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Thread: My E39 Pixel Repair

  1. #26
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Vancouver, BC
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    My Cars
    '87 325is, '97 540i
    Great write-up, i ordered my cable tonight. One question though: is cellophane tape really adequate for attaching the ribbon? After time i've noticed that the glue can break down. Is there a certain product you prefer, like 3M maybe?

  2. #27
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    Adventman, the cellophane tape is realistically used only to align the cable to the circuit traces. After reassembly the flexible cable is sandwiched, under pressure, in place and the tape is doing nothing at that point. Its the middleman.

    And to whomever said I should provide this service to all of you guys, I'm not opposed to that. If anyone wants me to do this, PM me and we'll work out the details. For right now, I'm dead tired and need to get some zzz's.

    Thanks everyone!

  3. #28
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    '87 325is, '97 540i
    Quote Originally Posted by Black540Msport View Post
    Adventman, the cellophane tape is realistically used only to align the cable to the circuit traces. After reassembly the flexible cable is sandwiched, under pressure, in place and the tape is doing nothing at that point. Its the middleman.

    And to whomever said I should provide this service to all of you guys, I'm not opposed to that. If anyone wants me to do this, PM me and we'll work out the details. For right now, I'm dead tired and need to get some zzz's.

    Thanks everyone!
    Got it, thanks for the clarification! Looking forward to doing this fix in the next few weeks. Thanks again for the write-up.

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    Costa Rica
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    Blown 528i, KE30, Pathy
    Wow! Now I'm more afraid than ever to see my pixels go bust!

    Great DIY and excellent work man!
    Resident Third World Country Advisor

  5. #30
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    Quote Originally Posted by crdiscoverer View Post
    Wow! Now I'm more afraid than ever to see my pixels go bust!

    Great DIY and excellent work man!
    Whats funny is I looked down at your signature and the picture of the Bad pixel cluster made me laugh a little bit.

  6. #31
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    The Lou
    Posts
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    My Cars
    E39 540/6, E70 X5, F06
    Thanks for the awesome write up! You obviously have the BMW enthusiast at heart.

    I just completed mine, and have the following thoughts. If I had to do it all over again, I would not. I would rather pay someone else to do it for me. I consider myself a decent DIY'er but the risk vs the reward is too great for me to do this job again. I still have some pixels out, though it is much better than before. Yet it is not 100%, therefore I would not do it again. Admittedly, I am envious of you that yours worked.

    Having said that, I do have one helpful suggestion. When cleaning the residue off of the PC board, I used rubbing alcohol and a q tip. This helped to soften up the residue, and then sanded it off with 600 grit paper. Worked like a charm, and was much quicker/easier than rubbing it with emery cloth, sand paper or the like. I used my AAA card (plastic credit card) to clean off the residue from the LCD, having warmed up the screen with a hairdryer first to get it to soften up a bit, before pulling off the ribbon cable.

    Next DIY....VCG's and Upper Timing Chain Cover Gaskets. Much more my speed.
    L

  7. #32
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    Airpost, I agree, it was not one of the most fun repairs I've done. The risk of somehow damaging my cluster was always in the back of my mind and I did not want to spend the $170+ for a replacement, then having it coded etc.

    Glad you got at least satisfactory results. I was lucky that all of my pixels worked. I think you may have needed slightly more pressure on the cable. What did you use to build up the height of the silicone/pressure areas?

  8. #33
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    The Lou
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    E39 540/6, E70 X5, F06
    I used a business card, and sliced it up. I only added one layer. I did not see any mention of any thickness recommendations on any of the pixel repair sites I reviewed. I was not familiar with the tape that you used.

    L

  9. #34
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    That's interesting, that should have worked. Only thing I can think of is another layer of business card may have worked. Who knows.

  10. #35
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    The Lou
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    My Cars
    E39 540/6, E70 X5, F06

    Pixels

    Well, I could not leave well enough alone, so I dug back into it yesterday. I pulled it all apart and added another layer of business card paper under the 3 sections of silicon, and left the long single strip with just one layer.

    I also noticed that the ribbon cable on the one side of the PC board did not seem to line up as well as the other, so I placed a rubber band around the entire LCD display, including the ribbon cable. This pulled the ribbon cable tight against the LCD panel and fixed the misaligned issue on the PC board.

    Plugged it in the car to test and Eureka!!!! 100% of the pixel are there. Pulled it out of the car one last time, assembled the entire housing, plugged it in, replaced the trim work and everything still works!!!

    It is a very finicky job, which requires lots of patience (trial and error to get the ribbon right), and steady fingers.

    L

  11. #36
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    AWESOME! Congrats on your perseverence

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Romeoville, IL
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    685
    My Cars
    '99 540i/6 (sold)
    So, the day has come, I'm in Michigan at Brad's fixing my dead pixels

    before:




    and after!



    Thanks Brad, you da Man!
    Last edited by dareckibmw; 12-23-2011 at 05:02 PM. Reason: better pic
    2018 Genesis G80 Sport 3.3T AWD Havana Red
    2015 Hyundai Genesis 5.0 V8 (sold)
    2013 Hyundai Genesis 5.0 V8 R-Spec (sold)
    1999 540i/6 (sold)

  13. #38
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    Very welcome, Dareck! Glad I could help you out, and a pleasure meeting you! Enjoy those Gauge Rings for me while I order a new set
    Last edited by Black540Msport; 12-23-2011 at 09:21 AM.

  14. #39
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    The Lou
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    E39 540/6, E70 X5, F06
    Nice work gents! Where did you get the ribbon cable from?

    L

  15. #40
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    eBay. I have unfortunately found that not all cables are created equal. I'll have to check which seller I got it from but I'd recommend staying away from that one as the cable was not very good quality and did not work. The other vendor's cable worked fine though.

  16. #41
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    PDX
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    93
    My Cars
    2003 525iT
    I recently bought the ribbon cable from "germanaudiotech"

    - Is this a good or garbage one?

  17. #42
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    I'll check for you guys which one was which. Sorry, I'm not keeping up with this post as I have bigger fish to fry at the moment what with crashing the car into a guard rail thanks to some black ice....

    Ok, the one from eBay seller Makalu6 was the one that did not work. The picture is watermarked with "MakaluPoint". It simply did not line up correctly, plain and simple.
    Last edited by Black540Msport; 12-26-2011 at 09:18 AM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

  18. #43
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    usa
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    36
    My Cars
    2003 530i
    How did you get the residue from the old ribbon off the lcd? I'm ready to put it back together but don't want to ruin it.

  19. #44
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    The Lou
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    E39 540/6, E70 X5, F06
    Quote Originally Posted by rjheard View Post
    How did you get the residue from the old ribbon off the lcd? I'm ready to put it back together but don't want to ruin it.
    From one of my previous posts:

    Having said that, I do have one helpful suggestion. When cleaning the residue off of the PC board, I used rubbing alcohol and a q tip. This helped to soften up the residue, and then sanded it off with 600 grit paper. Worked like a charm, and was much quicker/easier than rubbing it with emery cloth, sand paper or the like. I used my AAA card (plastic credit card) to clean off the residue from the LCD, having warmed up the screen with a hairdryer first to get it to soften up a bit, before pulling off the ribbon cable.

    L

  20. #45
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Vancouver, BC
    Posts
    156
    My Cars
    '87 325is, '97 540i
    I would just like to add to this informative thread as i attempted this fix today. First of all, i would like to thank the Black540MSport for sharing with us all, and anyone else who contributed.
    My car is a '97 540i, therefor slightly different. My blue and white plug remove entirely from the back of the unit, only leaving the black plug to be disconnected when splitting the cluster. I had a slight fit when realizing it was different from the photo and that there was one go those connectors underneath, but it quickly became apparent that the back plug unit easily slides off to one side after releasing a clip.


    Unfortunately, my LCD carrier is hooped and will need to be replaced. The plastic is broken in all the screw holes. Although my readout is fixed, it will ultimately fail .

    So now my question is this: is the information like ODO stored in the cluster, or in the main computer of the car? Can i replace a cluster with a used one and still retain my ODO, or will i need to find another cluster and part it out? Thanks for all the help and look forward to any added discussion

  21. #46
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    O'Fallon, IL
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    1,202
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    1998 540i
    Mileage is stored in the cluster AND the lighting computer. (Go figure.) So a dealer should be able to re-sync your mileage if you change clusters.

    In my case, where I had bad voltage going all over the place a few months ago (ignition switch) both the lighting computer AND the cluster got bad voltage so neither one recorded driving for ~1300 miles. Nothing I can do about adding miles back...

  22. #47
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Vancouver, BC
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    '87 325is, '97 540i
    Quote Originally Posted by JaimeZX View Post
    Mileage is stored in the cluster AND the lighting computer. (Go figure.) So a dealer should be able to re-sync your mileage if you change clusters.

    In my case, where I had bad voltage going all over the place a few months ago (ignition switch) both the lighting computer AND the cluster got bad voltage so neither one recorded driving for ~1300 miles. Nothing I can do about adding miles back...
    Dealers = $$$$, not an option . I have a line on a used cluster right now, and it turns out i need to go back in anyways. I seemed to have screwed up my fuel gauge needle as a full tank reads as half and it comes to rest way below empty . Anyone know a good link on recalibrating the gauges? Also, the gauge rings installed here are awesome!
    http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3324/22775031.jpg
    Which ones are they, Bimmian?

  23. #48
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
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    274
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    '00 540i, '89 Iroc
    Quote Originally Posted by Adventman View Post
    Dealers = $$$$, not an option . I have a line on a used cluster right now, and it turns out i need to go back in anyways. I seemed to have screwed up my fuel gauge needle as a full tank reads as half and it comes to rest way below empty . Anyone know a good link on recalibrating the gauges? Also, the gauge rings installed here are awesome!
    http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3324/22775031.jpg
    Which ones are they, Bimmian?
    Those are the ones from DDM tuning, the chrome finish version.

  24. #49
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    usa
    Posts
    36
    My Cars
    2003 530i
    Mission failed. After numerous attempts to get it all working I'm at a standstill. I was able to get the left side of the display perfect but the middle and right wouldn't cooperate. I've tried about six times and now the ribbon is torn. This is the ribbon I ordered.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Instrume...5&cmd=ViewItem

    Is this a good one? Is there a better one to order or just give in and send it somewhere. It was troubling to get a beep on way home telling me to check the display.. I have no idea what my car is trying to tell me. Wouldn't that be where important message like 'low oil pressure' would be displayed?
    Last edited by rjheard; 01-02-2012 at 08:30 PM.

  25. #50
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    The Lou
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    E39 540/6, E70 X5, F06
    Quote Originally Posted by rjheard View Post
    Mission failed. After numerous attempts to get it all working I'm at a standstill. I was able to get the left side of the display perfect but the middle and right wouldn't cooperate. I've tried about six times and now the ribbon is torn. This is the ribbon I ordered.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Instrument-Cluster-Pixel-Repair-E38-E39-E53-M5-X5/290498344792?ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1&ih=019&category= 33675&cmd=ViewItem

    Is this a good one? Is there a better one to order or just give in and send it somewhere. It was troubling to get a beep on way home telling me to check the display.. I have no idea what my car is trying to tell me. Wouldn't that be where important message like 'low oil pressure' would be displayed?
    Don't know about the ribbon, but the sound could be that OAT<37 deg. Not knowing where your located, its just a guess.

    Get another ribbon, clean everything up, and try again. You have already done all the hard work.

    L

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