SI board LED's stay on

[reelizmpro]

I noticed the SI board in my M3 didn't have the LED board installed. I swapped the entire board out with a spare SI board I had laying around. When first installed, Inspection light was on as well as the Green LEDs. This isn't normal but I tried a reset anyway. The Inspection light is now gone but the Green LED's stay on even after the engine is started. They go off only after the ignition is switched off. These are the later style boards with the Lithium batteries and they all tested good. All gauges work fine. Not sure what to make of it. Perhaps a bad contact somewhere. So it doesn't know when to turn off.

[dnguyen1963]

Not sure about your car, but in my '88 325i the green LEDs are supposed to stay on. They will go off one by one until they are all off then the inspection light comes on.

[reelizmpro]

The green leds are not supposed to stay on after the engine starts, but the yellow, red and oil service/inspection lights do if the countdown makes it that far. This is true for all my previous and current e30s.

[Kershaw]

my green lights stay on. it means everything is ok to go!

[mr walker]

Reelizmpro, my lights function just like your other e30's do...green lights on before start, then they turn off. Yellow/red/inspection lights stay on.

That's all I have to contribute unfortunately.

[reelizmpro]

Interesting this is the 2nd person to say their green LED's stay on while driving. I've owned an 85 325e, 87 325eS, 88 325iS, 88 M3, 91 325iC M technic over the past 20 years and none of them ever had the green LEDs stay on while driving. However, this seems to be the case on my newly acquired 89 M3. I'm trying to figure out why. I tried 2 instrument clusters and they both did the same thing. Is it possibly a change in the wiring for some cars?

[dnguyen1963]

The green leds are not supposed to stay on after the engine starts, but the yellow, red and oil service/inspection lights do if the countdown makes it that far. This is true for all my previous and current e30s.

I just replaced my SI board with a Programa board. In the trouble-shooting section, it clearly states that the green LEDs should stay on after starting the car. If the LEDs are not on then either the jumpers are not set correctly or the batteries are dead.

[reelizmpro]

I read the PDF by programa but it doesn't state anything about the green LED's staying on with the engine running.

[dnguyen1963]

I just bought an inspection reset tool and interestingly, resetting the old board resulted in all lit green lights. With my new Programma board, the green LEDs stayed on only when the ignition was on and off after the car started. I checked the owner manual and it stated:

1. Green LEDs turn on when the ignition is on then off when the car starts.
2. Yellow and red LED should go off after starting the car. If either light stays on after starting the car then service is required.

I have seen many Youtube videos showing all green LEDs stay on after resetting the inspection lights though. It is definitely confusing.

[cunninglinguist]

[Jean]

ALL green Lights should not stay on when the car is RUNNING...they stay in when the key is in acc position but not running car.

If they stay ON when the car is running, something is wrong.

[reelizmpro]

That's correct Jean. Turns out my board had some bad traces. I soldered some jumpers and everything works like its supposed to.