Hi, I went over a bump with my E30 and cluster just died completely, as did the fan.
Fuses 10, 12, 21, 27 changed, cluster worked fine upon starting the car, back to square one once car taken out of garage.
Since there is an issue with cluster and fan, maybe someone can indicate starting points before I take out the cluster?
Thanks
Cluster and Fan not Working
Moderator: martauto
You will come across on this board a poster called Brianmoore who is the ultimate guru on everything to do with E30's. I have been collecting bits of his advice for future reference, and one of his most comprehensive posts was on servicing the cluster. I am reposting it below in the hope that it might help you, but I am afraid that I am unable to answer any questions arising from it!
Brian Moore on servicing the instrument cluster
Cluster is very easy to remove on an E30 - locate the knurled nut up under the dash that holds one side of the trim panel above the steering wheel in place, push the trim inwards directly in front of the nut, and the nut should easily be spun off with a finger of the other hand. Repeat for the other nut, and remove trim.
Remove the four small crosshead screws that hold the trim around the cluster, and remove.
Remove the crosshead screws, now exposed, that hold the cluster itself.
Manoeuvre the cluster partly out, so that it lies face down on top of the steering column.
Use a small screwdriver to lift the locking bars on all the plugs that your version has, and disconnect the plugs.
Remove the cluster to the left. There is absolutely no reason to remove the steering wheel.
Make sure that you put the various lengths of screws back into the right positions. The longest ones are long enough to pierce the top of the dash top if fitted in the wrong place!
Place the cluster face down, remove all the cross head screws on the back except the slightly smaller ones on the raised areas behind the speedo. and tacho., then carefully pull the two halves apart. The SI board will remain in the front section, while the main circuit board and the instruments will stay with the rear.
The speedo. and tacho. are retained by the smaller self tappers on the raised area, so remove the ones behind the speedo. in your case, and pull it out.
Fuel gauge and temp. gauge are held by the single brass nuts behind them. Check that these nuts are tight before refitting the cluster - they are known to come loose and cause the gauges to flicker between the correct position and a slightly higher one.
To remove the SI board, first pull out the coding plug from the front lower right face of the cluster, then remove the single self-tapper inside the front of the cluster that holds the plastic retaining bracket in place. Note that this bracket also holds the little plastic mask with the legend 'check' on it for 6 pot cars or the opaque mask on 4 pot cars, so check that this is in place when reassembling, and don't lose it in the meantime.
Things you should do with the cluster out:
1/ Check the brass nuts are tight (already mentioned above.)
2/ Place the SI board in the freezer for ten minutes, then measure the voltage on each battery. Replace batteries if seriously low.
3/ Check all the little warning lights and panel illumination lights for blackening of their glass. Replace any that are black and have a mirrored appearance.
4/ Do the same with the three bulbs on the SI board's daughter board.
5/Remove the speedo. and check the soldering of the pins that connect it to the main circuit board
6/ There is a raised rectangular area on the back of the cluster, near the temp. gauge. This contains a large resistor, whose soldered connections can be found near the temp. gauge on the main circuit board. These will have deteriorated and need resoldering, unless they've been attended to before.
7/ Check the soldering on the pins for the white and blue sockets on the back. They are not a weak point, but can sometimes suffer at the hands of someone in the past that doesn't realise how to release the plugs.
Brian Moore on servicing the instrument cluster
Cluster is very easy to remove on an E30 - locate the knurled nut up under the dash that holds one side of the trim panel above the steering wheel in place, push the trim inwards directly in front of the nut, and the nut should easily be spun off with a finger of the other hand. Repeat for the other nut, and remove trim.
Remove the four small crosshead screws that hold the trim around the cluster, and remove.
Remove the crosshead screws, now exposed, that hold the cluster itself.
Manoeuvre the cluster partly out, so that it lies face down on top of the steering column.
Use a small screwdriver to lift the locking bars on all the plugs that your version has, and disconnect the plugs.
Remove the cluster to the left. There is absolutely no reason to remove the steering wheel.
Make sure that you put the various lengths of screws back into the right positions. The longest ones are long enough to pierce the top of the dash top if fitted in the wrong place!
Place the cluster face down, remove all the cross head screws on the back except the slightly smaller ones on the raised areas behind the speedo. and tacho., then carefully pull the two halves apart. The SI board will remain in the front section, while the main circuit board and the instruments will stay with the rear.
The speedo. and tacho. are retained by the smaller self tappers on the raised area, so remove the ones behind the speedo. in your case, and pull it out.
Fuel gauge and temp. gauge are held by the single brass nuts behind them. Check that these nuts are tight before refitting the cluster - they are known to come loose and cause the gauges to flicker between the correct position and a slightly higher one.
To remove the SI board, first pull out the coding plug from the front lower right face of the cluster, then remove the single self-tapper inside the front of the cluster that holds the plastic retaining bracket in place. Note that this bracket also holds the little plastic mask with the legend 'check' on it for 6 pot cars or the opaque mask on 4 pot cars, so check that this is in place when reassembling, and don't lose it in the meantime.
Things you should do with the cluster out:
1/ Check the brass nuts are tight (already mentioned above.)
2/ Place the SI board in the freezer for ten minutes, then measure the voltage on each battery. Replace batteries if seriously low.
3/ Check all the little warning lights and panel illumination lights for blackening of their glass. Replace any that are black and have a mirrored appearance.
4/ Do the same with the three bulbs on the SI board's daughter board.
5/Remove the speedo. and check the soldering of the pins that connect it to the main circuit board
6/ There is a raised rectangular area on the back of the cluster, near the temp. gauge. This contains a large resistor, whose soldered connections can be found near the temp. gauge on the main circuit board. These will have deteriorated and need resoldering, unless they've been attended to before.
7/ Check the soldering on the pins for the white and blue sockets on the back. They are not a weak point, but can sometimes suffer at the hands of someone in the past that doesn't realise how to release the plugs.