BMW X5 E53 Instrument Cluster LCD Is Dark

[OMARS121]

This is my first post, but i know other people have this problem and consider sending it out for the 200-300$ for the repair and I felt I needed to post this to save people some money.

Difficulty level is 2 out of 10

My Miles, Temp, and Trip were all out. When i say "out" i mean that during the day you cant see them, but at night you could faintly see them if you squinted hard enough. There were no dead pixels, just the back light was out and it looked black like nothing was there. It started with my miles...i could only see half of them, the other half was dark...like i said they weren't dead pixels, just no back light...

This is how I fixed it in 10 mins

Go to the dealer and I hate to say this but its worth getting these from the dealer because you don't want to buy Chinese crap and have it burn out on you a few months later just to save a few dollars.

Part number
62111391260

They range from 3-7$ a bulb depending on your dealers markup

You need 5 bulbs for the E53, I'm not sure about the other bmws. REPLACE THEM ALL! if 1 or 2 start going out, all of them will go out soon.

Remove the cluster from the car by taking out the two screws at the top and wiggling out the cluster. putting the steering wheel down will help alot.

unplug the cluster. BE CAREFUL

if you look in the back on the bottom half of the cluster you will see 5 holes with brownish type bulb bases plugged in. take a small flat screw driver, spin them out using the little notch at the top of them and replace them with the new ones.
BE CAREFUL! the bulbs go in a certain way.

Plug the cluster back in, do a cluster test by putting the ignition in position 1 and holding the right button on the cluster until you see Test 1, then let go of the button, press it again and you will see test 2, then press the left button on the cluster and check to make sure all the lights are working. If not, check your connection or make sure all the bulbs you put in are locked in the right way.

Screw it back together...

Done...

[electricalserv x5]

cool I have this also. by chance do You have any pictures?

[Qsilver7]

I have no pics...but it is rather easy and sort of common with all BMWs built during this generation (e38/e39/e46/e53/X3/Z3/Z4). It is as simple as OMARS121 described it...once you remove the instrument cluster...there are 5 incandescent bulbs that illuminate certain areas of the cluster...and you can see the bottom of their bases once the cluster is out of the dash.

You can see a pic of the bulb of you go to the online parts database (click link below) and scroll down to item #2...there is a link to see an image of the bulb on the far right of the row for item #2.

If you still need more images...you can do a search here to see if someone has done a DIY for cluster removal etc...if not here, there is at least one DIY somewhere on the other forums and internet (youTube etc) that shows the cluster being removed and opened. Even if the DIY isn't about removing/changing the bulbs...you'll still see them and their location if the DIY has anything to do with opening up the cluster.

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.4i Instrument cluster

[OMARS121]

sorry I didn't take any pics, but its so easy. What Qsilver7 posted was exactly right. If you have any problems doing it, post pictures for us and we can help you through it

[lhordmclain]

To the OP thanks for posting!

I am very fortunate to find this thread via google search -> xoutpost dashboard pixel

Here's a snapshot of my dashboard with the same issue (I will just let the snapshot speak for it self).

I will try to search/verify the part number you have in realoem.

[lhordmclain]

Verified!

For my SUV -> X5 3.0i (M54). Required: 5 ( might as well right?)