My BMW E32 735iL is an Electrical Nightmare | Lighting, Driving, and Interior Issues Fixed

Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары

Today's video is rather hectic as we jump around my new to me 1991 BMW 735iL 7 series fixing a few things. As a flagship car that's been rather neglected for the past 30 years it has developed a slew of electrical issues as well as interior grossness. Today we aim to solve this! We give the interior a nice detail, fix auto trans shifting issues, fix lighting issues, fix cluster issues, replace fuel door hinge and tail light, as well as a few other things! I hope this video can teach people things later down the road if they encounter these issues with their 7!

Пікірлер: 85

  • @DarrenMk6
    @DarrenMk6 Жыл бұрын

    When u slapped the cluster to get the lights working took me out lmaooo

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Classic bmw tactic!

  • @yellowjoe.2000
    @yellowjoe.2000 Жыл бұрын

    I am so glad you are working on the E32 7 series now. This is my favorite big sedan.

  • @Mk7_kev
    @Mk7_kev Жыл бұрын

    Im crying laughing at all the cluster stuff just falling apart, gotta love it 😂😂

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Like working with fragile glass bro🤣🤣🤣

  • @1984AP
    @1984AP Жыл бұрын

    Good tip on the transmission shifter - had no idea. Appreciate the shout-out on the color. Funny you say you gouged your finger/thumb... an ind. mechanic did my hinge and put horrible dimples in the fuel door, and it has never lined-up perfect. Thinking he injured himself and took it out on the fuel door prying out the hinge. Since you were replacing taillights - a fun fact that applies to most older cars. If the lens is original it will say the year of manufacture on it (very small) on the outer area of the lens, ie. "91". If you don't see it, it was replaced with a replacement unit. One way to tell if a car has ever been hit in the rear. Speaking of elec. issues, for over 2 yrs. I've seen "Coolant Level" message when the coolant is fine - lived with it, as it goes away once driving. A manual dimming mirror is nicer as you can actually get 3 modes of darkness out of it - position the whole mirror lower and lower and it gets darker - ideal for the horrifically obnoxious modern headlights of cars behind you.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Appreciate the info on the color my friend! I wouldn’t be surprised if the mechanic damaged it because he got pissed off hahah, those hinges love to hurt ya. Good note on the lenses! I had no idea!!! And id enjoy the use if that mirror if it worked haha

  • @1984AP

    @1984AP

    Жыл бұрын

    @@m3nameisjosh464 Thanks. Oh no, those positions you can use on a manual mirror found on a E28 or E34 (not auto-dimming).

  • @nextphase7481
    @nextphase7481 Жыл бұрын

    You do keep busy, Josh!. Next time, when you remove that airbag, please be careful to place it somewhere keeping the top airbag side up and the explosive side down. Otherwise, if it blows, you will have turned the steering wheel into a launched projectile (watch out!). All sorts of electrical issues with these 30yr.+ BMWs. Some obvious and straightforward to fix, others not so much. At times, after chasing my tail, I have found that a very small amount of surface corrosion (barely visible) on connectors can screw things up. Your working on the instrument cluster brought this to mind. E32s are always nice, though. Good luck going forward!

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Goood point! Would hate to get with with a 370mm 4 spoke wheel at airbag speeds haha. But thank you for the comment!

  • @tun1034
    @tun1034 Жыл бұрын

    according to you, this vid was all over but it was very well informative

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Hahah thank you man

  • @DavidVlogz
    @DavidVlogz Жыл бұрын

    Nice to see it get some love and she sounds good

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

  • @hazimhani5626
    @hazimhani56268 ай бұрын

    Beautiful car , thanks for sharing

  • @Lamerguezerie
    @Lamerguezerie Жыл бұрын

    Beau travail. Couleur hypnotisante

  • @jalol190
    @jalol1909 ай бұрын

    Josh you are the man!

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    9 ай бұрын

    🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

  • @jalol190

    @jalol190

    9 ай бұрын

    Do you know all the types of bulbs used for cluster?

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    9 ай бұрын

    @@jalol190 that i do not know

  • @ariyc
    @ariyc Жыл бұрын

    Popcorn 🍿 & a new upload, solid day 🏂

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    my man!

  • @e-rodbiggins2112
    @e-rodbiggins2112 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the vid!

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for watching!

  • @jotighe2
    @jotighe2 Жыл бұрын

    this was a really good video

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you sir!

  • @viperocco
    @viperocco Жыл бұрын

    Good video homie. Troubleshooting can be tedious

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks bro!

  • @aptoscomputer7324
    @aptoscomputer7324 Жыл бұрын

    Radar-Mirror will repair your auto-dimming mirror. My 92 735i had it's mirror yellowed out and leaking. Unfortunately 100% of them at this age are. But I paid $125 and was happy with the well functioning mirror. Surprising to see a car this old have one and that's why I wanted it to work.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    If i cared about the car more id gladly pay that!

  • @aptoscomputer7324

    @aptoscomputer7324

    Жыл бұрын

    @@m3nameisjosh464 Yeah from that POV I understand. Mine was maintained with a blank check essentially since new and despite having 215K miles has no electrical issues.

  • @codymoser65
    @codymoser656 ай бұрын

    Had the same thing happen w the ebay hinge. Broke but still held on with some persuasion

  • @winq7070
    @winq7070 Жыл бұрын

    I have an e32 730iL with interior lights that work when they are in the mood to (got to switch on and off till they decide to come on), and right rear lights that take a few seconds to come on after I switch on the lights. I will try to smack somewhere with my fist, thanks for the tip haha (and technical content)

  • @berwhaletheavenger
    @berwhaletheavenger Жыл бұрын

    E34's and E32's use the same instrument clusters. Cars up to Feb '89 use a cluster with a grey back and no coding chip - that's built into the light control module. After that came a white back cluster and this was replaced in September '90 by the blue back. Blue and white back clusters both have coding chips for mileage, transmission and fuel tank size but don't interchange blue to black and vice versa. If you fit a cluster from a manual car into an auto you may not have the correct lower pixels. The coding chip should have the VIN from then car it came from. You can swap white and blue back clusters from car to car. Very often, failed instrument lighting is caused by a faulty instrument light dimmer switch. Yeah, genuine BMW filler flap hinges only!

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Veryyy useful information! Thank you!!! I might throw a new dimmer switch in and see if anything changes!

  • @LabradorcumJuice

    @LabradorcumJuice

    Жыл бұрын

    They are back wards compadble apart from that freak 1988/89 Gray version

  • @berwhaletheavenger

    @berwhaletheavenger

    Жыл бұрын

    @@m3nameisjosh464 I don't think you need one chief - your dash lights are doing something! If you want a laugh, check out how much BMW want for a new instrument cluster circuit board. I guarantee you'll not have laughed so hard in your life.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    @@berwhaletheavenger HOLY! Thats expensive!

  • @LabradorcumJuice

    @LabradorcumJuice

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks Josh! I got the same Glacier Blue e34 as you but its from South Africa RHD and in New Zealand 90L M5 Steel fuel tank

  • @swissneutro2648
    @swissneutro2648 Жыл бұрын

    I have had an E32 735 for 21 years. I once had a problem with the cruise control. Reason: someone put the wrong bulbs in the speedometer unit. This then made this broken. Solution: replaced the whole unit.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thats very interesting

  • @houseofno
    @houseofno Жыл бұрын

    All early E32 automatic cars (735 inline 6 and 750 V12) came with a four speed automatic. Exception is 740 which all of these were five speed automatic cars.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the knowledge!

  • @pmccarthy71

    @pmccarthy71

    29 күн бұрын

    My 1987 730 is manual from factory with lsd.

  • @nikyo8235
    @nikyo8235 Жыл бұрын

    u doing good job

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you sir!

  • @sawyerrauvola5248
    @sawyerrauvola5248 Жыл бұрын

    Those older 7 series are very complex, I hope you can bring it back to like new.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Thats the double edged sword of 7 series. Cutting edge tech and features for their eras, which makes it more of a pain as the years go on!

  • @AdamAus85
    @AdamAus85 Жыл бұрын

    Nice work with the clean. Seems most of these e32 seats have gone bad by now. May end up needing a dude to re-upholster it.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah they don’t hold up very well. The original owners must have been rather large business men

  • @Anirossa
    @Anirossa Жыл бұрын

    Pretty sure it's a 3+overdrive gearbox Agree on the fuel door hinge, also DO NOT buy one from Turner motorsport, bought 4 as had to get them shipped to Europe and enough cars that can need them and were cheap, all of them were cracked in the plastic at the same time, from terrible production and/or storing... also were no elasticity in the plastic that snaps into the mounting cracks, just like the ones you got, so had to sip tie it on. 12:25 seen someone do a quick battery disconnect in the same spot on a E34, guess it's nice to have if the electronics goes up in blaze, but a little too ghetto for me, as would be afraid of sth hitting it while driving if got stuff the car, rip 3 different types of instrument clusters when it comes to how they work internally from what I remember, blue back, grey and another one.. Back of the instrument cluster can get pretty crispy from age and how warm it is back there thanks to the heatercore

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Good to know! Thank you!!

  • @johnfloore9799
    @johnfloore9799 Жыл бұрын

    Mercedes gauge clusters are just like that, VDO is VDO I guess. I got a PTSD flashback watching you butcher...err fix that cluster with random parts flying!

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Hahahahs yeah I manhandled it a little bit

  • @matbeech7518
    @matbeech7518 Жыл бұрын

    Haha Ah yes mine was just like this when I first got it very simple fixes on the older cars. The best one is the amp in the boot. I redid my whole stereo system with a new head unit and speakers and had to rewire everything from the boot. A 9v came in handy to trace the speakers. That's the worst I've had and my temp gauge had to whack the dash to make it work sometimes 🤣

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Classsic! This cars amp was also dead and had to be replaced lol

  • @matbeech7518

    @matbeech7518

    Жыл бұрын

    @@m3nameisjosh464 haha yeah the fun parts. I can't wait to see the finished progress. I'm planning the restomod route deleting the self levelling suspension soon and going with a custom intake to delete all those pesky sensors that are a constant drain on the bank account lol. Love the wheels on your e32 I just have the standard turbines

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    @@matbeech7518 sounds like a good idea! Haha

  • @ivanlukacevic8075
    @ivanlukacevic8075 Жыл бұрын

    Man you dont dissasemble this plastics outside specially on this cold weather

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Im foolish 😭😭

  • @user-pd8fj6np1k
    @user-pd8fj6np1k Жыл бұрын

    You know, there is saying, that miser guy pays twice, if i'm not mistaken.soo... yeah, better buy OEM stuff, if you can)🙃beautifull E32 and that color tho)

  • @tedse21
    @tedse213 ай бұрын

    The hit the dashboard thing works on my e32 dash lights. And my temp gauge light doesn’t work either.

  • @user-qv2sk6hj7m
    @user-qv2sk6hj7m Жыл бұрын

    Hi, as i think you used too heavy bulbs in the cluster, trip computer's backlight looks too bright compared with old bulbs near the which wasnt replaced

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    They are all replaced from an identical cluster though, not sure

  • @seans9125
    @seans912511 ай бұрын

    What did you use to clean the carpets? My E32 carpets look like yours and I thought they were donezo

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    11 ай бұрын

    A bissell extractor

  • @lolguppyo
    @lolguppyo Жыл бұрын

    Question where did you find parts for this car can’t find them anywhere

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Spares i had mostly

  • @GalvanizedGreatness
    @GalvanizedGreatness Жыл бұрын

    I didn’t think the shifter would cause transmission issues I may try that before I try doing anything with my transmission

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    I never knew this either, was pleasantly surprised to find out

  • @jpadicecoffee9812
    @jpadicecoffee9812 Жыл бұрын

    I've never driven a E32 but I think it's too big of a car for me even considering the scare parts for it. Seriously, I would consider the E34 after my next camping SUV purchase but it's likely not going to happen as I plan to put the next 300k miles on my daily E46...

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Im actually not a fan of the size of this IL. Way too big of a car. Id prefer my e34

  • @christopherdow5755
    @christopherdow5755 Жыл бұрын

    I need a another episode

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Editing now!!!

  • @francispowell1811
    @francispowell1811 Жыл бұрын

    I paid $20 at a TV repair shop to resolder all contacts on my LKM in 2009. It's 2023 and I've had no recurrence of lighting issues.

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s hilariously pre 2010! I bet no one around here would touch that stuff, and even if they did I have 10 lcms collecting dust i cant even sell for $20! Haha

  • @francispowell1811

    @francispowell1811

    Жыл бұрын

    @@m3nameisjosh464 lol

  • @blue_lancer_es
    @blue_lancer_es Жыл бұрын

    You take the steering wheel off for the cluster? Even in e34?

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    Almost positive

  • @sheaarnold

    @sheaarnold

    Жыл бұрын

    You have to 99.9% of the time. There’s like one specific steering wheel type where you don’t have to, but the rest you do.

  • @blue_lancer_es

    @blue_lancer_es

    Жыл бұрын

    @@sheaarnold got it. I dont on my touring.

  • @Lamerguezerie

    @Lamerguezerie

    Жыл бұрын

    @@sheaarnold I don't. Early sport steering wheel.

  • @jonasthomsen2311
    @jonasthomsen2311 Жыл бұрын

    Wanna sell that mirror?

  • @m3nameisjosh464

    @m3nameisjosh464

    Жыл бұрын

    I would sell that mirror yes, dm me on instagram, same name as here