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1988 735i instrument cluster

I live in California and have owned a 735i 5 spd (grey market import) for almost 7 years. There have always been little problems like the drivers side seat controls not working or the miles per hour gauge not working. Now my mechanic says the instrument cluster has to be replaced. This makes sense since on a regular basis the only gauge working is the RPM's! Yep, a bit of problem if I'm going on long drives with no engine temp or fuel gauge. Does anyone know how to fix this or where I could get an instrument cluster. The BMW is now my second car, it has approx. 234k miles on it and worth about $2,000.00, so it's hard to justify a huge expense. But it drives beautifully and I'd love to have it for awhile longer. Thanks in advance!

Reply to
David
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Judging by the pictures on

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your e32 instrument cluster is very similar to the one in my e30. The individual instruments within your cluster can be replaced without too much trouble. Sometimes the instruments can be repaired by simply removing them and cleaning the contacts with contact cleaner solvent purchased at an electronics supply house. I drove my '84 318i to 340k miles and replaced every instrument in it except the speedo during that time. These instruments all came from a used cluster that I bought on Ebay for $75 which had a bad speedo which is how I learned that the individual instruments can be replaced. If you're lucky everything will work on the used cluster and you can just swap it. It's not really a big deal to remove the cluster. By the third time I could get it out in less than 15 minutes. Don't believe it if your manual says that you have to remove the steering wheel. My e30 Bentley manual said the wheel had to be removed but it was not true - not even that close. So have a look on Ebay or in your local junk yard. When you get done you will be even more attached to your beautiful car.Good Luck Jack

"David" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Jack

I have the same car. The cluster sometimes blinks out and then on again. First, most of the info is on the small dash computer. They want one thousand dollars to fix it. I know this isn't the solution, but when it goes out, I smack the top of the dashboard toward the right side. It comes on and stays on. So I know it's a contact problem. Mine is a cream puff with 140k miles on it. I think it will run another 20 years. Good luck to you.

Reply to
Anthony Wilson

Look for a US company called Programa (maybe with two m's), they refrbish them. They have an advert in the ROundel usually.

Reply to
John Burns

Check out this E-Bay Seller by the name of Euro-Electric, they sell refurbished clusters for a reasonable price (as well as swords and other stuff), I do not have personal experience with them but understand through our local club that others have had good service.

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The link is pretty long so may not come through correctly, try cutting and pasting to make it work.

Good luck, Bob

Anth> I have the same car. The cluster sometimes blinks out and then on again.

Reply to
Bob

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