The one with the stickers that say not to use it? Well, I did. Actually, I didn't have a choice. The button to increase the temperature must have broken off before I took delivery last week, so one of the first things I ordered was the 'cap set' that was mentioned in the DIY here. However, when I pulled everything apart today, the new buttons are of a different design than the one's used in my 11/2001 production X5. The buttons will pop in, but they won't depress due to the differences in design.
After studying it for a while, I saw that the 'dummy' panel that ships with the new buttons actually can be used, but you have to fully disassemble the climate control unit to do it. Each button has a small plastic/metal contact behind it that when depressed, makes contact with the circuit board. I removed all of those contacts and put them in the 'dummy' panel and then reinstalled the circuit board. Now let me tell you-those metal contacts do NOT want to sit still-they kept popping out of where they should be everytime you moved or flexed the panel! It took me many tries before I was finally able to get the board back into the dummy panel and have all the buttons operational.
BMW puts some type of mark on the dummy panel with a silver magic marker so that you will not use the panel. I took some fingernail polish remover and a rag and wiped the mark off.
So long story short-you can use the dummy panel if you have to! One thing I do know-the part number for the replacement buttons in the DIY don't work in mine-has anyone else ever had this issue?
Oh, and two more things-yesterday my final stage resistor quit. Thankfully my dealership keeps these in stock, so I changed it out also. My windshield washer pump was leaking badly, so I replaced the strainer grommet-no more leaks and no more low washer fluid warning in the OBC!
05-04-2007, 02:03 AM
Linear Mode
