gregfeeler
Dances With Sheep
I have a friend with a 1985 K100 with a completely corroded instrument cluster. All of the interior is in very bad shape and not repairable. The case of that design was not vented and would fail from condensation collection, and from what we can determine it was in April of 1985 that BMW replaced that design with the later version featuring Gore Tex vents. This might or might not have been in conjunction with the introduction of the 1986 models.
The big gang connector for the instrument cluster looks physically the same between the '85 and later bikes, but we've been told that the wiring pinout is different in some way. One change that seems likely to me is that the '85 bikes (actually all the K100's from the European introduction in 1983 - it was introduced in the US in 1985) had a two stage low fuel warning light system driven by two sensors. In '86 BMW changed the fuel sender to the automotive type with a buoyant ball/rod system & rheostat (capable of supporting a true fuel gauge) which only used one warning light. There were numerous other changes between the '85 and '86 and later bikes, but the ones I'm aware of were mostly cosmetic, and a reported change to the cam timing.
So, the problem we have is knowing if a later cluster can be used with his bike directly and not have something short out or melt - or if there are some wiring changes which will allow use of the later cluster. Has anyone been down this road? Thanks!
The big gang connector for the instrument cluster looks physically the same between the '85 and later bikes, but we've been told that the wiring pinout is different in some way. One change that seems likely to me is that the '85 bikes (actually all the K100's from the European introduction in 1983 - it was introduced in the US in 1985) had a two stage low fuel warning light system driven by two sensors. In '86 BMW changed the fuel sender to the automotive type with a buoyant ball/rod system & rheostat (capable of supporting a true fuel gauge) which only used one warning light. There were numerous other changes between the '85 and '86 and later bikes, but the ones I'm aware of were mostly cosmetic, and a reported change to the cam timing.
So, the problem we have is knowing if a later cluster can be used with his bike directly and not have something short out or melt - or if there are some wiring changes which will allow use of the later cluster. Has anyone been down this road? Thanks!
