My BMW E32 735iL is an Electrical Nightmare | Lighting, Driving, and Interior Issues Fixed

[@DarrenMk6]

When u slapped the cluster to get the lights working took me out lmaooo

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Classic bmw tactic!

[@yellowjoe.2000]

I am so glad you are working on the E32 7 series now. This is my favorite big sedan.

[@Mk7_kev]

Im crying laughing at all the cluster stuff just falling apart, gotta love it 😂😂

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Like working with fragile glass bro🤣🤣🤣

[@tun1034]

according to you, this vid was all over but it was very well informative

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Hahah thank you man

[@1984AP]

Good tip on the transmission shifter - had no idea. Appreciate the shout-out on the color. Funny you say you gouged your finger/thumb... an ind. mechanic did my hinge and put horrible dimples in the fuel door, and it has never lined-up perfect. Thinking he injured himself and took it out on the fuel door prying out the hinge. Since you were replacing taillights - a fun fact that applies to most older cars. If the lens is original it will say the year of manufacture on it (very small) on the outer area of the lens, ie. "91". If you don't see it, it was replaced with a replacement unit. One way to tell if a car has ever been hit in the rear. Speaking of elec. issues, for over 2 yrs. I've seen "Coolant Level" message when the coolant is fine - lived with it, as it goes away once driving. A manual dimming mirror is nicer as you can actually get 3 modes of darkness out of it - position the whole mirror lower and lower and it gets darker - ideal for the horrifically obnoxious modern headlights of cars behind you.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Appreciate the info on the color my friend! I wouldn’t be surprised if the mechanic damaged it because he got pissed off hahah, those hinges love to hurt ya. Good note on the lenses! I had no idea!!! And id enjoy the use if that mirror if it worked haha

[@1984AP]

@@m3nameisjosh464 Thanks. Oh no, those positions you can use on a manual mirror found on a E28 or E34 (not auto-dimming).

[@nextphase7481]

You do keep busy, Josh!. Next time, when you remove that airbag, please be careful to place it somewhere keeping the top airbag side up and the explosive side down. Otherwise, if it blows, you will have turned the steering wheel into a launched projectile (watch out!). All sorts of electrical issues with these 30yr.+ BMWs. Some obvious and straightforward to fix, others not so much. At times, after chasing my tail, I have found that a very small amount of surface corrosion (barely visible) on connectors can screw things up. Your working on the instrument cluster brought this to mind. E32s are always nice, though. Good luck going forward!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Goood point! Would hate to get with with a 370mm 4 spoke wheel at airbag speeds haha. But thank you for the comment!

[@ズーム]

Popcorn 🍿 & a new upload, solid day 🏂

[@m3nameisjosh464]

my man!

[@codymoser65]

Had the same thing happen w the ebay hinge. Broke but still held on with some persuasion

[@DavidVlogz]

Nice to see it get some love and she sounds good

[@m3nameisjosh464]

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@houseofno]

All early E32 automatic cars (735 inline 6 and 750 V12) came with a four speed automatic. Exception is 740 which all of these were five speed automatic cars.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thanks for the knowledge!

[@pmccarthy71]

My 1987 730 is manual from factory with lsd.

[@viperocco]

Good video homie. Troubleshooting can be tedious

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thanks bro!

[@aptoscomputer7324]

Radar-Mirror will repair your auto-dimming mirror. My 92 735i had it's mirror yellowed out and leaking. Unfortunately 100% of them at this age are. But I paid $125 and was happy with the well functioning mirror. Surprising to see a car this old have one and that's why I wanted it to work.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

If i cared about the car more id gladly pay that!

[@aptoscomputer7324]

@@m3nameisjosh464 Yeah from that POV I understand. Mine was maintained with a blank check essentially since new and despite having 215K miles has no electrical issues.

[@berwhaletheavenger]

E34's and E32's use the same instrument clusters. Cars up to Feb '89 use a cluster with a grey back and no coding chip - that's built into the light control module. After that came a white back cluster and this was replaced in September '90 by the blue back. Blue and white back clusters both have coding chips for mileage, transmission and fuel tank size but don't interchange blue to black and vice versa. If you fit a cluster from a manual car into an auto you may not have the correct lower pixels. The coding chip should have the VIN from then car it came from. You can swap white and blue back clusters from car to car. Very often, failed instrument lighting is caused by a faulty instrument light dimmer switch. Yeah, genuine BMW filler flap hinges only!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Veryyy useful information! Thank you!!! I might throw a new dimmer switch in and see if anything changes!

[@LabradorcumJuice]

They are back wards compadble apart from that freak 1988/89 Gray version

[@berwhaletheavenger]

@@m3nameisjosh464 I don't think you need one chief - your dash lights are doing something! If you want a laugh, check out how much BMW want for a new instrument cluster circuit board. I guarantee you'll not have laughed so hard in your life.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@berwhaletheavenger HOLY! Thats expensive!

[@LabradorcumJuice]

Thanks Josh! I got the same Glacier Blue e34 as you but its from South Africa RHD and in New Zealand 90L M5 Steel fuel tank

[@winq7070]

I have an e32 730iL with interior lights that work when they are in the mood to (got to switch on and off till they decide to come on), and right rear lights that take a few seconds to come on after I switch on the lights. I will try to smack somewhere with my fist, thanks for the tip haha (and technical content)

[@swissneutro2648]

I have had an E32 735 for 21 years. I once had a problem with the cruise control. Reason: someone put the wrong bulbs in the speedometer unit. This then made this broken. Solution: replaced the whole unit.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thats very interesting

[@Lamerguezerie]

Beau travail. Couleur hypnotisante

[@hazimhani5626]

Beautiful car , thanks for sharing

[@southothehighway]

Hitting it is an indicator of either corrosion or a worn solder trace.

[@AdamAus85]

Nice work with the clean. Seems most of these e32 seats have gone bad by now. May end up needing a dude to re-upholster it.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Yeah they don’t hold up very well. The original owners must have been rather large business men

[@ivanlukacevic8075]

Man you dont dissasemble this plastics outside specially on this cold weather

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Im foolish 😭😭

[@sawyerrauvola5248]

Those older 7 series are very complex, I hope you can bring it back to like new.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thats the double edged sword of 7 series. Cutting edge tech and features for their eras, which makes it more of a pain as the years go on!

[@jalol190]

Josh you are the man!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@jalol190]

Do you know all the types of bulbs used for cluster?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@jalol190 that i do not know

[@tedse21]

The hit the dashboard thing works on my e32 dash lights. And my temp gauge light doesn’t work either.

[@Anirossa]

Pretty sure it's a 3+overdrive gearbox Agree on the fuel door hinge, also DO NOT buy one from Turner motorsport, bought 4 as had to get them shipped to Europe and enough cars that can need them and were cheap, all of them were cracked in the plastic at the same time, from terrible production and/or storing... also were no elasticity in the plastic that snaps into the mounting cracks, just like the ones you got, so had to sip tie it on. 12:25 seen someone do a quick battery disconnect in the same spot on a E34, guess it's nice to have if the electronics goes up in blaze, but a little too ghetto for me, as would be afraid of sth hitting it while driving if got stuff the car, rip 3 different types of instrument clusters when it comes to how they work internally from what I remember, blue back, grey and another one.. Back of the instrument cluster can get pretty crispy from age and how warm it is back there thanks to the heatercore

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Good to know! Thank you!!

[@user-pd8fj6np1k]

You know, there is saying, that miser guy pays twice, if i'm not mistaken.soo... yeah, better buy OEM stuff, if you can)🙃beautifull E32 and that color tho)

[@jotighe2]

this was a really good video

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thank you sir!

[@user-qv2sk6hj7m]

Hi, as i think you used too heavy bulbs in the cluster, trip computer's backlight looks too bright compared with old bulbs near the which wasnt replaced

[@m3nameisjosh464]

They are all replaced from an identical cluster though, not sure

[@johnfloore9799]

Mercedes gauge clusters are just like that, VDO is VDO I guess. I got a PTSD flashback watching you butcher...err fix that cluster with random parts flying!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Hahahahs yeah I manhandled it a little bit

[@matbeech7518]

Haha Ah yes mine was just like this when I first got it very simple fixes on the older cars. The best one is the amp in the boot. I redid my whole stereo system with a new head unit and speakers and had to rewire everything from the boot. A 9v came in handy to trace the speakers. That's the worst I've had and my temp gauge had to whack the dash to make it work sometimes 🤣

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Classsic! This cars amp was also dead and had to be replaced lol

[@matbeech7518]

@@m3nameisjosh464 haha yeah the fun parts. I can't wait to see the finished progress. I'm planning the restomod route deleting the self levelling suspension soon and going with a custom intake to delete all those pesky sensors that are a constant drain on the bank account lol. Love the wheels on your e32 I just have the standard turbines

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@matbeech7518 sounds like a good idea! Haha

[@e-rodbiggins2112]

Thanks for the vid!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thanks for watching!

[@GalvanizedGreatness]

I didn’t think the shifter would cause transmission issues I may try that before I try doing anything with my transmission

[@m3nameisjosh464]

I never knew this either, was pleasantly surprised to find out

[@seans9125]

What did you use to clean the carpets? My E32 carpets look like yours and I thought they were donezo

[@m3nameisjosh464]

A bissell extractor

[@lolguppyo]

Question where did you find parts for this car can’t find them anywhere

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Spares i had mostly

[@jpadicecoffee9812]

I've never driven a E32 but I think it's too big of a car for me even considering the scare parts for it. Seriously, I would consider the E34 after my next camping SUV purchase but it's likely not going to happen as I plan to put the next 300k miles on my daily E46...

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Im actually not a fan of the size of this IL. Way too big of a car. Id prefer my e34

[@francispowell1811]

I paid $20 at a TV repair shop to resolder all contacts on my LKM in 2009. It's 2023 and I've had no recurrence of lighting issues.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

That’s hilariously pre 2010! I bet no one around here would touch that stuff, and even if they did I have 10 lcms collecting dust i cant even sell for $20! Haha

[@francispowell1811]

@@m3nameisjosh464 lol

[@nikyo8235]

u doing good job

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thank you sir!

[@christopherdow5755]

I need a another episode

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Editing now!!!

[@blue_lancer_es]

You take the steering wheel off for the cluster? Even in e34?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Almost positive

[@sheaarnold]

You have to 99.9% of the time. There’s like one specific steering wheel type where you don’t have to, but the rest you do.

[@blue_lancer_es]

@@sheaarnold got it. I dont on my touring.

[@Lamerguezerie]

@@sheaarnold I don't. Early sport steering wheel.

[@jonasthomsen2311]

Wanna sell that mirror?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

I would sell that mirror yes, dm me on instagram, same name as here