No dash light?
- Thread starter Vicious1
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2012
- Points
- 178
- Location
- Newport, South Wales,UK
- Model of Z
- Z3 M43 1.8 (1999) and Z4 E85 2.5 (2003)
Couldbe the dimmer part of the light switch gone bad, seem to recall threads on this and an easy fix by putting a jumper wire on the switch terminals, no doubt someone who remembers more than me will be along with more info and a link.
Found a link that explains the likely cause and repair method here https://zroadster.org/threads/dodgy-headlight-switch.6014/#post-619807
Found a link that explains the likely cause and repair method here https://zroadster.org/threads/dodgy-headlight-switch.6014/#post-619807
Just pulled this off of another forum :-
Headlight switch issue (2002 Z3 Roadster) …..
1. Review of the electrical diagram identified pin #8 and #6 as the two pins to jump to bypass the dimmer portion on the headlight switch. (The dimmer for all the instrument cluster lights is a rheostat, but the BMW wire diagram labels it a dimmer control.) (I want to thank Dkindig for the help in this area)
2. I took the defective switch completely apart and traced the circuit board with the BMW wire diagram and identified all the power "in" pins and the power "out" pins. Pin #8 is a power out pin that receives its input power through pin #5 when the headlight switch is pulled out. The dimmer transfers power to pin #6 as it is rotated to illuminate the instrument lights.
3. When I jumped pin #8 to #6 I blew the fuse #37 10amp. (I put a 20 amp fuse in instead of the 10 amp and had lights on and was able to find the area where the lights didn’t work to locate the short) I found I had a pinched wire in the light system for the blower speed knob in the heating and AC area. Unfortunately the rheostat (dimmer switch) in the headlight switch was acting as a fuse and burning up before the 10 amp fuse failed. I took the switch apart (it just unsnaps) by carefully prying out the parts from the back side.
4. I found the wire at the start of the rheostat was burned. I soldered an 18 gauge copper wire to the start of the rheostat and the wire coil that was burned and the dimmer function worked as advertised. I am now operational again.
Headlight switch issue (2002 Z3 Roadster) …..
1. Review of the electrical diagram identified pin #8 and #6 as the two pins to jump to bypass the dimmer portion on the headlight switch. (The dimmer for all the instrument cluster lights is a rheostat, but the BMW wire diagram labels it a dimmer control.) (I want to thank Dkindig for the help in this area)
2. I took the defective switch completely apart and traced the circuit board with the BMW wire diagram and identified all the power "in" pins and the power "out" pins. Pin #8 is a power out pin that receives its input power through pin #5 when the headlight switch is pulled out. The dimmer transfers power to pin #6 as it is rotated to illuminate the instrument lights.
3. When I jumped pin #8 to #6 I blew the fuse #37 10amp. (I put a 20 amp fuse in instead of the 10 amp and had lights on and was able to find the area where the lights didn’t work to locate the short) I found I had a pinched wire in the light system for the blower speed knob in the heating and AC area. Unfortunately the rheostat (dimmer switch) in the headlight switch was acting as a fuse and burning up before the 10 amp fuse failed. I took the switch apart (it just unsnaps) by carefully prying out the parts from the back side.
4. I found the wire at the start of the rheostat was burned. I soldered an 18 gauge copper wire to the start of the rheostat and the wire coil that was burned and the dimmer function worked as advertised. I am now operational again.