M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Electrical => Topic started by: a930rocket on April 05, 2011, 08:23:28 PM
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My OBC (Gizmo to the right of the radio) doesn't work, so I have a few questions.
One, how do I get it out? There's no screws, holes, etc.
Two, what do I do to get it going, diagnose it, etc.?
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the nuts are on the back of the unit you have to put your hand up behind the dash and you can feel the nuts.
When you don't work what not even light up
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+1
Two ways to get at it:
Pull the glove box, pull the inner plastic partition between the glove box and center console. Look for the small nuts on the back of the hvac panel, two to each side. You only have to loosen the inner ones, it'll pivot a bit.
Or pull the buttons from the HVAC panel, take out the two small screws on top. Then take out the two screws on the bottom. Carefully pry the air control sliders off, then the pry off the slider cover. Remove the four philips head screws you'll find. Pull the panel & take out the four OBC nuts. I typically take out the center console to make that method easier.
As for fixing it, unless it's just gone dim & you need a spare dash bulb, I'm not sure anyone has had much luck. Maybe reflow the solder?
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Thanks for the advise.
It's not killing me that it's not working, but I'll get to it one day.
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If you have a 13 button you have to do what Dave and Carlos said. If you have a 6 button you can simply pry off the face plate and then you have two clips on the top and bottom that need to be compressed and it just pops out.
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So monko, are you saying that I can pry off the face plate of the 6 button OBC without all the disassembly?
That would make it much easier to get to and I'd fix it sooner.
Jim
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Yes. It's just a thin piece of plastic.
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Follow up: I was working on the radio and went off on a tangent looking at the OBC. I pulled the faceplate and saw the two clips monko was referring to. I pulled the OBC out and it wasn't connected to any wires. That one reason it doesn't work! :rolleyes:
Plugged it in and it works! Just needed to secure the connector better and next buy a left side brake duct so I can install the temp probe to get the temp working.
Anyone have the left side brake duct for sale?
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I have a duct in metallic tan, but there's this problem I have with finding anything. I'm not sure the sensor fits in the duct though...I think it clips into the bumper housing. I'll check it out next time I'm in there. Hopefully that'll be soon, I have some US ellipsoids to install.