E39 540i - Dashboard pixel problems

[hedonest]

Greetings everyone,

It has been a while since i have participated in any of the forums online. Have been really busy last few months.

There is an issue for a while in my car. the pixel display on the dashboard has been disappearing. Now it has come to such a stage where i cannot read anything at all.

I hve been researching online about this issue for a bit and seems like some heating/cooling issues results in this problems in literally all BMW cars manufactured in the last 10 years. BMW NA is even offering free replacement of the part and customers being charged only for one hour of labor.

I was wondering if any of you guys are facing similar issues and if there is any solution for it?

[Haissam]

welcome back :)

this is a very common problem, i remember it since the '93 E36 days and last time i saw it was on a 2005 1-series!

unfortunately i haven't heard of a quick solution that works........

[SSense]

This is a common problem on many BMWs and one reason why the pixel reading on the instrument cluster disappears is because of the harsh heat that our cars go through..

Talking of the solution, dont know about the dealer willing to change the part for free here but other way is get a used and clean instrument cluster from a scrap, they go as cheap as Dhs 300-400 but the problem you'll face is the mileage.. The mileage that is already stored on the instrument cluster you buy from scrap will only be displayed, in other words you'll have to set the mileage to the current mileage that your car has, or else you'll have a problem while going through registration if the mileage is lesser than previous year..

There's another way which i havent heard of anyone trying, there's a guy on souq.com who's willing to send people a pdf file or cd which has some steps for this pixel repair, its for around Dhs 150..

Hope this helps :)

[shorty22]

need to remove cluster and re-solder the back of the display.... it is what i have read on internet. big job for something not so important. that is why i have not done it yet either

[Haissam]

There's another way which i havent heard of anyone trying, there's a guy on souq.com who's willing to send people a pdf file or cd which has some steps for this pixel repair, its for around Dhs 150..

seen this and researched about it but got mixed opinions and experience with it so my logic said no in the end :dunno:

[Bruno]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.247 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/179)

Taqi in sharjah fixes it. Go to maps.google and search for their location

[SHkater]

Hello Hedonest! My dad owns a 1998 e39 528i and hes had the same problem. He fixed it around 2 years ago in this 1 russian workshop in sharjah for i think 500dhs(that was 2 years ago). I can give u the workshops number and then u can get the location :D. (050) 387 87 33. Hope this helps