M6 instrument cluster - indicator light troubleshooting; repainting

[JimPA]

The orange ABS indicator light in my car has worked incorrectly since I had the cluster out to replace the odometer gears. Instead of momentarily illuminating when the car starts and then extinguishing, this light comes on only when the parking lights or headlights are turned on, and then it remains brightly illuminated. This happens whether the ignition switch is on or off.

I must have put something back together incorrectly but am not sure what it might be. As far as I can determine, all the other indicator lights illuminate and go out as they should. Before I pull the cluster to investigate, does anyone have suggestions?

When the cluster comes out, I also want to address another issue. I recall a post in the last 2-3 years discussing the tiny, sand-like brown "age spots" that have formed on the cluster housing. I searched for this post without success. Has someone sanded/refinished the visible portion of their cluster housing? If so, what were the steps and products used? It certainly looks like respraying the black inside surfaces of the housing would require removal of the clear face plastic.

[dcains]

Tagged, because my cluster has the same interior surface issues, and it's coming out soon. I'm going to try a heat gun and sharp blade to get the lens off the front. I've got an old E28 cluster to practice on. From there I had planned to soak the stripped black panel in some Simple Green and se what the initial result is. From there, perhaps some plastic-safe paint stripper, and a respray with some Krylon Fusion matte black. Might get to it this weekend. I know the original finish on my car was flocked, but I much prefer the later matte black painted appearance.

[FernandoBunster]

It's my understanding that the light colored spots are dust. I would first try to wipe the housing with a damp lintless cloth before using a chemical degreaser such as Simple Green.

[JimPA]

Update:

RE the ABS light, I contorted myself to get the column dropped and cluster out. After looking over things, the problem and solution became apparent. There are three small push-in style bulbs with two-wire leads (I think all the other bulbs are twist-in style) in the back of the cluster. I had reversed two of the push-in bulbs. The bulb on the left was easy: it's only long enough to reach the small indicator next to the headlight knob.

The other two push-in lights are on the right side of cluster. The ABS indicator light has a green wire and white wire and extinguishes after startup. The light for the small indicator to the right of the fog lamp knob uses red/white and brown/white striped wires. It burns whenever headlights or parking lights are on. I swapped the two lights and put things back together.

The clear plastic face of the cluster can be separated slightly at the top. However, the small white plastic tab on each side of the cluster looks like it wasn't made to come apart. I cleaned the inside and outside of the clear plastic face. I also used a lintless cloth on the flocked part but that didn't help. Dean, let us know what happens when you try to take the face off.

[dcains]

It's my understanding that the light colored spots are dust. I would first try to wipe the housing with a damp lintless cloth before using a chemical degreaser such as Simple Green.

I don't think this is just dust - looks like some sort of growth to me, and considering the tropical climate, I'm going to say it's somem sort of mold/fungus.



In any case. the whole thing is coming apart, as I have some original Euro gauges I'm installing, and I have that E28 cluster to make my mistakes on first.

[dcains]

UPDATE:

DDidn't want you guys to think I forgot about this project, but I had a little side-trip to the hospital (all better now) and I've got a couple of my custom rear view mirrors to build this weekend. So, here's how far I've gotten. The old 535 Euro gauge cluster is apart and while it looks to be in good overall condition, all of the connections between the boards have a great deal of corrosion on their pins, receptacles, and ribbon cables. Just received my bottle of Deoxit, and will work on the cleaning of all the contacts this weekend. This is supposed to be the good stuff;

https://www.amazon.com/CAIG-LABORATO...ds=DEOXIT+D100

My plan is to remove the E24 cluster this week andn start swapping over the Euro components I want; speeedo, tach, gas and temp gauges, SI board.

I did some experimenting with pulling off the lens of the 535 instrument cluster, using a heat gun and box cutter blade. Made it about 25% around the perimeter before I stopped, and this looks like a reasonable method. The 535 lens is quite a bit different than the 635's, though, in that the edges are much thicker and the lens has a more complex curve to it. The 635 lens almost looks like it would be simple to reproduce, as it's only curved in one plane, very slightly. One would have to be most careful cutting the plastic stock and drilling the whole for the odo reset, but it may be doable. It would also require some careful masking to paint the outer black border. Just in case the original lens breaks.

Finally, lighting, using LEDs where possible, in the rest of the dash. Here's what works - In the legends below the headlight and foglight switched, the T5 (or 74) base SMD LEDs worked great, and you can buy 20 of them for $3 on eBay:



They're super-bright, but very directional (light ONLY comes out the front in a very narrow beam), so the work like crap in the HVAC panel, where the temp and fan speed knobs need to be lighted. I've tried every other type of LED I could find that fits, but so far, nothing works well. I'm off to the parts store to get a pair of new original filament bulbs, which are Sylvania 2721:



The OBC buttons are illuminated by an LED inserted through the rear of the box (separate from the light bar for the dislay), and this works well:



LED is on the left, original bulb on the right. Again, really cheap on eBay for a few dozen, and these will also work in all the warning lights along the bottom edge of the instrument cluster. EXCEPT for the alternator warning light. The original type bulb must be used there, or the alternator will not be energized when you start the car, and no charging will take place. On the top of the instrument cluster are two #194 bulbs, and I haven't worked on those yet. There is a lot of room for a larger/brighter LED than the original bulb, so that should be an easy upgrade, and that's the main ighting for the gauges, so it's needed.

More to follow.

[gskrills]

http://www.bavrest.com/instrument-clusters.html

This guy does restorations and enhancements for e30 and e28 clusters. I've been wanting to ask him if he can do an e24 cluster as I assume they are mostly identical and my only issues are cosmetic in nature. Has anyone tried using their service?