I believe (please don't nail me on this, I just remember reading this on a german forum) that the new M5 rings don't fit between the frame and the transparent plastic cover of the facelift instrument cluster.......Please beware that you can't replace only the cover (or the rings) in case something goes wrong.....(meaning you can't buy those parts new)

Good luck!
Vlad

 

Hard to explain but if you look at the pictures you can see there's actually 2 rings a chrome and a black one. The black one doesn't come out only the chrome. So I'm going to have to cut the black one out with the dremel. Then the m5 ring should fit. I just don't know how I'm supposed to get the ring between the lens and the black trim. I might have to cut the housing. Its ok if I screw up though, its my practice cluster. If I figure something out I'll post it up.

 

Got the M5 rings into the LCI cluster. Dremel, razor blade, patience, and a steady hand. I separated the clear lens and the plastic housing by cutting the lip edge off then was able to remove the chrome rings. Then I had to cut the inner black rings out. Then trim the tabs on the M5 rings and they popped right in. I'll snap some pictures later.

 

done the cluster mod to my 530d ,but ive also changed the multi function display led's to white ,i have left the warning leds red (ones that show fault etc)
it isnt as white as the dails though as the lcd screen has a coloured filter on it .

 

Sweet! Does the LCD lights use the same LED as the dials? Also, how and what's the visibility like during the day? I know sometimes even the amber washes out when the sun light comes in from the passenger side rear window.

 

yes they use the same smd's the top row on the first and second line are bi -colour for the warnings dont change these unless you have some more bi-colour leds

pic below is in daylight ,as was first picture just with cluster covered to simulate night time (time is wrong in cluster by 12 hours should have said AM )

didnt count amount but at a guess i would say approx 15-18 need changing

 

when i did my mod on eyebrow i fitted a small length of tubing into the top of the eybrow and left it uncapped ,this way and condensation can escape quite quickly

 

Confused...which first an second line are you talking about? The one with the seatbelt indicator?

 

no . look at the display in the top part where the date and time are shown ,if you have a fault or leave door open etc you get an exclamation mark or car on ramp shown etc . these still illuminate red if fault present .

when you remove the display there are 12 led's for the top half of the display (clock+date) configured into two sets of six.

the top row of 3 on each set are bi-coloured red/green (could be orange im colour blind) any way dont touch these ,the other two sets are the standard red .

e.g

bi col = bi col = bi col
stdred = stdred = stdred

bi col = bi col = bi col
stdred = stdred = stdred


then rest below this are just the std red ,some are reversed on the pcb just look for the missing corner .

 

Got it thanks!