This DIY (Do It Yourself) is a contribution by Daniel Castro, thanks Daniel. In the following text, you will find a detailed procedure on how you can remove your gauges cluster and disassemble it in order to replace your OEM gauges with the Plasma type. I know that almost everyone here is looking for these gauges but unfortunately I couldn’t find them on the German eBay where I found them for the first time. I’m not sure where you can get them from now, but I will keep looking and hopefully I will find them. Daniel, do you know where I can get this from? If you want to know how they should look like after you finish, take a look at the BMW E36 With Plasma Gauges and BMW E36 with blue interior LED lights . . . Wow!

Disclaimer: Use this info at your own risk!! The author is not responsible if this didn’t work for you :-).

1. Removing Screws:

Remove upper Left & Right screws using a 4 cornered screw driver. Once removed, use a flat screw driver to remove the whole unit from above.

2. Removing Sockets:

Pull the unit until the wires at the back are exposed. Remove the sockets by pushing the lever upwards or to the direction shown above. 3 sockets are to be removed, Black, Blue and White.

No need to remove the Steering Wheel, adjust it to the lowest position. After all the sockets are removed, just slowly slide the unit to the right side of the steering wheel, as shown below…

3. Unit Disassembly:

Use a #T-9 screw driver (hex shaped) to remove the screw (3 pcs) as shown below. Then Lift the level locks on the left & the right.

Lift both levers at the same time. Notice the outer back cover is lifted. Now, you will see 3 stick locks, Rotate the white locks wrapped around the black plastic poles.

Afterwards, you may separate the front cover from the middle part.

In my case, I have not locked them back, so I can easily lift or separate the middle part along with the back part. As shown below…

Using two flat screws, or anything that can lift the needles (of the Instrument Cluster).

BEWARE : The Needle pins are very SENSITIVE, as it can easily be bent.

Once all five needles are removed, remove the smaller hex shaped screws and place the Illuminating gauge face.

Placing the needles back is tricky, I recommend you rotate the pin by 45 degrees, hold it down, then place the needle slowly, pointing to 0 or minimum.

Reverse the whole process to install it back to it’s original place.

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Are you looking for more do it yourself procedures (DIY) ? I recommend the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual for you. I got it and I think it’s a gold mine for us -BMW E36 Owners-. If you didn’t grab your copy yet, get it right now! I’m sure you’ll find this book worth every penny you’ve paid for. Get the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual

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Hi Guys,

Razvan,a reader of the BMW E36 Blog, has sent me some photos of his convertible BMW E36. The car looks great and it’s very clean but I have some ideas that could make the car look even better. First, I would change the rims to something similar to this one. Also, the car looks a little bit high and looks like it needs a drop. So, this is the second thing to do. Other than these points, I think the car looks great and doesn’t need any other modifications.

Take a look at the photos and let’s hear your opinions. Do you think there’s something else you can do to this car?

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I wrote before about Fixing BMW E36 Headliner and provided a link to where you can buy a kit to fix your car’s headliner. Today, I’ve found this video which shows how you’re supposed to fix your headliner. I couldn’t find a specific procedure to fix the headliner for the BMW E36, but this will give you an idea about how you’re supposed to do when you get the headliner fixing kit.

Take a look, I hope you like it.

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This DIY (Do It Yourself) is a contribution from David Mc. I’ve found it on the Bimmerfest forum and I asked David for permission to publish the DIY on the BMW E36 Blog. He was so kind to allow me to republish it here. The procedure shows how the odometer LCD can be fixed. I’ve written previously about how to fix the BMW E36 odometer backlight, but this is how to fix the LCD, not the light, so pay attention to the difference.

Disclaimer: Use this info at your own risk!! I’m not responsible if this didn’t work for you :-).

This is the problem – only the top half of the odometer and trip meter is displayed. It is a backlit LCD device but the two blubs illuminate the odometer and service indicator respectively.

Since only the top half of the odometer is displayed the problem is obviously with the LCD and not the bulbs. Commonly this is an intermittent but annoying problem.

Begin by removing the cluster – the first step is to disconnect the battery, then undo the two torx screws on top of the housing and use a credit card to loosen and wiggle the cluster out of the dash. As soon as it is clear, reach behind the cluster and undo the three electrical connectors by first depressing the tabs then sliding the retainer up until the connector is released.

Make sure that you face your work surface with a towel to avoid scratching the cluster, then after removing the five torx screws from the back of the rear housing, carefully separate the gauges from the SI board.

Mark out the area of interest – I used white tape and then cut carefully with a piece of hacksaw blade. You could use a Dremel or even a hobby knife heated with a torch for this job.

There is a fair bit of clearance between the cover and the board but I would suggest extreme caution as you cut down the side of the housing toward the board as there are a couple of tracks that run across the board at this point and a slip here could cause big problems.

I worked carefully and completed the cut within about half an hour using a hacksaw blade – my modelling saw would have made life much easier if only I could remember what I did with it.

After removing the cut section carefully dress the edges of the cut area with a small file to remove burrs, then use a small paint brush and low pressure compressed air to clean the debris from the board.

Notice that there are also couple of little gold colored torx screws which secure the SI LCD to the board. Check that they are snug but do not over-tighten them. The idea is to make sure that all the electrical connections are firm, not to cause fractures in the board by over-tightening the components.

I used a hot pencil tipped soldering iron to reflow all of the SI board pins, then carefully replaced the cut cover section using 5 minute epoxy. Apply the epoxy carefully to the cut edges of the housing. Then once its back in place use a rag soaked with turpentine to remove the excess.

All that was left was to install the cluster back into the car, reconnect the connectors, battery and re-enter the radio code and it was up and running!

A heck of a lot cheaper than a new or even a used cluster and I didn’t have to worry about recoding or it displaying incorrect mileage.

Are you looking for more do it yourself procedures (DIY) ? I recommend the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual for you. I got it and I think it’s a gold mine for us -BMW E36 Owners-. If you didn’t grab your copy yet, get it right now! I’m sure you’ll find this book worth every penny you’ve paid for. Get the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual

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This DIY (Do It Yourself) is for you BMW E36 owners with automatic gearbox. It was contributed by Bernard Gutnick (thanks Bernard). The procedure shows in very simple steps how you can fix the light inside your A/M gearbox switch. I think this same procedure can be used to replace the bulb inside your window switches as well, but I’m not sure if it’s the same bulb. Have fun…

Disclaimer: Use this info at your own risk!! I’m not responsible if this didn’t work for you :-).

If the A light bulb is burned out due to constantly being on, you can replace it rather than spending $70 on a new switch.

1. Gently pry up the window/window lock/window button carefully from the top with a tiny screwdriver.

2. Put hand in and push AM button up until it pops up. Disconnect yellow connector.

3. Put small screwdriver in switch and gently pry up the two side clips. Leave in screwdriver and do same for other side.

4. Light and switch unit can be removed. Gently pull up circuit board.

5. You’ll see the black burned out bulb ( A or M or both ).

6. Now the tricky part. You have to cut the bulb out but only one at a time. Replace it with a Radio Shack RS 272-1092 12vt Micro lamp

7. It’s important to try to get the wires to be the same length as the original and with the lamp in the same position. Take your time. When soldering, only put on a very small drop as it has to fit back into the black housing. 1/16 inch of solder is enough. Use pliers to protect the bulb. Try to get the wire length and shape to be equal to the other one.

8. When you are done, carefully put the wire into the slots of the black housing, and put the cover back on.

9. Reconnect yellow connector. Light will appear when car is started. Congratulations! You just saved $68 in 30 minutes!!

Note: the car will still work with the switch removed. I think it defaults to Automatic, but I am not certain.

Are you looking for more do it yourself procedures (DIY) ? I recommend the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual for you. I got it and I think it’s a gold mine for us -BMW E36 Owners-. If you didn’t grab your copy yet, get it right now! I’m sure you’ll find this book worth every penny you’ve paid for. Get the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 information source.