E30 Zone

Hey guys,

I need to replace the battery warning bulb on the dash of my '86 320i Auto Moredoor - annoyingly I have lost the original with its holder and from looking on real OEM and speaking to BMW I am struggling with the part number. Can someone tell me the colour of the holder of this bulb?

It's one of the smaller bulbs but the black holder is not the right size to fit the connector. Any assistance on this greatly appreciated! (I cant drive the car at the moment as the bulb is the control for the alternator and I dont want to cook it! - Otherwise I'd take it to BMW to do!)

Cheers in advance

Ru

??? Battery warning light is the same as the whole row of warning lights.

Early e30 clusters used a larger alternator charge bulb and holder, the same size as the cluster illumination bulb holders, but 1.3W.

Hi Brian,

I must have a different instrument cluster to you - mine has a fitment for a large bulb holder but the hole is only big enough for one of the small bulbs to fit through...

I have one that is the same as yours too though - (dead SI batteries so to swap would be a pain for the sake of a bulb - but if I cant get hold of one...)

Anyone else ever come accross this?

mark_i wrote:Early e30 clusters used a larger alternator charge bulb and holder, the same size as the cluster illumination bulb holders, but 1.3W.

Hi Mark - I dont suppose you'd have a part number or a photo of this please? You seem to be the only person that has a scooby what I'm talking about!!!

Cheers

Ru

mark_i wrote:Early e30 clusters used a larger alternator charge bulb and holder, the same size as the cluster illumination bulb holders, but 1.3W.

Like they say; you learn something new every day!
If you give a BMW dealer your VIN, they should be able to identify it.

Well they have something on order - should be in this morning - but neither they or I am 100% that it is the right one - I'll let you guys know as soon as I find out - along with the part number for someone elses future reference...!

If it says "quantity 1" against the part number, then it probably is the correct one.

Brianmoooore wrote:If it says "quantity 1" against the part number, then it probably is the correct one.

This is the problem; there's one with a x (so >10)
and 2 with a quantity of 2

so if it is one of these then there's another one somewhere I don't know about!!!

Sorry theru, no pictures
I'm away from home this week (in WillNZ territory), but if you lostthe alternator bulb holder, you can see the style of the holder/bulb you need by removing at one of the larger cluster illumination holders.

If the bulb holder is identical and interchangable with the illumination bulbs, then it won't hurt to use one of these with a 3W bulb in place of the correct one, other than it will be very bright.
Shouldn't cause any heat problems, since it's not normally on for more than a couple seconds.