This message is marked as Important.

Subject: Wondering why I'm up this late? PIXEL REPAIR. That's why. Author: visionbmw7 : member since July, 2006 : 4928 posts Posted on: 2006-12-05 05:07:57

I WILL SAY THIS. YOU TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU FOLLOW THIS PROCEDURE! THIS IS NOT A PROJECT FOR THE NOVICE. Taking the needles out alone is a high risk. I am not accountable for anything that happens to your cluster should it break or fail. I am merely demonstrating the method I took to repair the pixels and it is up to you to try this. If you're not comfortable disassembling your cluster, just go the BMWNA route.

I followed zapperjoe's writeup on the pixel repair. This does involve removing the needles. He said some of the needle shafts may come out. I used needle nose pliers to grasp the shaft while twisting the needle out. That way, the springs are still held in place and it would be easier to adjust the needles later. Take caution when removing the MPG needle as there is no way to get the pliers in there. I bravely placed partialy opened scissors under this needle to support both sides and slowly yanked up. It came off without the shaft. PHEW!

Here's the cluster without the needles and the top layer off.


The ends of the frame were already cracked. The cracked pieces came off with the screws. These contributed to the missing pixels as pressure is lost due to this.



WARNING! When the ribbon is peeled from the board, it rips the contacts off and leaves it on the board with the glue. The transparent part is where the contacts used to be.


Per zapperjoe, acetone works best in removing the glue residue. You can still see some residue embedded in between the contacts.


Not knowing whether the acetone would strip the contacts on the ribbon, I emailed zapperjoe. But it's the middle of the night and I doubt I'd get a response quick. So I tried the acetone on the ribbon. No turning back now. It's either ruined or not. It took the residue off and exposed the "fresh" contacts without stripping it from the ribbon. TIP: soak the residue in acetone to dissolve the glue. Gently rub with Qtips until it comes off. "Slow and steady wins the race."


Remember to flip the rubber pressure pads since age creates indentations against the ribbon as you can see. Loss of pressure from the shrinking/age/heat/etc.


No glue was used. The ribbon stays in place. You just have to move the ribbon up a little so the "fresh" contacts will meet with the board. MAKE SURE THE CONTACTS LINE UP. I tested the cluster in the car after I screwed in the display just in case it needs adjustment. TADA! PIXELS ARE BACK!


With the exception of the burned bulb, the pixels are there. The S and T have 1 line missing but that's because of the minial pressure due to the cracked ends.


I put a little pressure above those spots and all the pixels came back.


What I'm going to do is place a strip of electrical tape on the rubber pressure pads and it should create more pressure. I'm also going to epoxy the cracked frame so the screws will hold. As far as the needles, I placed tape on the fuel and temp gauges to reference the resting point. The tach & speed will have to be calibrated when the car is running. RPM can be compared with the OB service mode per zapperjoe. So speed is the only concern. He had his wife drive along side to adjust the speed needle. I think I'll use the OB Speed Limit and set at say 35mph. When the gong sounds, I'll compare it to what the needle shows. I don't think that's really accurate though.

AGAIN, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN IF YOU FOLLOW THIS METHOD!!!

Cliff

85 318i totalled
90 525i traded in for the 96 740iL
87 325is sold
84 318i sold
87 325iC current 193k
96 740iL current 127k new heart
88 735i current 106k

• Wondering why I'm up this late? PIXEL REPAIR. That's why. (pic) - visionbmw7 2006-12-05 05:07:57 (28273 views)
  • Calibration was easier than I thought. (pic) (vid) (url) - visionbmw7 2006-12-07 00:17:39 (2087 views)
  • Thanks for the comments. Here's more on what I did. (pic) - visionbmw7 2006-12-06 05:18:14 (3324 views)
  • Re: Wondering why I'm up this late? PIXEL REPAIR. That's why. - milan99740il 2006-12-05 22:18:11 (1266 views)
  • Impressive!!! (nt) - inconsistent 2006-12-05 21:39:21 (669 views)
  • All I can say is............ - lawguy 2006-12-05 20:54:40 (629 views)
  • WOW ! Gr8 Job Cliff ! (nt) - krazyd 2006-12-05 12:49:47 (616 views)
    • Got your electricals fixed? (nt) - bmw635 2006-12-05 12:53:46 (755 views)
      • HEY! Why'd u have to ruin my post? LOL!!! (nt) - visionbmw7 2006-12-05 15:19:26 (753 views)
        • Re: LMAO!! Got Hi-Jacked ! (nt) - krazyd 2006-12-05 15:21:48 (483 views)
      • Re: No bro , I will just take it in to the stealer this weekend since I cant - krazyd 2006-12-05 12:54:33 (447 views)
        • If you're in Hutington Beach area, swing by and I'll see if I can find anything. (nt) - bmw635 2006-12-05 13:07:16 (354 views)
          • Re: See the thing is sometime it makes the trans go into safemode - krazyd 2006-12-05 13:09:46 (419 views)
            • What else comes on with that Trans Fail Safe? (nt) - bmw635 2006-12-05 13:21:35 (358 views)
              • Re: DSC , ABS, BRAKE ARE IN AMBER , it also causes - krazyd 2006-12-05 13:24:59 (393 views)
                • Does all of this happen constantly or just intermittent? Sounds like bad - bmw635 2006-12-05 13:28:03 (305 views)
                  • Re: RPM also stops working sometime but here is the - krazyd 2006-12-05 13:30:15 (337 views)
                    • Defnitely bad ground or lose connection. Dealer diagnostic is going to be very - bmw635 2006-12-05 13:37:28 (350 views)
                      • Re: Yea alternator connection and battery connection are good - krazyd 2006-12-05 13:40:12 (283 views)
  • Tweezer is a good prybar for the needles. You can use a washer on the screw for - bmw635 2006-12-05 11:18:25 (705 views)
    • Great idea. I'll replace with thin screws with nuts. Thanks!! - visionbmw7 2006-12-05 15:14:44 (487 views)
      • It's an Ebay unit I bought to experiment but no time and got new cluster so I - bmw635 2006-12-05 16:09:02 (494 views)
  • W O W, your good! I would have never gone through that (nt) - Blue740i 2006-12-05 11:00:31 (402 views)
  • Wow! You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! Pretty intrepid - mikeym 2006-12-05 10:24:40 (388 views)
  • Here are my pixels before. And link to zapperjoe's writeup. (pic) (url) - visionbmw7 2006-12-05 05:17:28 (2115 views)
    • And here is how to do it without removing the needles (url) - farnarkler 2006-12-05 05:55:22 (1810 views)
      • I read that post before and was going to do that but my drill died. Good method. (pic) - visionbmw7 2006-12-05 06:23:48 (1130 views)