How To Tell How Fast You Are Going If... - BMW Forum

chowder · 04-08-2005, 07:06 PM

my gauges have gone out...wait no, they havent...

see they just kinda...go out?? i thought...maybe bad connection? but it goes out...while stopped...comes on while stopped.

okay, short? maybe, but if it shorted, would it come back on? and would it be a ground somewhere that happens to touch whatever and make it go out? then a bump would make it come back on? but then ... it goes out, while stopped, and come on...while stopped.

okay...get's weirder... while the gauges go out, my cruise stops working AND my on-board comp, and clock both are brightly lit as if it were daytime...with the headlights on...

and while the headlights on, and the gauges out, the gauges are illuminated...

so really, i dunno what's going on, or where to start...any ideas???
ignition switch? light switch? cluster itself? how the hell do i get the steering wheel off to get the cluster out??
help
thanks

Casey3561 · 04-08-2005, 09:25 PM

Do you lose all the gauges, or just the speedo?

chowder · 04-08-2005, 10:04 PM

all the gauges...

speedo, rpm's, temp, gas...

chowder · 04-10-2005, 12:56 AM

bump

drz · 04-10-2005, 01:09 AM

You should really take care of that soon. You may lose control of something important while driving and put your life and that of others in danger. It seems to me that you have either a short of a bad connection.

morph · 04-10-2005, 01:42 AM

The appropriate way to tell how fast you are going is this: D=RT. As long as you have two parts to the equation, you can figure out the rest!

bigred318 · 04-10-2005, 01:52 AM

theres 3 fuses that run your guauges! check them

David

rsn48 · 04-10-2005, 02:23 AM

driving a car with out a properly working spedometer is illegal, at least in some Canadian provinces.

chowder · 04-10-2005, 02:43 PM

rsn48: i'm sure it's illegal here too...

bigred318: i forgot to type up that i did check them...and they were all good...

drz328i: yeah, that's why i haven't been driving at all...and i hate relying on others for rides...

edit: when this first started happening i was on my way to work (80 or so miles away) and after about 30 miles, they were working fine...next went off...then i dj'd, and then on my way home, they stayed on for the entire trip.

is this a problem no one else has had? my last resort is the stealership...and i'd really prefer not to go there...

Furious · 04-10-2005, 02:59 PM

http://www.bmw-forums.com/forum/index.php?...l=gauge+cluster

your gauge cluster needs to be changed...

symptoms
speedo tach everything dies
cruise control stops
wipers dont work properly in second position
clock and other lights act up (because the light sensor, located at the end of the speedometer is malfuntioning as well)

kyle_baker · 04-10-2005, 03:03 PM

never run into this problem myself, but i hope you get that fixed, sounds like a major safety problem.

Furious · 04-10-2005, 03:05 PM

not really , i lived with it for over a year and a half untill a half month ago when i swapped the new one in finally.

kyle_baker · 04-10-2005, 04:23 PM

lol, if it were me i'd swap it out asap, just cause i liekt o keep my car up to par with everything functioning properly.

chowder · 04-10-2005, 09:46 PM

thanks furious.

hit every symptom except the wipers..they work fine while gauges go out.

happen to know the link to the diy you made? i did a search for "diy gauges" but didn't see anything on a quick look, and i'm on crappy aol that doesn't even give you true 56k so i couldn't look through all 6 pages of stuff...i'll do it again later, but if you could link me it would save me lots of time...

thanks again

Furious · 04-11-2005, 12:48 AM

here you go.

http://www.bmw-forums.com/forum/inde...howtopic=34466