E39 dash electrics

I have a 1998 E39 - yesterday afternoon when I came out of work and got into
it a number of electrical type faults in the instrument cluster seemed to
have developed since leaving it that morning.

Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped working -
other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine temp sensor and
rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?

TIA

Jase

Sounds like a fuse to me. There are some in the right front (all the way at
the back) corner of the trunk (where the battery is). There are also some in
the glovebox. In both places there is a card telling you what fuses do what.
Richard
"Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
...
> I have a 1998 E39 - yesterday afternoon when I came out of work and got
into
> it a number of electrical type faults in the instrument cluster seemed to
> have developed since leaving it that morning.
>
> Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
> consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped
working -
> other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine temp sensor
and
> rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?
>
> TIA
>
> Jase
>
>

"marlinspike" > wrote in message
...
> Sounds like a fuse to me. There are some in the right front (all the way
> at
> the back) corner of the trunk (where the battery is). There are also some
> in
> the glovebox. In both places there is a card telling you what fuses do
> what.
> Richard
> "Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
> ...
>> I have a 1998 E39 - yesterday afternoon when I came out of work and got
> into
>> it a number of electrical type faults in the instrument cluster seemed to
>> have developed since leaving it that morning.
>>
>> Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
>> consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped
> working -
>> other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine temp sensor
> and
>> rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> Jase
>>
>>
>
>

Have just gone out to the shops and on the way there everything except the
ABS and ASC started to work but then stopped again - coming back about 10
mins later everything is now working fine again, this is baffling me! I
checked the fuses and none of them are blown or loose

Jay

This is spooky. My wife was driving our 1999 E39 530D on Saturday (30th)
when she noticed exactly the same symptoms. ASC and ABS lights came on,
speedo no longer working, and the odometer, trip computer and fuel
consumption gauge have stopped.

I have no idea what it is, but being technically inept when it comes to
cars, it's going in for a diagnostics check next Monday (8th) to find out
what the problem is. I've checked the fuses as well, and they all seem fine.

It makes driving interesting. Any ideas on how to estimate your speed
without a speedo? My car's an automatic diesel, which means around town the
revs are very low.

Cheers

Andy


"Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
...
>
> "marlinspike" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Sounds like a fuse to me. There are some in the right front (all the way
> > at
> > the back) corner of the trunk (where the battery is). There are also
some
> > in
> > the glovebox. In both places there is a card telling you what fuses do
> > what.
> > Richard
> > "Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
> > ...
> >> I have a 1998 E39 - yesterday afternoon when I came out of work and got
> > into
> >> it a number of electrical type faults in the instrument cluster seemed
to
> >> have developed since leaving it that morning.
> >>
> >> Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
> >> consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped
> > working -
> >> other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine temp
sensor
> > and
> >> rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?
> >>
> >> TIA
> >>
> >> Jase
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
> Have just gone out to the shops and on the way there everything except the
> ABS and ASC started to work but then stopped again - coming back about 10
> mins later everything is now working fine again, this is baffling me! I
> checked the fuses and none of them are blown or loose
>
> Jay
>
>

Have a look at this thread - possibly expensive to fix:

http://tech.bentleypublishers.com/th...&threadID=5610

Cheers

Andy

In article >, Andy Fryett says...
> This is spooky. My wife was driving our 1999 E39 530D on Saturday (30th)
> when she noticed exactly the same symptoms. ASC and ABS lights came on,
> speedo no longer working, and the odometer, trip computer and fuel
> consumption gauge have stopped.
>
> I have no idea what it is, but being technically inept when it comes to
> cars, it's going in for a diagnostics check next Monday (8th) to find out
> what the problem is. I've checked the fuses as well, and they all seem fine.
>

Same thing happened in my E39 a couple of years ago. Started up to leave
the petrol station and the entire dashboard was dead. Panic sets in. Get
home, search the internet, check fuses... start the engine and
everything is all working again...and has continued to work fine.

Save for the occasional glitches: a couple of times the display on the
BMW business radio/cassette hasn'r shown and I think the clock has also
a couple of times been blank. On each occasion, the next time I used the
car everything was back working properly.

Had the car for 4 years now...

--
jeremy
['97 BMW 523i SE Touring]

In article >,
Jay <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote:
> Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
> consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped
> working - other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine
> temp sensor and rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it
> might be?

IIRC, the speedo etc use one of the ABS sensors to measure road speed.
However, I'd think the cruise control would too.

--
*I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Andy Fryett" > wrote in message
...
> This is spooky. My wife was driving our 1999 E39 530D on Saturday (30th)
> when she noticed exactly the same symptoms. ASC and ABS lights came on,
> speedo no longer working, and the odometer, trip computer and fuel
> consumption gauge have stopped.
>
> I have no idea what it is, but being technically inept when it comes to
> cars, it's going in for a diagnostics check next Monday (8th) to find out
> what the problem is. I've checked the fuses as well, and they all seem
> fine.
>
> It makes driving interesting. Any ideas on how to estimate your speed
> without a speedo? My car's an automatic diesel, which means around town
> the
> revs are very low.
>
> Cheers
>
> Andy
>
>
> "Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "marlinspike" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Sounds like a fuse to me. There are some in the right front (all the
>> > way
>> > at
>> > the back) corner of the trunk (where the battery is). There are also
> some
>> > in
>> > the glovebox. In both places there is a card telling you what fuses do
>> > what.
>> > Richard
>> > "Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
>> > ...
>> >> I have a 1998 E39 - yesterday afternoon when I came out of work and
>> >> got
>> > into
>> >> it a number of electrical type faults in the instrument cluster seemed
> to
>> >> have developed since leaving it that morning.
>> >>
>> >> Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
>> >> consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped
>> > working -
>> >> other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine temp
> sensor
>> > and
>> >> rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?
>> >>
>> >> TIA
>> >>
>> >> Jase
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Have just gone out to the shops and on the way there everything except
>> the
>> ABS and ASC started to work but then stopped again - coming back about 10
>> mins later everything is now working fine again, this is baffling me! I
>> checked the fuses and none of them are blown or loose
>>
>> Jay
>>
>>
>
>
I got mine tested this morning and according to the compter it is the rear
left wheel sensor - been quoted £100 to get it fixed all in (not from BMW)

Jay

Possibly your ignition switch needs replaced.
I had similar probs with my '98 E39, which started at around 100k miles,
spent a fortune in BMW stealer garage with no joy. Although a lot of the
intermittent faults I had were related to stuff controlled from the steering
wheel, i.e. Radio volume, cruise control, etc.
Trawled the newsgroups and found out about he ignition switch problems other
people had.
Fixed the problem myself for around £30, and a couple of hours work.

Scott
"marlinspike" > wrote in message
...
> Sounds like a fuse to me. There are some in the right front (all the way
> at
> the back) corner of the trunk (where the battery is). There are also some
> in
> the glovebox. In both places there is a card telling you what fuses do
> what.
> Richard
> "Jay" <sales@*remove this bit*knickershop.co.uk> wrote in message
> ...
>> I have a 1998 E39 - yesterday afternoon when I came out of work and got
> into
>> it a number of electrical type faults in the instrument cluster seemed to
>> have developed since leaving it that morning.
>>
>> Basically the ASC, ABS, speedometer, odometer, trip computer and fuel
>> consumption gauge (the one under the rev counter) all have stopped
> working -
>> other things like cruise control, indicators, lights, engine temp sensor
> and
>> rev counter all work ok. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> Jase
>>
>>
>
>