Turning Service lights off via jumper wire/diagnostic connector

[AndrewBird]

Think you could rig one of those up for me, Andy? That would be nice to have in my toolbox.

I've got a fuse holder similar to the one I posted that you can have.

[Jand3rson]

It is a good idea to use a fused link instead of just a piece of wire. That way if you accidentally connect the wrong pins and ground something out, the fuse will blow instead of your wiring. A small 5 or 10 amp fuse should be fine.

Something like this:



works great because you don't even need to attach wires to the fuse. It allready has them.

Think you could rig one of those up for me, Andy? That would be nice to have in my toolbox.

[AndrewBird]

It is a good idea to use a fused link instead of just a piece of wire. That way if you accidentally connect the wrong pins and ground something out, the fuse will blow instead of your wiring. A small 5 or 10 amp fuse should be fine.

Something like this:



works great because you don't even need to attach wires to the fuse. It allready has them.

[Sean]

You can usually ground on the front engine loop too. I can't on mine anymore cause it's powdercoated, but on a stock M20 you should be able to. Right in front of the head, has a little hole in it.

[BahnE30]

manifold wont ground, ground to body somewhere where there isnt' paint, strut tower bolts are always a good option.....

[nefarious7907]

mine isnt resetting :( I have an early connector I did pin 7 to 1 and even tried pin 7 grounding to the manifold and nothing. all of my lights are still on

[Maluco]

I need to do this, and probably replace my SI board batteries. My indicator lights are bonkers.

Yes, mine is the same way, as a matter a fact, that's all that's missing, a "Bonkers" indicator light going off. If I remember correctly, the Check, Inspection, Brake Lining and whatever the one to the left of Inspection are all on! The brake lining can only be the back. I recently did the front brakes and changed the sensors. I can't remember what the hell the one to the left of Inspection is but remember being told it's a sensor that's bad near the Radiator resevoir...?

[Jand3rson]

I need to do this, and probably replace my SI board batteries. My indicator lights are bonkers.

[1991 318is]

Another way.

I read in a service manual that you only need to ground #7. I used a continuity checker and grounded it to a strut bolt. I have done this 3 or 4 times in six years and there have been no problems. I have a 318is 4 cylinder which may be different than the 6 cylinders.

[Maluco]

Awesome bro thanks. That set of instructions is most def better.

[bimmer2288]

To answer question 1:
I used a piece of wire about 1/16" thick and bent it with pliers into a 'U" shape so that it would slide into both holes at once. Any single strand piece of wire will work, it needs to be sorta thick though.

Answer to question 2:
Take a look at this picture -

See in the upper left hand corner, that round plastic cap with the strap coming off the top? That's the diagnostic port.

Hope that helps, and by the way, don't worry about getting shocked or anything like that. I did it with my bare hands, no problem.

Brandon

I found a much simpler source to reset the lights. Use this instead of the one you've got

http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00042&Section=02

[Maluco]

A couple of questions. I am about to follow the steps found at the below link to turn off the service indicator lights. It states you run a jumper wire from pin 7(service lights) to pin 19(ground) on the diagnostic connector. 1. what do I use as a jumper wire? 2. where is the diagnostic connector found in the engine compartment? (pic/s would be great). Thanks

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html