- Phillips screwdriver.
- Soldering iron.
- New capacitors and new bulbs.
1. Disconnect the battery!
2. If they your steering wheel extend, you should be able to get the dash module out without having to remove the steering wheel. Extend it all the way out, and then you should be able to slide it out of the same side as the turn indicator, takes a little wiggle, but it works perfectly.
3. Else, you will have to remove the steering wheel, be extremely careful if your car is equipped with airbags (see Bentley manual). You can remove the the plastic cover under the steering wheel and access the 2 bolts that hold the steering column up. Remove those bolts and the column will drop enough for you to access the instrument cluster, you can set off the airbag with this method!
4. Remove the instrument cluster and open it.
5. Click in the picture, the yellow arrows are the capacitor which go bad, the red arrows are the screws which must be removed and the blue arrows are the retaining clips which must be carefully pried back. Once that is done you can remove the glue on the edges of the board and remove the board.
6. Check the values printed on the side of each capacitors (like 220mF 40V). It has been suggested to replace them with 105°C capacitor but 85°C will work fine.
7. But sure to take note where each capacitor is located. Check polarity when removing and installing the capacitors or you will damage your board. Capacitors are always marked as far as negative and positive.
8. Use a desoldering tool to remove the old capacitors and solder the new ones without touching other connections on the board.
9. You should change all the light bulbs while you have the cluster open!
10. Recoat the bottom of the board with an insulating varnish for the circuit board and reassemble. Some capacitors don't have a value printed on them: EPJ 22-40 W5 = 22 microfarad and 40 volt. (Can be replaced with 50V ones.) Bulbs part # from Stewart Ebrat:
- 12V3W (07.11.9.978.372) Quantity: 3
- 12V1.5W (62.11.1.391.260) Quantity: 6
- 12V1.2W (62.13.1.383.311) Quantity: 10 (Note same for OBC)
- OBC Light is #62 13 1 383 311 quantity: 3
- Heat and fan panel light: p/n 62 11 1 391 777 Quantity: 1 A thought on Instrument clusters.
There is two model of instrument clusters, one from built date: '88- Feb 89 with the coding plug in the wiring harness (brown connector), and another one after '90, the coding plug is inside the instrument cluster.
Both clusters boards are different inside and the bulbs are also different. The new instrument cluster can be used in place of the older one, but the older one won't work with the newer BMW E34 because there will be no coding plugs. The connectors are at different locations on the newer cluster, but this doesn't affect the functioning. Coding Plugs (from Bill R.)
It controls the odometer reading, miles/kilometer/ some of the gauge functions as well. When replacing it you need all the numbers that appear when you do the self test on the instrument cluster. That will tell the dealer which version hardware/sofware you have. You also must disconnect all connectors on the back of the dash cluster with the battery disconnected and wait a few minutes for all residual power to drain to keep from damaging the memory on the coding plug. THIS is a must. Also since the obc shares data with the coding plug, the plug to the obc on the back of it must be disconnected and wait at least one minute after the coding plug has been changed.
This will reset the obc for the new coding plug.
To switch from km to miles, you need to change the coding plug. | |  Coding plug | | Images courtesy of Hannu Myllynpää | Coding plugs and Fuel / Temperature Gauges: (Thank to Bill)
After changing the capacitors, the the gas gauge and temp gauge were still dead.
I changed the instrument cluster and I wanted to maintain the odometer reading, so changed out the non volatile module and it made the gas gauge and temp gauge quit. I put the new one back in and it worked. So it seems that the coding plug can get corrupted and affect the gauges also. Capacitors don't solve it all: (Stewart Ebrat)
Have just solves 3 month long problem of no odometer, trip meter, fuel gauge, service lights, economy gauge and message board. Changed capacitors to no avail, searched Bruno’s site as well as the forum's archive for any other answers but was left disappointed. Only explanation was capacitors. Finally took car to specialist Euro auto electrician who changed the whole box below instrument cluster where globes and readout lcd's are located. Luckily I did not change instrument cluster. Total cost for labor and new box $450 AUD ($300 USD) and all fixed. Box is actually second hand (stealer wants $1200 AUD for new) but came with 24 mth warranty. Capacitors are not the only cause of this problem. Hope this can help some other board members avoid the frustration I experienced. | 
