Instrument Panel Light

[brian-canada]

Hi,

One of the lights on the instrument panel on my 1985 528e appears to be out. One half of the panel (speedometer side) is lit, the other (tachometer) is not. Does anyone know how to change the bulb...I'd like to try doing it myself rather than taking it to the dealership, as long as it's not a really complicated job.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

[jlwf1nut]

here it goes, all u you need to do is pull out the cluster. there are two screws at the very top of the cluster (rite underneath the top of the dash) remove those. using a small screwdriver pry the top of the cluster out and down. the top will come down to the steering wheel, revealing the back of cluster. make sure steering wheel is centered so cluster lays between spokes of wheel. now remove connectors, there is a yellow/blue/white one. pry up the black tab on each of them, and pull up to disconnect. there will also be some single small bulbs and one single connector remember where these go. once all connectors removed u can work cluster out by rotating wheel and cluster (left only) it will come out be patient and work with it .the bulbs will be two large brown connectors that just twist onto the board.use pliers to remove. replace both because when u muck with cluster it usually makes the other bulbs go bad.

hope this helps

[LarryBrown]

1: Be careful when messing with this because you might disturb any air-bag. If the air-bag were to blow while you were sitting close to the steering wheel struggling with the instrument panel, you would be injured.
2: If you remove any connectors from the instrument panel, do not power the car up until you get all re-connected. Doing so will trigger an air-bag warning that requires a trip to the dealer to reset.
3: I have to pull the steering wheel on my 1989 735i to get the instrument panel out.
4: If you go to the trouble to replace any bulb, replace them all. The cost of the bulbs is negligible compared to the cost of pulling the panel.