BMW E36 Blog

BMW E36 M3 Brake Light Switch Replacement . . . DIY

15th December 2008

BMW E36 M3 Brake Light Switch Replacement . . . DIY

 

Hi Guys,

I wrote a post about replacing BMW E36 brakes switch before as this is a very common problem in the BMW E36 cars. Yesterday, Jeff was very kind and sent me a link to a video on YouTube that may explain the process easier, so I decided to publish it on the blog. I’m sure you’ll find this video very easy to understand and follow.

Note: I’ve already found many useful videos on the YouTube which were created by the user "fiveightandten". Maybe you want to take a look there?

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

Take a look:-




 

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posted in Brakes, Do It Yourself, Technical Info, Tips & Tricks, Uncategorized, Videos | Comments Off on BMW E36 M3 Brake Light Switch Replacement . . . DIY

23rd November 2008

One Touch Open/Close Sunroof . . . DIY!

 

This DIY (Do It Yourself) is a contribution by spoonerDee from Bimmerforums. In this DIY, you can convert your sunroof to become a one-touch open/close sunroof. Isn’t that awesome? Take a look ,the procedure is very very simple.

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

To start this is a very easy mod, will cost about $25 plus shipping from this link.

Here are the basic tools you will need: your hands, a wire cutter/stripper/crimper and one butt connector. I thought I might need a screw driver but I did not.

First either close the door as you work, or turn off your interior lights as you work. Now pull the panel off where the switch is, its barely held in so you can do this by hand with little to no force.

Next, you need to locate the harness from which you will tap your power from. You will see a bunch of small wires wrapped in a red sleeve that goes towards the left, to remove it you will have to push it to the left to get it off of its holder then maneuver it around the motor and the roof liner out so you can work with it.

Here is the harness pulled out.

Disconnect the harness and locate the power wire, it is the Red wire with the White stripe.

Next, take your crimper/cutter/striper and cut the wire, be sure to leave enough room on both sides to work with. Once cut, strip both ends of the wire.

Next take the part you ordered and cut the worthless tip off the power wire (the red wire) then strip the end of it. Next connect one end of the harness to the power wire of the module by twisting them together as shown

Then take your butt connector and crimp them into one end, then take the other end of the power wire and crimp it in the other side like so

Now the module has power, next you need to disconnect the wires going into the switch in your panel, take that wire and plug it into the module. you will notice there is a yellow sleeve on the plug, that insures that it will only plug in, in one direction. PAY ATTENTION YOU WHICH WAY YOUR PLUG IS PUT ON IN THE BUTTON IN THE PANEL, look at the plug in the switch, from the side, you will notice that underneath that sleeve the plug indents on one side. make a note of that.

Now that you have plugged the wire from the switch into the module, plug the matching wire from the module into the switch being sure to face it the right way

Now with everything together turn the car on all the way so to get full power and not put any strain on the battery or the sunroof motor.

Once on push and hold the switch until the sunroof opens all the way, once it is open, push and hold the switch until the sunroof closes all the way. This will set the memory in the module which times how long you hold it in each direction. from then on when you push the button either way it will always open for that amount of time, so be sure you hold it the whole time so it opens and closes completely.

Once you have done this, do your first test run, push and release to open, then push and release to close, sit back and enjoy your one touch roof.

Once you are set, tuck all the wires back into the roof, and replace the panel and your done, CONGRATULATIONS!

Here is a video link to the mod in action. Hard to see the tilt in action but you get the idea.

If you are nervous about working with wires, don’t be, this is simple, easy and a great way to learn how to do minor electrical work on a car.

Note: If you have a pre 97 model, you need to get a 97 plus model plus this part to do the same.

 

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.

 

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posted in Do It Yourself, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

31st October 2008

Fixing BMW E36 Window Switch Light . . . DIY!

 

I’ve been looking for a way to fix my windows switches. The switches work just fine, but the problem is that they don’t light up at night. So, I thought they would look great if I could fix them. I did a lot of search for information about how to do that, but all I could find is one solution that is to replace my switches. Of course that was an option, but I wanted to fix the problem myself because I thought it would be very easy and I would have a chance to spend more time with my beautiful babe (I hope my wife doesn’t hear this :p ). Anyway, This DIY (Do It Yourself) will definitely help you fix the window switch light problem. I hope you’ll find it useful.

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

First, you’ll need to pull the switch out of the center console. You can do that by simply removing the gear boot and pushing the switch from below. After that, unplug the light wires attached to the switch. Then, use a flat screwdriver to remove the button cover. It’s very easy, but you should be gentle with it in order not to break it. After that, you’ll be looking at the switch which should look similar to this:

This orange or amber light bulb is what needs to be replaced and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. To get access to that bulb, we need to remove the green plastic that is attached to the switch bottom. Using a flat screw driver, push these carefully to remove that piece.

And on the other side as well


Now that the green plastic piece is out of your way, you’ll be able to see the electronic board that is holding the switch buttons and the light bulb.


Push the board to remove the black plastic case as well. Be careful not to break anything.


Now, we have access to the board itself. This is the light bulb that needs to be replaced.

There’s a plastic piece that is used to hold the light bulb. You should remove that carefully while trying to get the bulb out. Remember to be gentle with it.

This is the light bulb that I’m going to use as a replacement for the original one. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the part number for it. Anyway, the light bulb should be:

1. As small as possible in order to fit inside the white plastic base that we removed previously.

2. It should not have a strong illumination, otherwise, your switches will look very odd and they’ll start to heat.

3. These bulbs give a yellowish color. You may want to use your wife’s or girlfriend nail paint (red preferably) to change its color to amber (orange).

Using a soldering iron, you can put the new bulb instead of the old one. Don’t forget to put the plastic white base again before soldering the new bulb.

Put the board back inside the black plastic case.

Reattach the green plastic base to the switch.

Put everything back as it was when you disassembled the switch.

Now, connect the switch to your car and test it. Make sure everything is working fine. I know I didn’t paint the bulb using the red nail paint because it was my first attempt. After I saw the result which is shown in the last picture below, I decided to repeat the whole process again and paint it with red.


This is the result I got after using the yellow bulb without painting it. I’m sure you’ll like the switches more if you paint them.

 

 

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 BMW E36 information source.

 

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posted in Do It Yourself, Electrical, Interior, Tips & Tricks, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

6th October 2008

Tinting BMW E36 Yourself . . . DIY

 

This week, I hope I will be back to posting frequency at the normal speed. I hope you’re missing my posts and looking forward to getting more in the future.

In the last couple weeks, I’ve noticed many questions about tinting cars and getting it done professionally. When I decided to give my car a tint, I took it to get that job done professionally. But, After I saw the process, I honestly don’t think it’s hard to accomplish and it was very easy. As a matter of fact, it’s much easier than many DIY’s that you’ll do to your car and best of all, he used WATER as the solution to do the whole tinting, so all you need to get this job done is the tinting film and some extra time PERIOD.

In the following video, you’ll find a simple tutorial that will guide you through the whole process, so enjoy and I hope you will find it interesting:




 

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posted in Do It Yourself, Exterior, Uncategorized, Videos | 5 Comments

22nd September 2008

Removing BMW E36 Center Airvent . . . DIY!

 

If your car is like mine and has spent quite a long time without having the cabin air filter (please don’t even ask why), then I’m sure that your center airvent will be very dirty. Mine has tons of dirt and needs a very good cleaning as soon as possible. So, I decided to give it a clean up. The problem is that I don’t want to use air or water to clean the dirt from outside (front) because this will simply push the dirt inside the airvent deeper and it will come back again very soon after I turn on my air-conditioning. So, I thought the only possible way to give it a good cleanup is to remove the center airvent. It turned out that removing the center airvent is not as hard as I thought it would be. Basically, you will have to remove your radio and remove two screws that are holding the center airvent from below, then you’ll need to release a cable from under your knee panel. Don’t worry this is not hard either. After you do both steps, you will be able to get that airvent out then you can give it a very good cleanup.

I know that you’re waiting for a detiled writeup about this process, and I found a very good one for you, check here. It provides a detailed DIY (Do It Yourself) on how to accomplish this task easily.

 

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.

 

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posted in Do It Yourself, Uncategorized | 4 Comments