BMW E36 Blog

As you may have guessed, it’s time for a new poll on the BMW E36 Blog. About the last poll that we had, it was about creating a new BMW E36 Forum on this website. The results for that poll were like this:

Obviously, a lot have thought that creating a new forum was a very good idea in order to make one that is devoted to BMW E36 cars only. 95 out of 118 agreed to this idea which is a very high percentage (about 80%). So, I’ve created the forum and told you about it earlier. For those who didn’t sign up for that forum yet, I suggest that you go ahead and give it a try. I’m sure you’re going to like it very much.

Visit the BMW E36 Forum

The forum is doing very well taking into consideration its young age, but it can do much better (I presume) than that with your contributions, so, please feel free to post any content that you think other BMW E36 owners may find useful.

Enough talking about the BMW E36 Forum. Now, for today’s poll. I’ve published the poll yesterday after I made the BMW E36 318IS Donuts post and didn’t talk about it, but it seems that 14 readers have already made their votes. The poll is about your car’s engine size. I know that there are a lot of readers with 1.8 litres and M3 engines, but I needed to know some exact numbers which may at the end give us an idea about the type of cars/engines that are being used by the drivers in this community. So, I hope that you make your votes if you haven’t already done so. You can find it as usual at the right sidebar.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

Have you ever tried to do donuts with a 318is E36? I tried once, didn’t put much effort to make the attempt succeed, but it seemed like the car’s power was not enough to do a decent donut like I always wanted to. Besides, I was worried about my car, so I couldn’t do the job right. I don’t know how you guys can do this to your cars . . really!. Anyway, today, I found this video for a BMW E36 318is doing donuts. What I want you to notice is the floor. It’s not snow, not wet and not sand. At least, these are all the cases I saw a BMW E36 318is doing donuts successfully in. So, I guess the donuts is possible in a BMW E36 318is after all, but it needs some determination and a heart like steel that won’t make you feel guilty after you enjoy your car a little bit. LOL! Anyone here would like to share thoughts about this subject?

Take a look, I hope you like this video.

BMW E36 Blog: The Ultimate BMW E36 M3 Information Source.

I think that you all feel a little bit worried about the BMW E36 safety especially in accidents. At least, I’m sure you’ll be after you read my previous post BMW E36 Impact Safety Test if you haven’t already done so. Today, I was looking for news about BMW E36 cars when I found a news headline about a Rescue operation: BMW driver crashed into a tree (Anyone here knows German?). The car is a BMW E36 sedan and luckily the driver has escaped the crash unharmed. Looking into the pictures taken for the car doesn’t give you the feeling that the driver has escaped such a horrible accident, but luckily he did. So, we can conclude that the BMW E36 is safer than what it looks like in the impact safety test I wrote about before, but this doesn’t mean that you should count on that. Please make sure to drive safely and try to think before doing anything crazy. Take a look at the pictures, the car looks awful:

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

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.

Hi Guys,

I was very excited today when I saw this drifting video for a BMW E36 M3. I saw many videos like this one and always liked them as they show how much control a driver has over the car and how much fun you can get with a BMW E36 (M3 maybe?). Anyway, today’s video is different. It actually shows the ultimate control over these cars. As I said before, I saw many drifting videos but I don’t think anyone has come close to this one. This driver is reaaaly goooood.

Take a look, can you do this?

BMW E36 Blog: The Ultimate BMW E36 Information Source.