BMW E36 Blog

Fixing your BMW OBC (On Board Computer) lights . . . DIY!

19th August 2007

Fixing your BMW OBC (On Board Computer) lights . . . DIY!

If you have a BMW with OBC (On Board Computer). It’s most likely that you will face a problem in its back lights sooner or later. Luckily I didn’t face this problem with my car yet, but my brothers car has this problem and his car’s OBC looks really disgusting. The problem begins when one of the back lights of the OBC decides to die and your OBC which you love to play with from time to time starts to look like a guy with black eye. At that time, you know that you have to do something about it and I know. You will be thinking … man, I shouldn’t mess with this OBC because it looks really complicated and I may end up breaking something. Guess what? you are wrong! Fixing the OBC back lights is a very simple task and it’s the subject of today’s post. I hope you enjoy this post and find it useful for your car. By the way, I want to thank Eduardo Cesconetto the original author of this great post.

 

For those of you who like to fix their BMW car(s) by themselves, I recommend you to get the Bentley BMW 3 series service manual which is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I got it and recommend you to get one for you as it will save you too much time and effort while fixing your car.

 

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

My OBC had only one light working, the one in the left corner, and so it was a pain to look at it, and it looked like the LCD was burned, but it comes out is just a matter of replacing some light bulbs. You can get the bulbs at the dealership for $2.50 each, and just ask for the light bulb for the OBC of your year/model car.

 

Here is my OBC:

 

 

The first thing to do is to carefully place a flat head screwdriver in one of the sides in the crack between the OBC and the bezel, carefully to not scratch anything, then apply a mild pressure pushing the handle of the screw driver outwards, the OBC will pop out a little bit.

 

 

Repeat the same procedure in the other side.

 

 

Under the OBC and in the top of the sunglass compartment (or whatever you want to call it) there is a hole as shown on this picture:

 

 

Put your middle finger in that hole and find the back of the OBC, then push it out slowly but firmly

 

 

That will give you enough space to pull the OBC out, slowly so you don’t pull the harness of the OBC

 

 

On the top side of the OBC, you will see the 4 light bulbs:

 

 

A bit closer…

 

 

Using the same flat head screwdriver, rotate the bulb counter-clockwise 1/4 turn to release the bulb

 

 

Install the new bulbs and follow the guide backwards to put the OBC back in place.

 

 

I suggest you replace all the 4 bulbs at once, otherwise you can end up with uneven light across the display

 

 

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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posted in Do It Yourself, Interior, Technical Info, Tips & Tricks | 14 Comments