Half of my dash lights dont work.

[beatup86]

Hi everyone, first off I have searched for a while now and couldn't figure it out so ill post here. my car is a 89 325i 5 speed, just replaced valve cover gasket, timing belt, water pump, thermostat housing, fixed my aux fan, and replaced my odometer gears (motometer gauge). took her for a spin and wonderful, flawless, then I had to go to the grocery store cause we were out of coffee, its night, turn my headlights on, gas gauge and speedo work normal, tach and temp gauge lights don't work tho, the gauges themselves work, so jumping or stuttering from the gauges. get back from the store and check fuses, they check fine, I replaced em anyway, took cluster out, bulbs are good, took a lint free cloth to the conectors on the board to clean it up just a little (didn't need it tho), the dimmer knob woks properly, and all my indicator lights on that side of the cluster light up properly. Lets face it, lights on the cluster are kind of important lol, so any ideas as to why that one freaking light doesn't work?

[Cephas]

If you are handy with a multimeter i would check the ground and + side continuities to make sure there are no breaks in the board.

[Gregs///M]

You are probably looking at a cracked electrical trace on the cluster main board for that side of the illumination. Common problem, usually caused by people smacking the cluster.

[Staszek]

You are probably looking at a cracked electrical trace on the cluster main board for that side of the illumination. Common problem, usually caused by people smacking the cluster.

I had the same issue and Greg's team fixed mine when they refurbished!

[beatup86]

turns out the little plastic piece that the bulb sits in was jacked up so I found a new one and it works properly now.


on another not my temp gauge works but its sits really low on the cold side, is this normal or is this a symptom of another problem? I just replaced the timing belt, water pump, thermostat housing and thermostat, so I know its not over heating. when im driving it, itll get to a little over the 1/4 mark, just not sure if that's normal.