BMW E36 Forum

Just recently all of the warning lights on my dash come on, only for a few seconds, then they all go out again. Car's working fine and everything seems to be ok, but very disconcerting. This happens every time I drive it now and occurs probably a couple of times per minute. Sound familiar to anyone?

I haven't had it occur to me before. Does anything happen to the car when the lights go berko?

It may just be a loose connection at the back. You'll need to disconnect the battery for about 30 mins before trying to get the cluster dash out to check the connections.

Hopefully it's something simple. If it's more serious, take it into a workshop to get it investigated.

Good luck!

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Like I said everything else seems to be working ok. Have noticed a slight squeak from the front discs which are close to needing replacement anyway (pad sensor!!) and very occasionally the central locking plays up, but resets itself when using the driver door.
It's all very strange and I really don't fancy letting an auto-electrician loose on it for 3 or 4 hours - it'll end up costing more than the car's worth???
With the car getting on for 20 years old now I suppose it's not really surprising!!!

Recent news - yesterday on the way to my father's house the dash lit up like a ruddy Xmas tree again, went out very quickly, did it again and then I lost all the gauges, although the indicator light etc still worked. After scratching the old grey matter again, I remembered having a similar problem with an old VW Jetta. Turns out that when I was polishing the interior the other week I caught the dash dimmer - now I've had a twiddle with it there's been no more problems!!!
HURRAH, problem solved!!!