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1999 E36 OBC info required

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  _E34_ 
#1 ·
Hi All,

In my search for an e36 328i sport I have found one that only has an 8 button OBC. I have only seen pictures and not used it. I use the OBC in my e30 quite a lot so have a couple of questions.

Can someone tell me what (if anything) the 8 button one does??
What are the chances of the car having the other harnesses to allow for an 18 button job?
I've seen fitting guides all over the place, are they actually hard to fit and 18 in place of an 8? I've seen guides where you have to take the steering wheel off, is that necessary?

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Jas
 
#2 ·
the 18 btn retrofit is a nightmare.

need to take the cluster out, and the steering wheel off if you want the indicator stalk with obc function (assuming you already dont have it)

chances are very slim on newer build e36s having the other harness, but you never know, it might do.
 
#3 ·
BMW offered exactly one OBC for the E36 sedan, coupe, cabrio and touring which had 18 buttons, no more and no less. They also offered several other flavors of "Multi Information Display" (MID): check control (8 buttons), outside temperature display and digital clock (7 buttons) or check control with outside temperature display and digital clock (11 buttons).
....
 
#4 ·
Ahhh I see, So if it doesn't have the 18 button in it it won't have the cabling and definitely won't have the indicator stalk control. So anything other then the 18 buttons is not even called a OBC.

This is not good.
It's put me off the car now.

Thanks for your responses SimonSingh.
 
#5 ·
Ummm there is no need to remove the steering wheel to fit an 18 button obc not even to fit the indicator stalk that controls it.Even if you are doing it from the basic analogue clock. You need to remove the instrument pod and the glovebox and add some more wires some guy wrote a fantastic guide how to do it as soon as i find it i will post the link here.

The only downside and tbh it isnt a big one is the check control but one of the mods here wrote a very helpful guide on how to disable the check side of the obc so you still get all the other functions, ie mpg, range etc

you can even fit the outside air temp sensor (its 2 wires)

Ideally if you can find a donor vehicle it would be helpful cos you need to add a couple of pins into the plugs in the instrument pod apart from that its quite simple if you can follow a simple wiring diagram.

hth

cheers
 
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