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 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.

Hi, I’ve found this DIY (Do It Yourself) about how to replace your BMW E36 Microfilter and I thought I should share it with you guys. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the microfilter. It’s the part which is responsible for cleaning (filtering) the air which is going inside the car from outside while your fan (or condition A/C) is running. I hope you find it useful. Finally, I just want to thank old skool the original author of this DIY.

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

IMPORTANT: This DIY is based on left hand drive cars. If you have a right hand drive E36, you’re supposed to access the filter from the right, not from the left

The first step is to remove the glovebox. Read here about Removing BMW E36 Glove box

After the glovebox is removed, you will want to remove the plastic air vents that feed the footwell in order to gain better access to the microfilter compartment.

To do this you need to push down on the back of the plastic vents to release a vertical clip holding it up. You can see it in this picture:

Just forward of the purple wire in the clear plastic covering you see a vertical post near where the plastic is coated with insulation.

The second clip can’t be seen as it is on the underside of the vents inside the vent right at the center of the car. To remove this press up from the bottom until it pops out and then pull away from the center of the car to release the snap fitting of the vent and then wiggle it out and towards the front of the car to clear the metal frame that it is tightly fitted into.

Now you have to remove this. There is a release clip at the top center. Pull left in the picture and then push up on the unit to remove it.

Here it is removed and you can see the release clip in the middle and the other two slide clips on either side.

(Some people have another black tray attached to the top of this clip. You will have to remove the top tray first. In order to do this, you slide the top tray back as far as it will go and then lift up. You can see the 3-4 sets of grooves in this picture. Installation is the opposite of removal.)

Here is the console it fits into. You can see how it attaches.

Now this is the access to the microfilter. Up is the front of the car, right is the floor, left is the hvac core.

Twist this and pull it out to expose the microfilter.
Push the black tab shown on the filter towards the front of the car to release the foam seal. Then pull away from the center of the car to remove it. The frame is broken in three places and will make a bit of a mess…just keep pulling and working at it until it is removed.

here it is. Yuck!

To insert the new one, simply break it in the three obvious place on the plastic frame so that you can carefully feed it in the opening and clear all the components under the dash. When it is in, just press it towards the front of the car to fit the foam seal. Reinstall the cover and twist in the opposite direction to secure it. Then simply reinstall all the pieces of the dash.

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.

I’ve published A sweet idea for your BMW angel eyes! before in which there was a video for a BMW E36 which has a fading out angel eyes. The fading effect looked very nice on that car and I promised back then that I’m going to search for a DIY that will help you guys create this effect on your cars too. Guess what? I have found that DIY and luckily, it seems very simple and straight forward.This DIY procedure was created by clumpymold from BimmerForums. I hope you like it.

One last thing, this DIY (Do It Yourself) is assuming that you have done the Footwell light for your BMW E36 . . . DIY! procedure although it not necessary. Anyway, you can check it out if you like. You may find it useful.

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

The purpose of this modification is for the angel eye rings to fade on when the interior lights go on and for the angel eye rings to fade off when the interior lights go off. Since I have an aftermarket alarm, this is considered a “remote” feature.

You do NOT have to have an alarm nor angel eyes to utilize this write-up. You could have your city lights fade on/off whenever you unlock/lock your vehicle with your key as well. The possibilities are endless.

Anyway, without further ado, here is what you need:

– Wire stripper (I prefer using scissors)
– 4 male connectors (one pink, one blue, preferably)
– 1 female connector (pink, preferably)
– 3 wire taps
– 1 diode (I used a 2.5A 1000V one – 3pk @ Radio Shack $1.69)
– 3-4 feet of electrical tape (NOT PICTURED)
– electrical tape or heat shrink & lighter (NOT PICTURED)
– crimper
– screwdriver (Philips – standard size “+”)
– voltmeter (just in case)

I realized, after completing this project, that you do NOT need the two pink pairs of male/female connectors (center left in picture). In case you do not know, pink colored connectors are for smaller gauge wires whereas blue are for larger gauge wires. I’d recommend pink throughout unless you’re combining two wires into one connector.

I arranged the connectors and wire taps in essentially the format you’re going to be replicating (minus the two PAIRS of pink connectors).

Since I had everything above, the only thing I had to purchase for this DIY was the diodes. Total cost ~$2.00.

Summary:
What you’re basically going to be doing is connecting the two wires going to each side of the parking lights (i.e., your angel eyes) with one wire and connecting that wire to the positive wire of your footwell light (or dome light for you older model BMWs). It’s pretty much as simple as that.

Here’s a picture of my Bentley Repair Manual electrical diagram in case anyone was curious as to what I’m doing:

First off, remove the three screws holding the panel above the pedals. One is to the left of the steering wheel, another to the right, and the third is underneath on the left side (see pictures below). While doing that, remove that one screw holding the light switch in place (see first picture):

After you remove all the screws, grasp the left side of the panel and pull slightly outward away from the car. You’ll see this plastic tab which holds the panel in place:

You’ll then see this mess:

Now unplug (i.e., by squeezing) the black and white connectors plugged into whatever that funky circular thing is . Pull the plug connected to the footwell light (black plug) and disconnect your OBDII connector (if you have one). Pull panel towards the driver’s seat and set panel aside.

Now gently pull the headlight switch out. What you’ll see behind is one white plug for the fog lights and a round black plug for the main headlight switch (see picture below). Squeeze the white plug and disconnect. Remove the round plug by turning counter-clockwise (when facing the plug as if you were IN the dash). Set entire swith and vent aside.

What you’re looking for are TWO wires. One is GRAY/VIOLET and the other is GRAY/YELLOW. I found it is MUCH easier to gain access to these wires by sliding the round plug down towards the footwell light and pulling it out from there. Now once you get those two wires out, use two wire taps, one on each wire and connect them using another wire and a MALE connector on each end of that wire (I used two separate wires instead combined into one blue male connector instead and my GRAY/YELLOW wire already happened to have a connector from a previous install so ignore that). Then add another wire tap at the center of that new wire.

What I normally do when using wire taps is I make a tiny slit in the wire to increase the connection and then crimp the tap to that (see below).

Using a longer piece of wire (~2-3′), crimp a male connector on one side and a female connector on the other side. Plug the male side into the open/free wire tap above (at the center of the wire connecting the two wires). For the female side, you’re going to use a DIODE to prevent the interior lights from coming on when using your parking lights. I used a FEMALE connector on the CATHODE side (grey stripe) and a MALE connector on ANODE side. BEFORE crimping the connectors, slide a piece of heat shrink over it (these suckers get HOT!) or you can use electrical tape afterwards. Connect as follows (the diode in the picture below has blue connectors because I already heat shrunk the diode I was going to use – so use PINK connectors as the diode’s wires are pretty thin):

Finally, add another wire tap to your POSITIVE (i.e., RED) wire connected to your footwell light (I used the long one that is attached to my lighted door sills since they were easier to access). Connect your diode (male connector) to this wire tap. Now plug the headlight switch back in and close your door. Test and make sure this modification works. Turn on your parking lights and make sure your interior lights do NOT go on. Arm/lock and disarm/unlock. If all works well, tuck the wires away carefully and replace the panel. Install is reverse of removal.

Here is a wiring schematic for this procedure:

This is a video clip for the final result video

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.