pixel failure repairs - E38 E39 X5 speedo / MID

[Benedict]

Hello Everyone,

I’d like to add some useful input in connection with the dead pixels problem:
Besides my beloved 1996 540i, I also own a E38 728i - and had suffered a lot from the dead pixels – both the speedo and the MID. Believe me, I tried a lot of stuff, before I found the best solution, which now I’d like to share. I am not saying that this is the ultimate solution, but it definitely worked for me.

I found several DIY manuals for this problem, but in my case it worked only for a few days, and the dead pixels came back. Now, after many home made experiments (I am an instrument cluster expert now ) I know, that the problem is due to the faulty ribbon cable which goes from the panel to the LCD, which - after having removed it - can not be properly reconnected to the panel. So I bought brand new ribbon cables for the MID and also for the Speedo, and now all work good, the pixels are 100% back. The point is, that I did not have to pay 300USD to get it fixed - the cables themselves were bloody cheap - app. 20GBP. You can buy the ribbon cables on Ebay, or here: http://www.pixelfix.net/eng, and also on Chinese websites I did not try...

I hope I just saved some time and money for you

Regards,
Benedict

[coleman]

BMW 3 series (E36), 5 series (E34, E39), 7 series (E38), and X5 series from 1988-2003 all have the common disappearing pixels on the large LCD display that shows valuable data such as the mileage and the on board computer messages. The problem lies with the ribbon cable that connects the LCD display to the circuit board. There are several DIY advices on the internet, however DIY itself will not help. The root cause of the speedo LCD problem is the ribbon cable that dries over time, and looses conductivity. As a consequence, your speedometer LCD’s pixels will disappear – first just a few of them, novell exams later more an more – and at the end the complete LCD of the dashboard instrument cluster (or MID / radio unit) will get unreadable. This is typical at the speedometer (dashboard instrument cluster, and also very common at the board computer, which is also called as MID unit, or RADIO unit, or OBC – on board computer). At the 5 series E34 the most common problem is the instrument cluster LCD, at other BMW types, microsoft exams like the E36 BMW the speedo is OK 8 out of 10 cases, however the board computer (OBC, MID) has pixel failure at almost all cases. If you own a BMW E38 or BMW E39, then you probably have pixel problems on both displays – the dashboard instrument cluster LCD display, and on the MID / radio unit too. BMW 3 series (E36), 5 series (E34, E39), 7 series (E38), 8 series (E31), X5 from 1988-2003 all have the common disappearing pixels on the instrument cluster (also on the board computer) - on the large LCD display that shows valuable data such as the mileage and the on board computer messages. The pixel problem lies with the ribbon cable that connects the LCD display to the circuit board of the instrument cluster. oracle exams The pictures below show the instrument clsuter's LCD display before and after the ribbon cable replacement (just an example of several board computer / dashboard instrument cluster types):