E30 Zone

Hi all,
Im sure this has been asked and answered many times......
I have a 1989 325i sport and i need to know which type of si batteries i need to replace the old ones?

The cluster/clock was removed and put away for 7 years as the car was going through a long resto and now the rev counter, temp gauge, fuel gauge, mpg gauge and the 13 button obc dont work, so was going to start off by replacing the si batteries, but dont know which ones i need?

The same as are in there already. It will be one of two types, but only you can see which.

Do i guess it has to be stripped apart to know which type?

No other way of telling. Originally early cars had the NiCd cells and later ones the Lithium, but then, when the batteries started to fail, the early cars were fitted with Lithium type boards as replacements, and the NiCd boards taken in exchange for repair. The situation then was that any E30 that needed a new board would get whatever was in stock at the time, so now there is no way of telling, except by inspection, other than I would expect very late cars to still have their original Lithium boards in place.

Thanks Brain..... i will strip it out and let you know.....
how would i know which is s lithium one and which is not?
And which type of battery for each one? Rechargable or non rechargeable?
Thanks once again.

I actually bought a AA battery holder and removed the batteries from my SI board then soldered in the wiring so that the battery holder was glued to the rear of the Cluster so future changes were piss easy

NiCd batteries are the same size as AA batteries. Lithium batteries are the same diameter, but considerably shorter. They are also usually white in colour, and have the word 'lithium' written on them, IIRC.
The external battery modification came from the US, and is pretty pointless IMHO. It's not possible for the Lithium version, and why bodge things up to save half an hour on a job you might be doing ten years down the line, if you still have the car?

Ok stripped the is board out and i can see x2 Sanyo Laser Lithium batteries....
So are these the re-chargeable type?
Any specific batteries recommended to replace the ones i have?

These are NOT rechargeable, and need to be replaced if and when they go flat.
I'm on holiday at the moment, away from all my E30 files, but if you search my posts on the subject (search for 'lithium') then you should find the CPC-Farnel part number.

Will look up...once again thanks Brian..... you are a legend.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your holiday

Ok i have walked into maplin and they have 'ATC lithium battery CR2 3v' these are the non-rechargeable type also they have a exp date of 11-2018? At £8.79 each....
Are these the right ones?
As i have seen cheaper ones liks duracell and varta....