New Member Here!

[Moondancer]

Hello, all.

I just bought a 318ti for the daughter, she's 17 and the ti's 9! (It's a '97.)

Anyway, it's a nice car and I hope she enjoys it as much as I like my Bimmer. I've been looking through the site here and it seems to be a pretty great place to find things out.

For what it's worth, we're going to have to do a few things to bring the 318 up to snuff, but nothing too major. It needs a paint job worst of all as the former owners did most of their driving on highways (I-94 in Detroit from what I understand) and it's got mucho paint chips as well as one scratch about three feet long from being "keyed". Other than that there's nothing major wrong with it except that the lights for the odometer and radio displays (both of 'em) are so dim that I have trouble making out what is on them even at dusk. Other than taking it to the dealer, do any of you have any idea what may be wrong? The guy we bought it from says that this was a common problem for mid-90s 3-Series, but I can't find much on the web about it if so. I figured you all could be helpful.

Well, the daughter isn't much into mods or anything so I don't know if she'll pick up on this site, but I probably will be back once in a while. I know I check the E46 site daily for info about mine and just plain entertainment so maybe I'll do the same here!.

[Tyler]

Welcome to the site and congrats on the purchase,i'm sure your daughter will be happy with it.

I think the light bulbs need to be changed on both of them,i think a few members have done it themselves. There is a dimmer on the headlight knob which i'm sure you know about already,but if not try turning it clockwise and see if it gets brighter.

[Mojo318ti]

Yay, more Indiana people! Welcome to the forums. Sorry I don't have an answer to your problem, but you might want to say hi on the regional forum as well.

Oh, and I know there are at least a couple of people (like me) here that have stock 318ti's, so you should feel at home no matter what.

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by Moondancer

Hello, all.

I just bought a 318ti for the daughter, she's 17 and the ti's 9! (It's a '97.)

Anyway, it's a nice car and I hope she enjoys it as much as I like my Bimmer. I've been looking through the site here and it seems to be a pretty great place to find things out.

For what it's worth, we're going to have to do a few things to bring the 318 up to snuff, but nothing too major. It needs a paint job worst of all as the former owners did most of their driving on highways (I-94 in Detroit from what I understand) and it's got mucho paint chips as well as one scratch about three feet long from being "keyed". Other than that there's nothing major wrong with it except that the lights for the odometer and radio displays (both of 'em) are so dim that I have trouble making out what is on them even at dusk. Other than taking it to the dealer, do any of you have any idea what may be wrong? The guy we bought it from says that this was a common problem for mid-90s 3-Series, but I can't find much on the web about it if so. I figured you all could be helpful.

Well, the daughter isn't much into mods or anything so I don't know if she'll pick up on this site, but I probably will be back once in a while. I know I check the E46 site daily for info about mine and just plain entertainment so maybe I'll do the same here!.

If you turn the headlight knob it dims the interior lights. Try turning the headlight pull-out knob to the right.

[IndianaTravis]

Hey, I'm in Indiana too!

My car also has no backlight for the odometer. There is a $3 bulb that is a real pain to get to, I'm sure that is your problem.

As for the radio backlight, that one is more difficult. If the car has the OEM cassette deck, I'd recommend just getting her a CD player (which I'm sure she'll want anyway) and install it yourself. Crutchfield.com has some nice Blaupunkt units for under $150 that come pretty close to matching the amber lighting of the car.

Welcome to the forum!

[Moondancer]

Hey, guys. Thanks for the replys. The first thing I tried was adjusting the dimmer but no luck with that. Dashboard lights adjust just fine, odometer and radio went from dim to gone. I'm not into pulling dashboards apart myself so I guess I'll take it to the dealer.

IndianaTravis... she's already talking about either a CD player or some way to connect her iPod to the stereo, so maybe a new player might be just the ticket here. If so, I see from one of the threads in the forum that aftermarket stereos can come with an auxilliary jack she could hook the ipod into. That sounds like the way to go to me. Anyone got any opinions of a specific brand / model that would be a close match and work for the iPod as well?

We're planning on taking some pix of the car and Dua (the daughter). If she decides not to join this site, I'll post 'em myself.

Moondancer

[IndianaTravis]

Crutchfield.com is a pretty good source. You can input the car, and sort by features you want. It is difficult to find something that will match the amber interior lights. I finally bought a Clarion that plays .mp3 disks (and has an aux input on the back) and installed it myself. Pretty straightforward with the wiring harness you get from crutchfield.

My HVAC light is out along with my odometer light. I refuse to pay dealership labor costs to fix it, and it isn't bothering me enough to do it myself just yet.

I've found a diy instruction for changing the odometer light, and realoem.com has a diagram that lists the official bmw bulb number. From what I recall, it is a standard bulb you can get from autozone.

is the car a base, active, or sport? Is she going to be driving it in the winter? Since it is a '97 you'll have traction control, but I'd still recommend a set of snow tires (you are close enough to South Bend to go directly to Tire Rack and pick them up!)

[Moondancer]

"is the car a base, active, or sport?"

I don't know enough about these cars yet to tell. I'm assuming it's not a sport, but what distinguishes them? It doesn't have sport seats, for what that's worth.

[IndianaTravis]

This may be posted here somewhere, but (and this isn't exact, but should get you pretty close)

if it has wheels like my car, it is an active. It will have cruise, obc, remote locking, and the standard seats.

If it has the two tone cloth/leather seats, 16" five spoke wheels, and the M front, rear, and side valences, it is a sport.

If it has steel wheels, no obc, no cruise, then it is a base.

Sports generally are worth more, as they also have a more aggressive suspension (and the interior is much better than the base/active)

[TiTime]

Originally Posted by Moondancer

Hey, guys. Thanks for the replys. The first thing I tried was adjusting the dimmer but no luck with that. Dashboard lights adjust just fine, odometer and radio went from dim to gone. I'm not into pulling dashboards apart myself so I guess I'll take it to the dealer.

IndianaTravis... she's already talking about either a CD player or some way to connect her iPod to the stereo, so maybe a new player might be just the ticket here. If so, I see from one of the threads in the forum that aftermarket stereos can come with an auxilliary jack she could hook the ipod into. That sounds like the way to go to me. Anyone got any opinions of a specific brand / model that would be a close match and work for the iPod as well?

We're planning on taking some pix of the car and Dua (the daughter). If she decides not to join this site, I'll post 'em myself.

Moondancer

Try getting an Alpine. I just got my replacement deck from a breakin about a month ago. I got an Alpine CDE-9852. It does have the setup to do an iPod output. You might want to checkout Alpine's website for more info:

http://www.alpine-usa.com/

[dave45056]

I also have an Alpine 9852 deck. It can control the Ipod, so your daughter will like it. Also, onlinecarstereo.com has it for about 20 bucks less than Crutchfield... free shipping, too.
Good luck with the car

[Moondancer]

Indiana Travis, it looks like we picked up an Active model as it has everything you mentioned in your post.

She took it out on her own last night for the first time; she's been learning how to drive a manual transmission since we brought it home on Sunday. I think she's good enough now to brave city traffic, and for anyone who's ever been in Mishawaka on Grape Road on a weekend, let me just say this:
I worked in Detroit for 16 months and Detroit's got nothing on Grape Road!

Anyway, I figure she'll kill it at intersections once or twice more and then should be prettty much okay.

TiTime and Dave 45056: thanks for the input on the Alpine 9852, we'll take a look at it.

I knew I'd like this site!
Moondancer

[ridgerunner]

Whoa! You mean there's actually LIGHTS behind my HVAC controls!?! I've asked dozens of people who are "supposed" to know for almost 3 dark years and finally you've clued me up. SOMEBODY PLEASE tell me, link me or launch a flair on the hows-to so I can replace that bulb. Oh bothers & sisters, thank you!!

[IndianaTravis]

the HVAC one is easy. Just pull out the radio (you need to use open the little doors on either side, then use a small allen wrench) and you can access the wiring on the back of the HVAC controls. The bulb is mounted toward the top, on the right-center if I remember correctly. Should be a connector with two wires running to it.

The bulb is #12 on the pic below.

[ridgerunner]

IndianaTravis, you are most genuinely appreciated. The "ask Otto" guy at Bavarian Autosport told me his 318ti had never been backlit at the HVAC controls so, being a trusting type, I sorta' quit worrying about it. Until, of course, I wanted to adjust the HVAC after dark! Being a Kentuckian & a UK grad I never thought I'd say this to a Hooiser. But (gulp...) thanks brother! You're a good man!