DIY: Gauge Face Install/Uninstall

I never really found a good DIY for this anywhere, so I figured I'd just make my own.

WHAT YOU NEED:
Torx T-20
Torx T-10
A thin fork or prying tool
Patience


Step 1:

Unscrew the two Torx T-20 screws to get the cluster out.



Step 2:

Now, after the cluster is unscrewed and loosened, you'll run into a problem: two little plug thingies that are impossible to figure out the first time. Here's a quick runthrough of how the mechanism works:






Step 3:

Take the cluster somewhere safe and unscrew the next set of Torx T-10 screws. I think on typical cars there are five of them (because there's room for five... my car only had four.)



Step 4:

To take it apart...
- First step, just pull lightly on the back piece to separate it.
- Second step, pull the little rubber knob thingies off (all you do is pull, no worries)

- Third step, just pull the last two parts apart. Now you have three pieces. Obviously, the top part with the glass and the backing won't be messed with if you're just installing gauge faces.



Step 5:

Slide your THIN fork/prying device underneath each needle, and simply just pry it off. Be careful, but don't be a pussy either, it's not that bad. Make sure to have something that protects the gauges to avoid scratching and stuff.



After prying the needles off, simply take the old gauge face off and slide the new one on. Piece o' Cake!


Step 6:

When you put the needles back on, rotate them all the way over to the left and make sure they all ''Zero'' in at the same place as they did before. If they go past the 'zero' point, simply rotate them all the way to the right until you feel some resistance, then keep going for as long as you think you'll need to. Then, rotate them to the left until you reach the 'threshold' point (where you start to feel some resistance), and keep going until you're at the zero you want/need.

I know that's confusing when it's explained in words, but you'll get it when it's in front of you.





Annnnnd..... you're done! Reverse the steps and enjoy.

Awesome pictures--very clear!

nice

Alec, do you have any pics of the needles off? And of the underside of the needles?

thx

Originally Posted by vids_blk323Ci

Alec, do you have any pics of the needles off? And of the underside of the needles?

thx

no and no... but why do you ask? all it is is a big circle going over a little circle. there's no 'clicking' mechanism or anything, it's just sort shoved on there. all you do is pry at the center and the needle will slide off.

because I wanted to figure out what shape the needle is. Im kinda scared to put force on it and crack the shaft of the needle or something.

Originally Posted by vids_blk323Ci

because I wanted to figure out what shape the needle is. Im kinda scared to put force on it and crack the shaft of the needle or something.

don't put any force on the needle, it'll crack/break for sure. you want to put all the prying force right in the middle of the black circle things. if you put force on the needle it will break... it also takes a lot more force than you'd think to get it moving.

I want to add a bit of info to this DIY for those people that have the courage to try this mod...GL!

You have to be extremely careful pulling on the center cap of the needles. Pull straight up and not at an angle. The problem with removing the needles, is that there is no real way to know whether you have screwed things up or not. Also watch that the needles dont fly off and land where you will have to spend endless time looking for them...

I would recommend that you start with the water temp gauge. If you screw that up at least you havent screwed up other important gauges & can put everything back with only a minor loss. I started in the following order: 1. water gauge 2. mpg gauge 3. fuel 4. speed 5. rpm

I have taken some pictures of the underside of the needles & caps, and of the gauges w/o the faces.

So now that I put my gauge pod back, all works fine, except the RPM gauge. It works sporadically - stays at 0, is not responsive as before, etc... I then removed the pod again, and installed the gauge face by itself to try to adjust the rpm needle on the fly since I have a scangauge.com unit that I can use to check rpm against. When the needle does work, its about 500-700rpm off. Subsequently went for a drive, all other gauges worked fine except the rpm. It struggle to move up and down and you can hear a lot of ticking, like the little motor is spinning but the needle is not moving...

I now have the pod back on my desk and I notice that all the needles move with a soft touch, however the rpm needle needs more force than the others. What perplexes me is that when I perform the self test 2.0 the rpm needle moves from left to right just like all the other needles. If anyone has their working gauge pod open: Would you please tell me whether your rpm needle moves like all the other needles or does it take more force compared to the others?

So essentially I have fvked up my gauges. ***BE WARNED - USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN REMOVING THE NEEDLES***

Also I want to post my initial thoughts on the Bimmian gauge face. Overall I like it especially during the day. At night you have to be aware of some differences though. Ill list them below:

1. The bimmian faces dont glow themselves like my oem face (not sure if the M3 oem faces glow)

2. The characters are not italic. I knew this but some how I wish they were, now that I have them

3. The blue square on the water gauge does not glow like it does on my oem face

4. The red square on the water gauge glows brightly and the LED outline is visible.

5. Both LEDs are visible on the blinkers. I put some diffusing plastic on them - it helped a bit.

6. The numbers are not as sharp as on the oem face

7. Most of you will like this one. The hi beam light does not glow as bright. I like this too

8. The lit area for the mpg gauge is not as uniform as I remember the oem face to be..

Originally Posted by vids_blk323Ci

I want to add a bit of info to this DIY for those people that have the courage to try this mod...GL!

You have to be extremely careful pulling on the center cap of the needles. Pull straight up and not at an angle. The problem with removing the needles, is that there is no real way to know whether you have screwed things up or not. Also watch that the needles dont fly off and land where you will have to spend endless time looking for them...

I would recommend that you start with the water temp gauge. If you screw that up at least you havent screwed up other important gauges & can put everything back with only a minor loss. I started in the following order: 1. water gauge 2. mpg gauge 3. fuel 4. speed 5. rpm

I have taken some pictures of the underside of the needles & caps, and of the gauges w/o the faces.

So now that I put my gauge pod back, all works fine, except the RPM gauge. It works sporadically - stays at 0, is not responsive as before, etc... I then removed the pod again, and installed the gauge face by itself to try to adjust the rpm needle on the fly since I have a scangauge.com unit that I can use to check rpm against. When the needle does work, its about 500-700rpm off. Subsequently went for a drive, all other gauges worked fine except the rpm. It struggle to move up and down and you can hear a lot of ticking, like the little motor is spinning but the needle is not moving...

I now have the pod back on my desk and I notice that all the needles move with a soft touch, however the rpm needle needs more force than the others. What perplexes me is that when I perform the self test 2.0 the rpm needle moves from left to right just like all the other needles. If anyone has their working gauge pod open: Would you please tell me whether your rpm needle moves like all the other needles or does it take more force compared to the others?

So essentially I have fvked up my gauges.
***BE WARNED - USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN REMOVING THE NEEDLES***

God, this is really hard to explain........... but... I don't think your needles are f#cked up. I think you put the RPM one back on and the 'zero point' is all fvcked up. Rotate the RPM needle clockwise all the way to about 6 o'clock, then rotate it back counter clockwise (you should feel some resistance around 10 or 11 o'clock, just keep pushing) and keep going until you're about 2mm below the '0 rpm'. The 'point of resistance' you'll feel is just the 'zero point' i've been talking about, where the gauges swing to when the car is off.

Honestly I hate explaining this... It'd be so much easier if I could just teleport there and show you in person.. haha

Your explanation makes complete sense to me, Alec.

Well I performed the procedure that Alec mentioned in post 9 after I removed and reinstalled the needle. This morning at engine start all seemed fine, then after about 3 miles, at idle the needle drops to just above the first tic. Also noticed that when working, the needle is about 100-200rpm off of what the scangauge shows... You definately have to be careful with the rpm needle. I think I can live with the "limp" needle more than I can live with the un-uniformly lit areas of the gasoline and mpg gauge though. You can tell somewhat on the pic of the night shot. Some more attached.

Oh and for those of you that may not know. OEM Coupe gauge face characters are italized, OEM sedan gauge faces are not. Not sure about OEM M3. Can someone confirm?

Did this mod sometime in early January--- on a 1-10 scale, I'd rate it a 2 and not a 1 due to taking the needles off.

Anyone considering doing this--- go for it. Definitely a nice and simple cosmetic mod!

i have to say i had the same problem as vids_blk323ci did - if you pull needles off at an angle things can get very !#^@ed up and this is no longer an easy DIY...

my problem was on the tach as well, where the metal shaft pulled out of the servo motor, instead of the needle off the metal shaft. i believe that pushing the shaft (which is keyed on the servo end) back into place deformed the plastic gear and shaft within of the motor, adding resistance and not allowing the gauge to operate freely... similar to what vids is explaining with the limping and resistance in its movement.

the fix for me was to disassemble the entire cluster and the motor that drives the tach, and sand down the deformed plastic shaft until it was able to rotate freely once again. major PITA, but a dead tach was not acceptable...


anyways - i'd just like to second the notion to be careful pulling the needles to keep this installation easy. defiantly worth the trouble i had in the end since i'm back in business and they look sick...

and btw, nice writeup by alec... i should've waited 2 days!

Yea nice writeup alec... forgot to say with all the worries about my tach

schnejerator. Can u post a night shot? Did you take pics of the work you did on the little servo motor and gears. Damn woulda been perfect to post that. Either way thanks for the info. Also, did you notice what I mentioned about the arrows and water gauge. I hate how noticeble the LEDs are. Did you do anything to diffuse the light in those areas a bit?

I have to say that the needle seems to be working consistently today, and yesterday. Still about 100rpm off though - will have to readjust when I take the pod out again to see what to do about diffusing the lights a bit more.

all i want to do is make my needles red

i can marker them in right?
haha i know thats so ghetto but i've read it somewhere on this forum a while ago

any pointers?
any suggested markers? haha

seriously tho...

This is a great DIY - thanks for putting it up!

Couple questions:

1) Does unplugging the piece cause any issues with the ECU/error codes? Will I get any weird readings after I reattach? Do you need to disconnect the battery when doing this?

2) Has anyone tried mounting the V1 remote display behind the gauge faces? Are they opaque enough (the light grey M3 gauges) to see the arrows through?

I have my V1 remote display on my dash, mounted just next to my odometer - I would love to integrate into the dash so it's all stealth :-)

jjr. Yes you can paint them red with a marker. I did this too when I was in there working on the gauge face mod. Just get a sharpie or some other marker that has ink that is not to heavy, otherwise the needles will be too opaque when lit at night. Minimize the passes over the needle - again so that they are not too opaque when lit.

phil. 1. unplugging does not cause issues. you do not have to disconnect battery. I would recommend that the car is off and the key is out of the ignition before you disconnect the two cables behind the cluster. no wierd reading afterwards, just the sound of the auto-calibration when you reconnect the cables.

2. I dont think its possible to mount the V1 display behind the gauge faces. There no room since its a pretty integrated circuit board - you do not want to mess with that board trust me. You could mount the display to the top of the pod and behind the plexiglass. however that will require drilling the pod, and you will loose some visibility to the lights or tach/speedo depending on size of the display and location. I dont think it will look good though.

Originally Posted by vids_blk323Ci

jjr. Yes you can paint them red with a marker. I did this too when I was in there working on the gauge face mod. Just get a sharpie or some other marker that has ink that is not to heavy, otherwise the needles will be too opaque when lit at night. Minimize the passes over the needle - again so that they are not too opaque when lit.

phil. 1. unplugging does not cause issues. you do not have to disconnect battery. I would recommend that the car is off and the key is out of the ignition before you disconnect the two cables behind the cluster. no wierd reading afterwards, just the sound of the auto-calibration when you reconnect the cables.

2. I dont think its possible to mount the V1 display behind the gauge faces. There no room since its a pretty integrated circuit board - you do not want to mess with that board trust me. You could mount the display to the top of the pod and behind the plexiglass. however that will require drilling the pod, and you will loose some visibility to the lights or tach/speedo depending on size of the display and location. I dont think it will look good though.

3.

Thanks for the fast feedback! I think I might take it off and have a look at the back and see what can and can't be done. I may be able to disassemble the remote display some to make it smaller and still function....

What was number 3 going to be? :-)

3. Forgot... to post pics of what ever you do man!