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Gear Indicator light repair

E28 technical advice asked and given! Troubleshooting, modifications and more.
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kalittle0463
Posts: 160
Joined: Jan 18, 2014 9:34 AM
Location: Pfafftown, NC

Gear Indicator light repair

Post by kalittle0463 »

Greetings all,

In repairing my 1985 535i automatic, I find one of the lights in the gear indicator is burned out - of course it's the "D" light. To buy a replacement online the best I can find is around $170 - definitely not worth it. My question is whether anyone's gotten a light replaced in one of these boards? If so, was it successful?

Ken
Blue Shadow
Posts: 10357
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: SE PA

Post by Blue Shadow »

should be simple. I have a couple boards from clusters but since I have a manual, I have not worried about swapping lamps. Should be just a solder it in sort of swap. Of course using an appropriate bulb is the key.

I would swap the low gear lamp to the D position and stuff something into the low gear position.
Conanblau
Posts: 221
Joined: Aug 29, 2007 10:06 PM
Location: BC, Canada

Post by Conanblau »

The bulb is the same as the other 1.2w bulbs in the cluster. To solder in a new one you'll need to remove/break the 3 plastic pegs that hold the plastic carrier to the circuit board and then securely reattach (glue?) it afterwards.

Of the three of these I've looked at recently, all the D's were burnt out. If the pinpoint soldering or kludging the carrier back on sounds iffy, consider that unlit D an advanced feature and throw it back in the car ;)

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demetk
Posts: 8431
Joined: Aug 09, 2007 8:58 AM
Location: CT, USA

Post by demetk »

I bought a couple of those little bulbs from autozone.
kalittle0463
Posts: 160
Joined: Jan 18, 2014 9:34 AM
Location: Pfafftown, NC

Post by kalittle0463 »

Do you know the part number of that bulb?
tig
Posts: 9410
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Post by tig »

I actually like the fact that D is burned out. I even have a spare light unit (thanks Kohler)...I'll likely put it in if I ever sell the car, but for now I really don't need to be told the car is in drive.
Aldo525
Posts: 421
Joined: Mar 24, 2021 3:04 PM
Location: Puerto Varas, CHILE

Re: Gear Indicator light repair

Post by Aldo525 »

Reviving this old post, automatic vehicle. I don't have a burnt-out light; that's easy to fix, but the gear indicator lights glow very dimly when the headlights are on, even with the dimmer set to maximum. Is there a circuit component that "wears out" over time and could be replaced to improve the gear indicator illumination?

I remember that when these cars were new, the shift indicator would glow very brightly when the headlights were on (it dimmed slightly compared to when the lights were off, but not so much that it was invisible).
 
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