Some of you will know that when I bought my car Stuart kindly went over it with a fine tooth comb repairing and replacing where necessary. He did a first rate job and the car has been really reliable.
However, last Summer it developed an irritating fault. The audible element of the direction indicators stopped working. The indicators themselves worked fine but no ‘tick-tock’. It turned out there was no straightforward solution to the problem. The control for the audible element of indicators is embedded in the instrument cluster. I had the car examined by a good independent who couldn’t help. The instrument cluster was then sent to ECU Testing. This is the company which repairs the faulty electronic steering columns on E85s. They have a good reputation but couldn’t effect a repair either.
One solution would have been to directly replace the instrument cluster with another working one but then there would have been all the attendant problems re- mileage etc. I could also have bought a brand new cluster directly from BMW and have them replace it. But I would have needed a mortgage to pay the bill.
I thought was going to have to live with the problem. But Stuart, as ever, hates to be beaten and after discussing the issue with another member, IAM ORION, discovered a fix. He was able to remove a computer chip from my cluster and replaced into a donor cluster which had everything working. Hey Presto! Mileage retained and all gauges working as they should plus the ‘tick tick’ sound had returned.
So, what clever helpful members we have on this Forum. Many, many thanks to these two gentleman.
Sorry it’s a bit wordy but if others have a similar problem you know who to contact.
However, last Summer it developed an irritating fault. The audible element of the direction indicators stopped working. The indicators themselves worked fine but no ‘tick-tock’. It turned out there was no straightforward solution to the problem. The control for the audible element of indicators is embedded in the instrument cluster. I had the car examined by a good independent who couldn’t help. The instrument cluster was then sent to ECU Testing. This is the company which repairs the faulty electronic steering columns on E85s. They have a good reputation but couldn’t effect a repair either.
One solution would have been to directly replace the instrument cluster with another working one but then there would have been all the attendant problems re- mileage etc. I could also have bought a brand new cluster directly from BMW and have them replace it. But I would have needed a mortgage to pay the bill.
I thought was going to have to live with the problem. But Stuart, as ever, hates to be beaten and after discussing the issue with another member, IAM ORION, discovered a fix. He was able to remove a computer chip from my cluster and replaced into a donor cluster which had everything working. Hey Presto! Mileage retained and all gauges working as they should plus the ‘tick tick’ sound had returned.
So, what clever helpful members we have on this Forum. Many, many thanks to these two gentleman.
Sorry it’s a bit wordy but if others have a similar problem you know who to contact.
Attleborough, Norfolk
North West Surrey
