Parking Brake Lever 97 540i/6

I can't seem to find anything with searching the forums or google. All I keep getting are DIY's on replacing the leather or the handle and/or the actual shoes & brakes. I actually need a DIY on removing the center console and replacing the whole lever.

My lever doesn't lock in place when applied, I already have the OEM replacement. Just need to figure out how to get the center console off and get to the bolts to do the swap.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated being as though my searches are coming up dry and Bentley doesn't seem to have any info on it. Can someone point me in the right direction

Thank guys!

PM me with your email address, and I'll send you a PDF from the TIS.

Originally Posted by edjack

PM me with your email address, and I'll send you a PDF from the TIS.

PM sent thanks!

Now hopefully I can get this problem situated (^_^)

Did you type /parking brake in the bestlinks?

I just did, and this came up, which might help:
- cn90 parking brake adjustment DIY (and other emergency brake adjustment DIYs) and tons of pictures of a 540i brake job

Originally Posted by bluebee

Did you type /parking brake in the bestlinks?

I just did, and this came up, which might help:
- cn90 parking brake adjustment DIY (and other emergency brake adjustment DIYs) and tons of pictures of a 540i brake job

Yes I did search and found those, but those are not removing the lever at all just adjustments and replacing parts I dont even need to touch. The problem I'm encountering doesn't involve any of that. I need to remove the parking break lever/assembly itself. Those DIYs, (which I found and are somewhat helpful) don't actually get me fully through the center console removal and replacement of the lever itself.

my e39 540i/6 had the phone option, not that it makes much of a difference besides an extra couple of connectors, phone jack and plug. My problem is I can't figure out how to remove the center console entirely to get to 2 of the 3 hex bolts in order to replace the lever. #2 hex bolts in OEM diagram below, (3 of them altogether that secure the lever in place). In order to remove the air duct to the rear vents, the whole console has to be removed. That is where I'm getting stuck.

There are 4 screws in the rear (under the rear vents) 1 on each side of lever in the vinyl, 3 for the cover of the lever, 1 under the hazard lights button, 2 directly in front of it. (There might be 2 more) but I'm at the office right now and I'm running from memory. Even with all those removed, I still can't get the console off to get to the three #2 hex bolts. I don't know where another screw or fastener could be that is still holding the console down. I had the whole center console trim (around shifter and door lock/hazard button up to the hidden compartment removed) and I had a lot of give from the console itself, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get it off, to remove or set aside the air duct to get to the #3 & #4 hex bolts.

Diagram below for reference of the #2 hex bolt and where they are located.

Give this a try:

Yeah I found that video as well, that doesn't actually give me access to the lever assembly, removing the top part of the console doesn't allow you to see the hex bolts. What is in the way still, is the Air Duct that is under that part of the console that runs to the right of the shift knob and through the empty space under the center console. Then under that I believe is an airbag sensor which I don't believe has to be touched at all just stating for space reference, however the air duct does have to be removed.

It seems that in order for one to even move the air duct to the left or right to get to the securing hex bolts, the whole entire housing of the center console has to be removed from in between the two front seats because it is such a tight fit, not just the top where the phone used to be, that top part is just two screws as the video shows, pretty simple and the top portion just slides right out. At that point (this is an assumption because I haven't figured out how to remove the entire console) I will be able to move the air duct that runs from the front around the shifter and through the center console.

All in all, what I thought to be a quick 30min fix has become much too time consuming and I will likely just take it to the local shop sometime this week being as though I already have brake lever assembly.

Thanks for all the links and DIY vids though. These were all the ones I had found that all had gotten me to the same point I got stuck at.

This E30 DIY Carpet replacement should give you a very good idea what to do for the E39:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=210676

Scroll down to see this photo:

Thanks cn90, this DIY shows a lot more, I'm going to go through it and try to figure it out this weekend when I have some time. I will have more time this weekend anyway, I plan to pull out both seats to give me a little more leg room to work with.