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Successful Surgery (archive)
[ Follow Ups ] [ 6-series (E24) Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]
Posted by Hap Aziz on July 23, 2000 at 21:12:31:

First of all, thanks to all on the board who have helped me through this process. I couldn't have done it otherwise!

For the past several weeks, my tach and mpg unit have been acting erratically after start. After discussion, diagnosis was that the SI board batteries were shot and needed to be replaced.

Then last week my odometer stopped working though my speedo was fine. Diagnosis there was likely a stripped gear--send to North Hollywood Speedo for repair.

So on Friday the 14th, I got out of work at noon and proceeded to yank the instrument cluster out of my car. I pulled the speedo off the cluster, boxed it up, and FedExed it to NHS on Saturday for Monday delivery. I also pulled apart the cluster to find the two 3 volt lithium batteries. I bought a couple of replacements, and a bunch of parts to rewire the batteries to a different, more easily accessible location.

Then on Sunday the 16th, I went on vacation for a week.

I gave NHS instructions to ship the speedo back to my office. They got the speedo repaired in one day and shipped it overnight.

Yesterday (Saturday the 22nd) I drove me and the family back from Germantown, MD, and I arrived home at about 2:00 am on Sunday. After some sleep, I went into the office and picked up the speedo.

The reassembly and reinstallation of the instrument cluster went pretty quickly. With the SI batteries, I cut the old batteries off the terminal posts. Then I soldered about 3 feet of connecting wire so that I could place the replacement batteries in a better location. I made a little battery pack that I ended up velcroing right behind the check lights panel. So in 10 years from now when these lithium batteries die, I won't have to take out the whole cluster again.

After the test drive, I find that the speedo/odo work perfectly (thanks NHS!), and the tach/mpg needles aren't spastic anymore (thanks new batteries!). The only problem I had is that when I turn on my headlights, the shock and ABS lights come on in the dash--I pluged the bulbs in the wrong place, but that's an easy fix.

Once again, thanks to everyone that's helped me out on this one. I'm sure I saved a bundle of money, but more than that, it was greatly satisfying to do the fix myself!

Hap Aziz
'88 635CSi



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