Ive got a 1988 e30 325i and the rev counter temp gage and mpg meter has just stopped working,

Ive tried all the fuses wtc but to no avail

did notice it has a few non bmw relays in there though

Ive been told it is a known fault but no 1 seems to know the cure

can any 1 shed some light on it for me.

thanks a frustrated bimmer boy

Welcome to the forum

your SI batteries have just died!

See http://www.bmwcarclubgb.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5168&PN=1 - BMW Service Indicator (SI) Lights  in the FAQ forum.

nice one boys.

Ill give it a go when i can find my self a si board.

if this aint the cure has any 1 else got any other idea's

but im hoping this will be the cure.

im armed with info and a haynes manual so we'll see how i get on,

cheers all

"ten minute job and that includes the fag afterwards"

Izzat right? Getting the instrument cluster out seems to involve taking the wheel off and all sorts of stuff. I need to get to the back of my speedo, and the idea's a bit daunting...

keef

No you don't need to take the wheel off atall, thats just for people who think the dials are twice the size they are.  Don't need to take the column shroud off either.

Intruments just unscrew (lots of screws mind) and you have to wiggle them about at funny angles to get the plugs and the ABS bulb out of the back, then they simply come out.

Thanks for the comforting words. I looked at the Haynes manual and went a funny shade of pale...

My old Scimitar was like that. "To remove and replace the steering colum bushes, first remove the dashboard (see Chap nn)... To remove the dashboard, first remove the windscreen..."

Nah. It went to it's grave with slightly loose column bushes

keef

there is a difference between old and new si boards regardless of model.... i went and bought a complete instrument cluster to nick some bits off to put on mine and i put them side by side and they are completely different! half of the stuff isnt intechangable! my ic is an early south african one that had the speedo converted, but not the econometer...... me thinking this was a simple swap with the tacho i started to do this..... the si board on mine is different too..... mine has the AA size rechargables on it with the black coding plug that goes into theb ack of the speedo, where as the newer one has a coding block thing that plug into the back of the si board below the tacho(if i remember correctly) and smaller batteries (the ones aboput an inch long and the thickness of AAA ones) the only thing as far as the clocks go that was physically interchangeable was the temerature guage, and petrol guage, and when i fired the car up with the later petrol guage it showed i had half the amount of fuel it really had. i put this down to a difference in voltage...... also the plastic on the back of mine was tan/cream and the newer one was sky blue.

dammit im a geek

Ah i can beat you in the geek stakes slightly

The pre 89 (not just pre facelift) cars had twin AA size 1.5v Ni-cad cells, on later cars they were changed for the Li-ion type batteries.

BMW also changed the wiring on the board so that when the car was running the si board used the car as a power source instead of relying on the batteries for power at all times.

I replaced my si 1 year ago with a new one from BMW, i can only say that they must have been sitting about for many many years in the factory as the batteries are dead already!