SI Board battery replacement

[E30Derbyshire]

Hi,

As my Service Indicator lights won’t reset and everything else instrument wise appears to be fine, I presume the batteries are on the way out and need replacing.

Can anyone please recommend someone that could sort this for me somewhere in the East Midlands. Having the technical ability of a ham-fisted village idiot myself I’d rather find someone to remove the board, repair and replace it all for me

Any suggestions gratefully received, thanks.

[onthames]

Hi mate, I don't know of anybody in east midlands but it isn't that hard if you have a soldering iron. Or a mate with a soldering iron! You take the board, the SI board out of the cluster, unsolder the battery,
Here is the step by step tutorials you need if you want to give it a go yourself:
Removing instrument cluster:

Replacing SI board batteries:

[onthames]

But any auto electrician should be able to do this for you if you wanted, just supply them the video as its quite good step by step.

[E30Derbyshire]

But any auto electrician should be able to do this for you if you wanted, just supply them the video as its quite good step by step.

Thanks, I’ve emailed a couple of auto electricians and a company that does pcb repairs, will see what response I get.

[mickes]

Any update on this as am interested what make/type batteries they recommend.

[E30Derbyshire]

Any update on this as am interested what make/type batteries they recommend.

To be honest I got fobbed off mostly with a lot of “too busy right now” comments. One lovely old guy suggested Cartronix in Hampshire, but they don’t touch pre 1996. So I’m a little stuck right now.

[coopman]

You don't necessarily need a specialist auto electrician - I'd assume that any electronics enthusiast type of shop could help if you brought them the cluster (which is quite easy to remove).

[E30Derbyshire]

You don't necessarily need a specialist auto electrician - I'd assume that any electronics enthusiast type of shop could help if you brought them the cluster (which is quite easy to remove).

To be honest I’m considering buying one of these from the US, a battery less board, and removing the battery issue forever.

https://www.programainc.com/item_detail ... roduct=177

[parkin10]

I know this is an old thread but I'm curious
Did the battery less board sort your problem?
I've had my e30 some 18-19 years now
Never had any problems with the si batteries but after a little 5 month lay up I'm starting to have problems
The service lights won't reset and the alternator, abs, brake pad warning lights glimmer up from time to time and I figure the si batteries may be to blame

[E30Derbyshire]

Hi,

Yes it certainly did, works perfectly, and nice to know I don’t have to worry about future battery issues. Well worth the expenditure.

[parkin10]

Being a tight fisted Yorkshire man and the replacement batteries being about £12-£15 I'd have a go knowing that if it goes badly there's a replacement board available as a back up plan
Thanks for the prompt reply