BMW E36 Blog

First of all, I want to start this post by welcoming our new friend Sean C who filled his information recently in the Welcome BMW E36 blog readers! post. For those of you who didn’t read that post yet, please do and let us hear from you. Simply, just fill your information in the comments box at the bottom of that post and you’re done. Very easy isn’t it?

I think everyone of you guys will love today’s post as it will show you how easy it’s to install foot well lights inside your BMW. I know that many of you will try to do it because it looks great on your car. If you’re anxious to see the end result of this procedure, simply skip to the end of this post to see a photo of the car at night while the foot well lights are on. I hope you like this DIY and thanks for Jarozila who created the original write-up.

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 yourself as it will save you too much time and money while fixing your car.

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

The BMW parts I used were:

63 31 8 360 588 Lamp (2x)
61 13 8 377 072 Socket Housing (3-pin connector) (2x)
61 13 0 005 197 Bushing Contact (4x)

If you take out your dome light and take a look at the wires you will see a Brown/Red wire (power) and a Brown wire (ground). These are the wires to use if you want the new foot well lights to work with the dome light switch settings.

Using these wires the foot well lights can be set to come on with the dome light when you open the door and they fade out, or you can turn them on with the dome light.

I did not want to run wires from the dome light down the side pillar, so I thought I have to be able to find the wires when I remove the glove box. I found a Brown/Red and a Brown wire and I exposed the core to see if these would work – THEY DID.

It was then just a matter of connecting a few wires into these two cables, making holes in the panel under the glove box and steering wheel, and connecting the lights.

I really like how it looks and it will make it so much easier to find things if they drop on the floor. Was also easier to vacuum with the lights on.

This is where I found the red/brown and brown wires that looked like they went up the back and into the side pillar going up to the dome light.

This is a picture from underneath to show the new wires I connected. I also put in two wires to run over to the driver’s side. The two black wires go the the foot well light, the red & brown wires go over to the driver’s side.

This is the light inserted in the hole I cut on the passenger side.

Foot well lights off during the day with my car in an open car port.

Foot well lights on also during the day in the car port.

Here’s a picture of how it looks at night

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.

For those of you who don’t know what an immobiliser is, it’s simply an electronic device that is designed to prevent cars from being hot wired and stolen easily. If a car has an immobiliser installed, this means that the thief will need hours and hours + very good knowledge about cars to be able to get that car to work, or he may simply choose to knock on your door and ask you to give him a hand to fix your car LOOOL 🙂 as he may think it’s not working and needs some fixing. For those of you who are looking to protect their cars from being stolen and care about their car safety, the answer is easy, install a car immobiliser.

I have found this post here which talks about the process of installing an immobiliser for your BMW E36, so I thought I’d post it here in order  for you guys to follow and protect your car. If you’re interested in getting a car immobiliser, you can take a look at this immobiliser on eBay.

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 money while fixing your car.

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

So you want to install immobiliser like this one? if you know how to solder wires then i think you will qualify

Step 1: Open up fuse box, you will want to make thieves life as hard as possible. You need torx screwdriver. Unscrew two front screws, be careful, apply pressure, do not break torx pattern on heads. Also open drivers side under dash to get access to wires and screws that hold fuse box in place. Unscrew these 4 screws to get fuse box loose

Now you can get access to fuse box rear screws. unscrew them carefully. open the box

Step 2: Locate circuits that you will immobilise. For example, green/purple wire coming from fuel pump fuse (17)is ideal. Measure voltage on wire( test light or tester one lead grounded):
Ignition off – no voltage
Ignition on – no voltage
Crank and run – +12

When car running, cut the wire- if engine stops( after couple seconds ), you have found right one. You can connect it temporarily together to locate another circuit. Connect it to immobiliser as on its wiring diagram

Second circuit can be ignition for ECU. It is green wire going from connection point to engine harness connector outside fuse box. It has power when ignition is on. If you cut it engine will stall immediately, remember that there are couple wires in that connector cut the right one, if you miss, connect back and be more careful next time

Step 3: Connect it to immobiliser wiring ( connect now fuel pump wire too )

remember power comes from ignition lock and goes to engine harness: twin wires for immobilising, third ignition sense for immobiliser

Step 4: Power up immobiliser (red permanent power, brown ground)

Step 5: Solder all wires

Step 6: Cut sharp edges

Step 7: Isolate all connections

Step 8: Locate drivers side door switch wire near drivers side speaker (brown/gray/yellow).

Never connect immobiliser circuits on steering column. It is too easy to reconnect.

Step 9: Install LED and antenna into center console. antenna can be located anywhere where you want, it does not work through metal.

Step 10: Install led and antenna into center console. Antenna can be located anywhere where you want, it does not work through metal

Step 11: You’re done! 🙂

Wiring Diagram:

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.

I always wanted to illuminate my BMW shift knob and I didn’t realize that it’s a straight forward job. I recall that I had to cut into my shift knob to do this to my BMW E30 before and the job was very hard to do and it didn’t look like I was expecting. Of course, that’s before I find out that there’s an illuminated shift knob that is ready to be installed. So, by getting this illuminated shift knob, the task became very easy. Take a look at the DIY below. It’s a straight forward task to do. I hope you like it

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 money while fixing your car.

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

I have seen a lot of threads about lighted shift knobs and many suggestions on how to install it. What follows is the factory
intended retrofit option. (Although I am technically removing the wiring, it is the same for installation.)

Unscrew the Phillips head screw holding the dimmer console in place. The dimmer console is located to the left of the steering wheel. This console then easily pops out of the dash.

What you see connected to the back of it is the factory retro-fit wiring harness.

You want this wire to terminate in the shift console to be connected to your shift knob.

I ran this wire under the carpet with the other wires. This is what it would look like before tucking it under the carpet:

With a little slack the wires pull part way out of the dash back at the dimmer console:

Plugged into the back of the add on wiring harness is the standard wiring harness for the interior lights.

I ran the wires through the dash behind this:

You have to take off the under dash, driver’s side knee panel to get to this. It removes with a wratchet extension and an M10 socket.

With this piece removed you can see I ran the wire behind the factory wire strap to hold it in place. This opens simply by pulling out from the top.

In total it would look like this:

I think the entire deal, knob and wiring harness came shipped from pacific for under $100.

To gain access to the shifter area do the following:

Pull the shift knob up. This takes some force, don’t be worried but don’t hit yourself in the head either. The shift boot removes easily by pulling up on the sides at the corners. To remove the sunglass console you first have to remove the check computer (OBC). To do this reach your hand into the sunglass console and find the hole in the middle in the top. Press up to release the catch on the OBC and push it forward from the back. Then slide the sunglass console up and then rotate it out.

The driver’s side knee panel has three screws. One on either side of the steering wheel and one in the footwell on the center console side. This panel slides out with a little effort. Then you have to remove 3 bolts with a 10mm socket on the metal heat guard as described above. To remove the OBC refer to the cubby removal DIY in my sig. Here is the final install picture:

This is a screenshot of how it should look like when it’s done

You can get the illuminated shift knob from here. Just look for part #25 11 2 231 561 or #25 11 2 231 551

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.

This is the third and final part of the BMW E36 car review series. If you didn’t read BMW E36 Car Review . . . Part 1 or BMW E36 Car Review . . . Part2 I strongly suggest that you read them first before reading this part. This final part talks about the cost analysis of a BMW E36 maintenance in the period of 1999~2006. And finally there are some tips for new BMW E36 buyers. I hope you will like this post.

Before I leave you with the post, I want to thank Doug Vetter for this great article as it shows a realistic record of how much we (BMW E36 owners) are paying for maintaining our cars without realizing how expensive it is.

 

BMW E36 Review – Cost Analysis

The content of this post was taken from here. The author of the original article didn’t approve his content to be published on this blog, so I had to remove the content of the post and post a link instead.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

 

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 information source.

I’m still waiting to get response on my previous post BMW E36 Car Review . . . Part2!. After I finished the post, I asked you if you want me to post the third and last part of this review which will have some statistical information about BMW E36 and some advice to new buyers or not and I didn’t get any reply until now! Woo guys, does this mean that you don’t want that last part? I expected you to ask for it. Come on, lets see some comments about the previous post and if you want the last part or not.

For those of you who missed my previous posts about BMW E36 car review, you can find them here:

BMW E36 Car Review . . . Part1!
BMW E36 Car Review . . . Part2!
BMW E36 Car Review . . . Part3! … could be here! you want it? 😉

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 information source.