My E39 Pixel Repair

My E39 Pixel Repair

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Forum BMW Models 5 Series (E12, E28, E34, E39, E60, E61) 1996 - 2003 (E39)

E39 Common Problems and DIY Fixes My E39 Pixel Repair

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12-07-2011, 06:01 PM

Join Date:Location:Posts:My Cars:

Aug 2011Grand Rapids, MI

271'00 540i, '89 Iroc

My E39 Pixel Repair

Good afternoon everyone, I'm pleased to finallyhave my Pixel Repair completed and now withenough pictures that I think I can safely guidethose of you who were slightly nervous aboutdoing this repair. Initially I was very disappointedbecause I thought I had royally botched the job,but it turned out that I had inadvertently burntout a couple bulbs so the LCD did not light up likeit should have.

So, buy your kit from eBay, doesn't matter whichone, just don't get the one with the absolutelyunnecessary soldering iron tip. You'll notice I didnot use a soldering iron at any time for this. Andthere is a reason for that. I use a soldering irondaily/weekly at work, I've been soldering for 23years (For those that remember the how old areyou thread, yes I am only 30, but I worked at thefamily business since I was 7 soldering, fixingcircuitry, etc.) and guess what, this repair DOESNOT NEED ONE. Good idea those eBay sellers hadtrying to sell unnecessary stuff to us BMW ownerssince our pockets are so deep. Right?

Anyway, without further adieu!

Step 1: Remove Gauge cluster. Sorry I have nopics of this procedure, I will add them laterbecause I ordered a Gauge Ring set from DDMtuning so the cluster has to come ont one lasttime. A word of the best advice I can give youright here. Plug the headlight switch, the dimmerand the fog light switch back in after you have thecluster out. Or you'll be coming back outside to a

#1

I punch my coffeeBlack540Msport

18 Color RubberBands Bracelet Hand...

$15.60AliExpress.com

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My E39 Pixel Repair


dead battery when you're done with the repair asthe lights go on when you unplug the headlightswitch. OR you could disconnect the battery.

Step 2: Now we're ready to start disassembly. Ithink it would be best to state here that I usedextensively this writeup by burnout187, (and Ieven borrowed a few pics from his DIY since someof my pics of the same stuff came out blurry) todisassemble, but I was left with a few questions soI decided to do my own in hopes I could helpothers with some of the same questions.http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39...-pictures.html

I used the zip tie method as well

Step 3: Now that you have your zip ties insertedin the tabs to keep them open, you have tosomehow grow like 5 extra sets of arms. You'llneed needle nose pliers to grab onto these cross/xshaped posts and twist them slightly to line upwith the unlocking holes all the while exertingpressure on the housings (prying them apart) untilyou get these cross/x shaped posts all "unlocked".

My E39 Pixel Repair


Start in a corner and go one by one around theassembly. They're circled in Red here in this imagefrom Burnout187

Last edited by Black540Msport; 12-07-2011 at 08:19 PM.

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12-07-2011, 06:23 PM



271'00 540i, '89 Iroc

Step 4: Once you have gotten the 2 halves apart, you'll need to remove 8 Torx screws that holdthe cluster to the back housing, they're circled in red. One thing you'll want to watch out for isthe little square of plastic that shows what gear you're in, falling out. It's not held in at all. It'sin the green square. Remove it and put it somewhere safe for reassembly.

For this next part you'll likely need a dental pick or a long very flat but stout utensile to close upthe clips on the 3 plugs on the back of the gauge cluster. The Blue, white and black plugs seenhere are where the clips are located.

#2


My E39 Pixel Repair


And here is what the clips look like so you can have a mechanical understanding of how theywork. Look closely at the blue and white plugs here; the retainer clips need to be pushed inwhile, again, exerting pressure on the housing - pulling it and the gauge cluster apart. I found iteasier to do the black plug first then pull apart as you sequentially push in the clips on the blueand white. The whole assembly should then pop apart. Don't forget to pop the clips under theLCD display with zip ties. See below image from Burnout187

Step F: Now that we've removed the front lens and the rear housing, you're left with the clusteronly. Seen here is our quarry, these 4 little Torx screws are what need to come out so you caninstall your ~$20 flex cable. But how do you get to them? From the other side of course!

My E39 Pixel Repair


Going from left to right these are the exact locations of the holes. Mark them with a permanentmarker as you go. Use a drill bit no bigger than 1/4" to drill these holes, and in fact I think Iused 3/16". And remember that the torx screws are only about 1/4" below the surface of thewhite plastic you're about to drill through.

Note the exaxct location here, right on the edge of the clear plastic circle that has ridges in it,DIRECTLY below and offset 1/8" to the right of the "0" (10 mpg)

My E39 Pixel Repair


Self explanatory

Lastly, this one is again, directly on the edge of the clear plastic circle piece with ridges in it.Located directly under the H in MPH

My E39 Pixel Repair


Step 7: I used a drill press with a towel on the metal table. I'm kinda conscious about staticcharges since I am supposed to work on an anti-static bench at work with a wrist strap andeverything. MAKE SURE THAT YOU LIFT UP ON THE PLASTIC OVERLAY BEFORE YOU DRILL YOURHOLES UNDER THE SPEEDOMETER AND TACH, DO NOT DRILL THROUGH IT!

I drilled my holes and unscrewed the torx screws. You'll need a small flat blade screw driver topry apart the white LCD housing from the circuit board. It's better to use a plastic non-marringtool if you have one but just be careful not to exert too much pressure as you can crack thecircuit board or slip and knock off some resistors or cut a trace that goes to an integratedcircuit.

My E39 Pixel Repair


This is your reward after you've unscrewed everything and pried the LCD off the board, you'llnotice that there are 3 metal legs that you need to be careful not to bend, that can be seen inthe picture. They're what goes through the circuit board and supplies power to the backlights forthe LCD readout.

Now you can separate the old flex cable from the LCD and the main circuit board. Just pull, it'llleave behind residue that needs to be cleaned off. I found that my plastic non-marring toolworked great on the LCD side seen here. DO NOT USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN PLASTIC ON THELCD TO SCRAPE THE RESIDUE OFF!

On the circuit board side I scraped for what felt like forever to get the traces cleaned off, then Igrabbed some ~600 grit emery paper and did a light pass to ensure all traces of the gunk fromthe old cable was gone. AGAIN, DO NOT SAND THE LCD WITH EMERY PAPER, ONLY THECIRCUIT BOARD'S TRACES ARE TOUCHED WITH THE EMERY PAPER!

My E39 Pixel Repair


Here you can see that after scraping the gunk off with my plastic tool and then lightly rubbingthe traces with the pictured emery paper, all traces on the circuit board look pristine.

Also notice the new flex cable at bottom, and the old one still attached to the LCD, you can seewhat was left behind on the circuit board, the broken traces are what caused the pixel readoutto not work.

Another picture of the original cable and the new cable with the LCD

Step 8: Grab the scotch tape!

Here I just cut some mangled pieces of tape and used them to secure the cable to the board. Itis absolutely IMPERITIVE that you get the traces on the circuit board lined up with the ones onthe cable. I believe I peeled the cable off a few times before I got it perfect. One thing to note.DO NOT press down on the cable, just tape it to the circuit board for now, don't rub it to try to

My E39 Pixel Repair


get a wrinkle out. Peel and restick.

Now we need to attend to the whole stupid reason you're doing this in the first place. That whitehousing. Notice here the 3 Red sections and the single long pink section of silicone gel. Yah,those are why you're doing this. I reasoned though, that only the red ones were causing theissue.

So to remedy the issue I used some heavy cloth tape called Gaffer's tape. This will add enoughheight to the area where the flex cable is sandwiched between the white housing and the circuitboard. You do not need to increase the height of the pink silicone strip in my opinon. You runthe risk of cracking the LCD when you reclip the cover over the LCD.

My E39 Pixel Repair


Well, now you're almost done. All you need to do is reattach the LCD assembly to the flex cablewith some scotch tape, take your time, and get it lined up perfectly. Screw down the assemblysnug (don't overtighten or you'll crack the plastic holes!) once you have it all clipped backtogether and test the unit. The BEST piece of advice I can give you right here is do NOTreassemble the whole unit. Just take the cluster only out to the car and plug 'er in. Make sureyour fingers are not touching the circuitry, and the circuit board isn't resting on the round metalbar inside the dash, and turn the key.

Hopefully you see something like this

If you're successful and you can now read your message center, go ahead and clip everythingback together and reinstall the cluster pod in the dash.

I got mine done in only a few hours. It probably took me as long to put together this writeup asit did to do the repair. And it only cost me about $20!

My E39 Pixel Repair


Now I get to look at this when I get in the car, before I had NO idea what the message centerwas telling me haha

Last edited by Black540Msport; 02-15-2014 at 10:44 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

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12-07-2011, 07:13 PM


Nov 2008Seattle, WA

1,3382001 540 M-Sport

(cdn)

Damn, you are brave.

2001 540 M-Sport (cdn), Bilstein B14 PSS coilovers, H&R 15mm spacers, M5 rear stabilizer bar,Dinan Stage 1 software, M-Audio subs, factory bluetooth integration, SS brake lines, AkebonoEuro Ceramic brake pads.

#3

Memberf355spider

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12-07-2011, 07:44 PM



271'00 540i, '89 Iroc

I am also Dutch and I have worked around electronics for 23 years. So the cheap-skate in memakes me do DIY stuff, and the electronics background makes me not scared of these kinds ofthings.

#4


My E39 Pixel Repair


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12-07-2011, 07:56 PM


Jan 2010Romeoville, IL

685'99 540i/6 (sold)

Damn, nice work!How long does it take and when can I stop by so you could fix mine, I'm ~195 miles away

2013 Hyundai Genesis 5.0 V8 R-Spec (current)2013 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T AWD (sold)1999 540i/6 (sold)

#5

Memberdareckibmw

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12-07-2011, 08:11 PM


Oct 2011St. Paul, MN

63'99 540iT

Great info. Will be giving this a go at some point. Thanks.

#6

Membermnkeith

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12-07-2011, 08:13 PM



271'00 540i, '89 Iroc

Haha, it took me about 2 hours when I did it the first time. And stop by whenever.

#7


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12-07-2011, 08:24 PM


Jan 2010Romeoville, IL

685'99 540i/6 (sold)

PM'ed you

Thanks,Darek

#8

Memberdareckibmw

Originally Posted by Black540Msport

Haha, it took me about 2 hours when I did it the first time. And stop by whenever.

My E39 Pixel Repair


2013 Hyundai Genesis 5.0 V8 R-Spec (current)2013 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T AWD (sold)1999 540i/6 (sold)

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12-07-2011, 09:56 PM


Aug 2008princeton, nj

1,0842001 540i 6speed

i gotta do the MID repair as my winter project. your DIY on the cluster really gave meconfidence to jump head first into the MID(which is easier fix)

2001 540i 6speed metallic silver

#9

Membermifesto

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12-07-2011, 10:06 PM


Jan 2007West Michigan

14,43298 540iA (Prd

11/97)

Posts # 2 and 3 quote before deletion. I want to keep the OP's two posts together.

BTW, excellent job, Brad.

Last edited by jamesdc4; 12-07-2011 at 10:08 PM.

#10

BMWCCA 484984jamesdc4

Originally Posted by xisco44

and then lol

Originally Posted by Dj Pudgey

no and then!

My E39 Pixel Repair


E39 Ugly Mugs | Registry Photos

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12-07-2011, 10:06 PM


Jul 2011New York

492E39

The only scary thing is you gotta drill the holes. I will live without some pixels for now.

#11

Memberchillax5

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12-07-2011, 11:48 PM


May 2011Arlington, VA

9321998 540i

AWESOME writeup!! If I ever have to accomplish this I'll be glad for your work.

If I can make one small suggestion? Edit your original post and throw a carriage return every20-25 words or so? That'll make so people don't have to scroll side-to-side to read things.

Thanks again!

#12

MemberJaimeZX

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12-08-2011, 11:26 AM


Aug 2005STL

1,65798 540i/6

I really need to do this and I will probably tackle it over the Christmas holiday.

#13

Memberdcroghan

My E39 Pixel Repair


do you happen to have a link to the strip that I need to buy? Don't want to get the wrong one.

Awesome write-up btw!

Edit- I bought the ribbon!!! I ended up going with the slightly more expensive one from therecommendation in the m5 board write up as it supposedly comes with a 10 page instructionmanual and a great video instruction.

Hope I don't screw the whole thing up!! LOL!

Last edited by dcroghan; 12-08-2011 at 01:11 PM.

Dinan CAI | Dinan MAF | Dinan Exhaust | Dinan Stage 4 Engine Software | 19" Staggered M ParReps | Rear Lip Spoiler |

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12-08-2011, 11:43 AM

Join Date:Posts:

Jul 2011183

Hey. Im also dutch. If ur not to far away i would like to see if u can do mine.

#14

Memberkoewnie

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12-08-2011, 12:01 PM


Jan 2007West Michigan

14,43298 540iA (Prd

11/97)

#15

BMWCCA 484984jamesdc4

Originally Posted by JaimeZX

AWESOME writeup!! If I ever have to accomplish this I'll be glad for your work.

If I can make one small suggestion? Edit your original post and throw a carriage return every 20-25 words or so? That'll make so people don't have to scroll side-to-side to read things.

Thanks again!

My E39 Pixel Repair


The scrolling is caused by the addition of a large, high-res photo.

E39 Ugly Mugs | Registry Photos

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12-08-2011, 12:33 PM


May 2011Arlington, VA

9321998 540i

I know. Fixing the scrolling could be done by shrinking the pic or putting in CRs every so often.Since the large pics add to the understanding over what a smaller one might, I recommendedthe CRs...

#16

MemberJaimeZX

Originally Posted by jamesdc4

The scrolling is caused by the addition of a large, high-res photo.

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12-08-2011, 01:02 PM


Jul 2006sacramento

3,873e30 & e34

Yep, exactly what I did too. The worst part was getting the new cable to line up and make goodcontact. I think you are supposed to use a special heating gun/station to attach the ribbon tothe glass but this method of using tape sometimes works as well

Also, talking to the guy that fixes these there are crappy/cheap cables on ebay and not all areof the same quality. just an fyi

Good work!

Last edited by 84318i; 12-08-2011 at 01:03 PM.

#17

Member84318i

My E39 Pixel Repair


e30 84 340i m6x powered.e34 93 525i (m50tu) - for sale.

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12-08-2011, 01:37 PM


Dec 2008fairport, ny

4112003 530

sport/1976 2002

You Da Man!

You Da Man!

#18

Memberarbuckle

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12-09-2011, 07:50 AM


Oct 2010syracuse, NY, USA

2271991 325i, S/C 97

540i6

thanks for this diy... i will be doing this soon, unfortunately

#19

MemberTDIpower

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12-10-2011, 03:16 PM



271'00 540i, '89 Iroc

Where are you located? I think I have Dareck coming up from Chicago next weekend to do his.

Last edited by Black540Msport; 12-11-2011 at 02:52 PM.

#20


Originally Posted by koewnie

Hey. Im also dutch. If ur not to far away i would like to see if u can do mine.

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12-10-2011, 04:06 PM


Sep 2006East Coast

11,516Pull n Release

#21

Status Quo!Moderator

Gumbi4u

My E39 Pixel Repair


Outstanding work. Kudos!

Another FP5241 Creation

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12-10-2011, 07:59 PM

Join Date:Location:

Posts:My Cars:

Nov 2009Campbell, CA,United States

1,6762002 BMW M5

Black540Msport,

You are a brave man & like many others have said excellent work & write-up...

#22

MemberKevin Da Clean1

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12-11-2011, 02:54 PM



271'00 540i, '89 Iroc

Thank you everyone. I will probably go back over this with a fine toothed comb and updatethings where I see fit/necessary. I'd like to even include short videos of some of the tougherthings like getting those stupid cross/x posts undone. We'll see where this goes. Hopefully it getsadded to the DIY sticky.

#23


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12-11-2011, 07:20 PM #24

My E39 Pixel Repair


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Feb 2010East Coast, USA

334540i 6spd (11/98)

You could make money providing this service to others. Please consider if you are willing toprovide this service. If so, please PM me or post so we can discuss the details.

BannedE39 6spd

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12-12-2011, 01:24 AM


Apr 2009Vancouver, BC

156'87 325is, '97 540i

Great write-up, i ordered my cable tonight. One question though: is cellophane tape reallyadequate for attaching the ribbon? After time i've noticed that the glue can break down. Is therea certain product you prefer, like 3M maybe?

#25

MemberAdventman

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