"Blank" spot next to fog light switch?

[SeanNHouston]

I'm putting an aftermarket radio in my dad's 540, and every time the screen pops out it bumps the fog light switch, and goes back in. the guy i got the radio from told me he took the fog light switch off so the screen would open all the way. But with the way me and my dad are, we still want access to the fog light switch and when we were looking at it, we noticed a little square in the molding as if there was a space there where we could remount the switch? Attached is a pic of the piece i'm talking about
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I was curious if anyone here has ran into any issues like this with an aftermarket stereo... Hoping to get help instead of finding out the hard way and breaking something, I'll be getting into it this weekend

[richinvan]

The "blank" is for the headlight levelling dial on euro cars. You'll have to dremel a bigger hole if you want to relocate the switch there.

[totalede36m3]

Or u can buy a regular on/off switch. Rewire it in that spot. And s3e if u can find a cover in place of original switch

97 e36 m3- totaled
89 e30 s52- sold
07 e90 335i- sold
95 540i/6- current

[bubba966]

As Rich mentioned the fog light switch is much too big to fit to the left of the current location. You could certainly cut the hole bigger and move the switch over. I have looked for a blank to fill the fog light switch location many times but have never found one. I know that some Euro cars did not have front fogs from the factory. But I have yet to figure out what was in the dash on those cars. Not sure if the non-front fog cars just had rear fogs. Or if there was no fogs at all and just a blank put into the fog light switch location.

Just be warned that it won't be a plug and play operation to move the switch to the left...

[E34ührer]

The mounting cage on most aftermarket radios has multiple tabs...you could space out the cage with a trim ring. That would make the head unit stick out of the dash a bit, but take the fog switch issue out of the way.

You can also source a euro headlight switch with the rear fog light...use the rear fog light circuit on the euro headlight switch to activate the front fogs...a little bit of wiring and you are golden. Still have a hole where your US fog light switch was...

You could dremmel a larger hole and move the switch left...but again, you will have a hole in your dash. I HAVE found the blank to cover the fog light switch hole before...but I can't right now. Maybe a UK 520i owner can chime in on that part.

[whiskychaser]

The "blank" is for the headlight levelling dial on euro cars. You'll have to dremel a bigger hole if you want to relocate the switch there.

On RHD cars, the fog light switch is to the left of the cluster and that 'blank' is occupied by the dashboard light dimmer thumbwheel. The thumbwheel for the headlight levelling is next to the headlight switch - which makes a lot of sense to me. I couldnt say what the set up is on Euro LHD cars but someone should chime in. Either way, I dont think putting a switch where a thumbwheel should live will be easy

[AndrewBird]

My euro LHD car has the headlight adjuster next to the fog light switch and the cluster dimmer next to the headlight switch.

[whiskychaser]

My euro LHD car has the headlight adjuster next to the fog light switch and the cluster dimmer next to the headlight switch.

If I were the designer, I would put something that affects the headlights next to the headlight switch. But thats just me. Either way, a switch isnt going to fit where a thumb wheel should go without a struggle

[Tenrac]

I moved my ASC switch to that spot...I am going to have to figure something else out when I install my smileys with the headlight leveler.

[Binjammin]

Cut the two sections out, and flip the plate over. Reinstall the switch in the correct place.