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.

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, These are 3 videos that contain loads of essential information about buying a BMW E36 M3. So, if you’re going to buy one, or if you already have one, I’m sure you’ll find this information very helpful. The videos also try to mention the most common problems known about these cars and how you should check to make sure that your car doesn’t have one of them.

This is a gold mine in my opinion, so after you watch the videos you should be able to tell whether your car was hit before or not. You should know the VIN number locations in your car plus determine if any of the body parts has been replaced by a previous owner or has been messed with.

Take a look, I hope you find these videos useful:-

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

Hi Guys,

Take a look at this car. This is a maroon BMW E36 325is and as you can see. The owner is maintaining it very well. It’s a really cool car with everything you need to see in a BMW E36. Don’t you think?

Take a look at the photos and let’s hear your opinions.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

I’ve been looking at the bimmer forums when I saw this photo which was posted by Boarderx192:

Fabric Door Panel

It’s a picture of a BMW E36 door panel with fabric on it. At first, I was shocked to see how far some people can go with their changes to the look of their cars and honestly (as I’m sure many will agree), I didn’t like the fabric but Boarderx192 has explained that this is just the first step of a major change to his interior and that he was going to introduce other changes to the interior to match that fabric. So for me, I guess it’s good to put an effort to make your car stand out from the crowd, but I’m not sure if this car will end up to be a very cool or a very ugly one. Anyway, can you imagine the changes to this car that will make it something special?

For those of you who were asking about the new BMW E36 Forum that I’ve just made, it is running very smoothly now and it’s getting more and more users everyday. So, why not you go there and participate? I’m sure you’re going to find something useful to read.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.