Problems with 89 535i (E34)

["David Bokaie" <bokaie@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have couple of problems with my 89 535 which I am hoping the list members
can shed some light on...

1- Headlight Control Unit;  Dragooned a faulty low beam head light to the
head light control unit (Inside the fuse box).  In summary replacing the
failed head light with a new one did not work.  My neighbor has a 735 which
we swapped the light control unit and that made the head light to turn on.
Dealer wants $365 for this part... pretty expensive.  I recalled reading
something on the digest that sometimes these things develop cold solder
joints.  I took the cover off and managed to turn on the headlight by
pressing on one of the relays.  However reflowing the solder joints in that
area did not do the trick.  Was wondering if some body can point me to a
schematic and/or point out what components tend to go bad and is worth
replacing.  The failed light is the low beam on the passenger side.

2- Gas gauge;  For a while the gas gauge has been stuck at the 2/3 level.  I
believe the computer displays correct miles to empty.  My Dad drivers the
car so I don't know for sure.  Any thoughts.

3- Oil in the Air intake system;  While fooling around with the light, I
noticed that my Dad had forgotten to put the oil dipstick back in its place.
Fortunately the dip stick was still inside the engine compartment and I put
it back into its place.  Moving the car later, we noticed lots of blue smoke
coming out of the exhaust pipe.  I took the air intake system apart and
realized there was quite a bit of oil inside the chambers.  Obviously this
explains the blue smoke.  Note that the car normally does not burn any oil.
I have convinced myself that the reason for the oil in the air intake system
is due to driving the car without the dipstick.   Not having the dipstick
allowed the engine to suck unmetered air thru the cam/crank housing.  As
part of that some of the oil was also sucked into the air intake.  I am
planning on cleaning up the air intake system and let my Dad driver the car
again.  Any thoughts...


Thanks and happy new year...


David

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End of bmw-digest V9 #2009
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