged the fault some time ago and offered a free replacement - don't know if it still applies as I am in Switzerland. I know it wasn't offered by BMW Europe.

Unfortunately, Bosche made these things to be virtually unfixeable and they are almost impossible to take apart without damaging something.

There is a guy based in Germany who advertises on 'that' famous auction site. He apparently does fixes. I bought one from him (new) for 170Euro. Do a search on the German (.de) of 'that' site for "e31 bordcomputer pixel reparatur"

Hope this helps :-)

[S8BMW]

Hi

Does this problem manifest across the board or is it confined to certain models ie 850/840 M60/M62/M70 etc' or year of manufacture?

In other words was it corrected ever by BMW/Bosch

[SwissM8]

E31, E38 were the worst affected as they shared very similar (the same?) displays.
This particular problem was never corrected for these units, hence BMWNA kind offer of a free replacement OBC display.