BMW E36 Blog

I published the post Faulty temperature sensor in BMW E36 long time ago. The post talked about the reason why your OBC shows a wrong external temperature like -35F or -37C. At the time of writing that post, I was going to replace the sensor and to my surprise I found that it’s missing. Luckily the wires where hanging there. It seems that someone thought it’s not necessary and this car will not need it. Anyway, somehow I forgot the whole thing and it took me until today to actually get a new one (used) :p , take a look below:

Poor sensor 😀 . The wiring was very easy, just connect the sensor wires to the wires inside your brake duct and you’re set.

After I connected the temperature sensor, I thought the car will show the temperature right away, but it took some time until it started showing the correct temperature. First it started like this -37C , then  gradually increasing until it reached 0C then it started going up until it reached 30C.

It’s very nice to fix this problem and very easy at the same time, so if you have this problem in your car, I don’t think you should wait like I did. Just get the temp sensor and fix it.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

I have to admit that I never liked the stock BMW E36 (Not the M3) side mirrors. Every time I look at them, I find them a little bit ugly and doesn’t exactly fit my idea of BMW styling. Well, before you ask, I’m not an expert in car design, but it’s my opinion. On the other hand, I absolutely love the M-Tech side mirrors and they look just awesome. The problem is that if your car doesn’t have a body kit, you won’t be able to install these mirrors because they won’t mach the rest of the car.

To solve this problem, I suggest you consider the E30 side mirrors. Yes, you heard right, E30, not E36. If you’re not familiar with the E30 mirrors, they look great and their design is much better than the stock E36 ones. I love their design very much!

Today, I’ve found this photo of a BMW E36 with E30 side mirror. Unfortunately, it’s not clear enough, but it shows that the E30 mirrors will fit the E36 style even better than the stocks ones.

Take a look at this, don’t you agree?

I’m not sure how hard would it be to fit such mirrors in a BMW E36, but at least you know now that someone else did it already. So, it’s possible.

I will try to find a DIY (Do It Yourself) and I hope I will be able to find one to do just that.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

Greg has posted a comment on this blog about a safety measure that everyone of us has to do. It’s about doing a checkup on your fuel lines that are coming from the fuel tank and fuel pump. This is a very important issue that I think everyone of us has to do. The problem is that this was a comment on a post and not everyone of you is going to see, so I decided to republish it again as a new post because it’s very important and needs your immediate attention. So, here you go. The post is written in Greg’s own words.

Here is a very important job every e36 owner has to do. In particular the e36 1995 318i 318is M3 323 etc owners. BMW had major problems with hose clamps on fuel lines coming from fuel tanks/fuel pumps. Ever parked your car and got out and in doing so had the smell of fuel in the air? mmmmmmmmm here’s what to do:-

1. Put both front seats all the way forward and tilt forward.
2. Now remove the back seat base by simply pulling upwards on front lower edge, remove from car.
3. You will see that there are 2 access divisions cut into the sound proofing, lift and tuck out of the way.
4. With a Phillips head screwdriver remove both oval shape covers, this gives access to the fuel level sender units and fuel pump.

If you have any fuel sitting in these 2 places I strongly suggest you carefully replace clamps with screw type ones. Be careful not to damage plastic connection pieces and if fuel has been leaking for a long time you may find the fuel line exterior may be brittle and clamp will not seal to plastic tails. My e36 coupe had all of the above and a hair line crack in the fuel level sender unit on the passenger side. Drivers side is a fuel level sender unit and a fuel pump in one. Hope you don’t have to replace the cross over fuel line ( the 12mm fuel line) as you may have to remove fuel tank to do so. It has a metal centre section you can see that is attached to body of the car. Hope this info helps out.

Please check it out it only takes 15 minutes to check it and may save your car from burning to the ground.

Kind regards to you all,
Greg ( from Adelaide Australia )

Thank you Greg for sharing this information with us.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

I have mentioned in my previous post Turning Your BMW Lights On Automatically At Night . . . System Testing that while I was trying to get the auto light inside my E36 to work, I’ve burned something. Actually, what I have burned was the Trip Odometer LCD light. At first, I thought this is something really serious and that I have to pay some serious bucks to solve the problem, but after some research, it turned out that it’s actually a bulb in the cluster that needs to be replaced. Piece of cake, right? So, I followed the steps in Installing Silver Gauge Cluster Rings for your BMW . . . DIY! post to remove the gauge cluster. It’s a really good DIY (Do It Yourself). Anyway, please follow these steps for a quick guide on how to do this nice fix.

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

Take a look at my Trip Odometer LCD light. It’s not working and my cluster looks really bad and ugly. Isn’t it?

To start the fix, you will need to remove the gauge cluster. You can start by removing the screws that hold the gauge cluster. There are two of them at 11 & 1 clock. Take a look at these:

When you remove the screws, simply push the bottom of the cluster to the back a little bit and it will move. After that you will need to pull it slowly and carefully. The ultimate target is to slide the gauge cluster from behind the steering wheel like this:

You will notice that there are some wires that are connected to the cluster and they will prevent you from sliding the cluster out. There are three of them, one on the right and two on the left. Take a look at the following (it’s the one on the right)

Before removing it, please disconnect your battery. I didn’t disconnect it and a warning sound started out. I don’t know what this sound was, but it was really annoying. So, I say unplug your battery to make sure the process goes as smooth as possible.

IMPORTANT: If you have the OEM radio from BMW, do NOT disconnect your battery unless you’re 100% sure that you have the PIN code that can unlock your radio.

Removing the three wires is a real pain and they need a lot of attention, but eventually you can do it. When you unplug these wires, you will be able to slide the gauge cluster out. Now turn it and look at the back, here’s the light that needs to be replaced.

Using a flat screwdriver, you can remove that light. Now, here’s a thing that really shocked me. I had the light that I’m going to use as a replacement right here and these lights are usually just pull-out and put the new one instead PERIOD. Surprisingly, this was not the case here. The light was stuck and not going to be pulled out easily as I previously thought, so I had to remove it from it’s plastic cavity to find out that the light bulb is connected to the light connectors. Take a look:-

God damn it! So, I thought, ok lets cut the old bulb wires and solder the new wires instead, but to my surprise AGAIN 🙁 , it didn’t hold. So I finally was able to squeeze the new bulb inside the plastic cavity in a way its wires will be connected to the steel connectors. After that, I tested the bulb and it worked.

Alright, now the nightmare has ended! So, I put everything back in the reverse order and here’s the result. A clear trip odometer LCD . Awesome!

So, what do you think? Isn’t that a cool fix or what?

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.

As I promised in my previous post, Top Gear BMW M5 Review, I prepared a DIY (Do It Yourself) to show you how to fix your BMW E36 light switch illumination. This is a very very common problem in BMW E36 cars and it always goes unnoticed. Having illumination in the BMW E36 light switch looks great and if you can’t see that illumination in your dashboard, this means that this DIY is for YOU. I hope you enjoy it and find the information provided below useful.

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

The illumination of your light switch can be fixed easily and it costs nothing. Well, only a dollar to buy the correct light bulb to use for replacement. To start, take a look at this:

Now, at the bottom of this is a screw that you will need to remove. After that, you can remove the light switch and the air vent easily. Take a look at the screw here:

After you remove that screw, you will need to use a flat screw driver to push the whole light switch + air vent out. Be careful with this to avoid breaking anything. The whole part should be removed by pulling a little bit. You can pull it by hand by grabbing the light switch and the air vent opening. Just apply a little effort and it should come lose. After you remove the switch and the air vent, you will not be able to remove it totally out of its place. That’s because it’s connected by two wires that will need to be disconnected first. Take a look at the connectors that need to be removed:

To remove the light connecter you should turn it anti-clockwise (from your point of view). Be careful with this, the wires are very short and you will need to use your fingers to turn the connector. It’s a little bit tight place to work with. After you finish it, you will have the whole part (light switch + air vent) out like this:

This is where you will find the pin that is holding the light bulb that needs to be replaced. Take a look:

You will need to use a flat screw driver to remove the pin out of its place. Pay attention not to break anything ok? After you remove the pin, it should look something like this:

This is the light bulb that needs to be replaced. I brought another type of bulb by mistake thinking that these small bulbs are all of standard size. It turned out that I was wrong, so I had to go and get a different one. Take a look:

After you replace the bulb, put everything back the way your removed them. It’s going to be a little bit hard to reconnect the wires to the light switch, but don’t worry, you will be able to do it with a little patience and concentration.

After you connect the wires, you should try to place the air vent + the light switch back and you will notice that it’s not fitting exactly. That’s because you will need to make sure the opening of the air vent will slide in its place correctly. Just keep moving it a little bit up and down while pushing it gently. It will slide in and everything should look good now. Now turn your lights on and see if it’s working. If you’ve successfully accomplished the task, your light switch should look like this at night 😆

So, what do you think? Isn’t that a cool fix or what?

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.